The Truth About Health Administration

Competent, well-educated nurses and doctors are always in high demand, but so is the need for well-qualified and knowledgeable healthcare administrators. Otherwise known as health services managers and healthcare executives; healthcare administrators work closely with doctors and nurses to coordinate, plan and implement procedures necessary to provide exemplary healthcare. Basically, without healthcare administrators hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and clinics wouldn’t and couldn’t function. Learn about the education requirements to become a healthcare administrator, your possibilities for advancement and what to expect from day-to-day on the job:

Obtaining a Healthcare Administration Degree

Depending on the college or university you attend, the classes required to achieve a bachelor’s or master’s in health administration will vary greatly, but there are several core subjects you are expected to master. Among them are the following:

• Human Resource Management
• Finance
• Anatomy and Physiology
• Medical Law
• Ethics

Moving into the master’s degree level, the classes become more and more specialized depending on the person’s intention to work in a hospital, clinic, nursing home or assisted living facility setting. For the most part, a bachelor’s degree is all that’s required to obtain an entry level position, but if you are looking to advance in your career and earn a higher salary, expect at least a master’s degree.

Many institutions require the their administrators to hold a master’s or Ph.D. in public health, business or public administration, hospital or nursing administration, or any related field in order to achieve an executive position.

Duties of a Healthcare Administrator

The typical duties of a healthcare administrator are vast and vary greatly depending on the facility’s size and number of employees. For instance, a smaller clinic that employs anywhere between 10 to 15 doctors and nurses may only require the services of a single healthcare administrator to keep the financial, human resources, billing and patient flow aspects of the facility running smoothly. A larger organization generally employs one or more executive administrators to run the entire operation and any number of assistants to oversee a specific area.

The majority of healthcare administrators wear several hats and are expected to oversee or participate in a variety of the facility’s aspects, including:

• Overseeing the fiscal aspects of the operation, including budgets, billing and spending.
• Employee recruitment, hiring, firing and the day to day retention of workers is also generally handled by the healthcare administrator
• Facility operations
• Admissions and resident care

A Typical Day

Healthcare administrators generally work in an office environment. Depending on your position, expect to either retain your own space or work alongside your fellow employees. Many healthcare administrators work long hours and travel to attend meetings, seminars or oversee other facilities in the hospital or clinic’s network. Administrators working in an assisted living, hospital or nursing home setting are often expected to remain on call and are subsequently forced to deal with several aspects of the aforementioned facilities which are generally open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Advancement Opportunities

As mentioned above, don’t expect to advance far in your career unless you obtain at least a master of health administration. Even with an advanced degree, many healthcare administrators start on the bottom rung and must work their way up the corporate ladder to obtain an executive or administrative position. Some smaller doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals will allow advancement if the administrators holds a bachelor’s degree, but these are becoming more rare. Even rarer is the opportunity to gain employment or advancement through on-the-job training.

Licensing and Certification

With the exception of nursing homes, there are no licensing or certification requirements associated with gaining employment in the healthcare administration field. When it comes to working at a nursing home, potential healthcare administrators must first obtain their bachelor’s degree, pass a rigorous certification exam and complete a state-administered training program before they can seek employment. Some states also require specific certification or licensing to work in an assisted living facility as well.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the employment prospects for healthcare administrators will grow rapidly over the next 10 to 15 years, making it a potentially lucrative career path to consider. The BLS sites the large baby-boomer population, and their increasingly active lifestyle, as a major reason for this rising need for well-educated, highly motivated and passionate healthcare administrators.

This article was written by Alex Phelps who holds his degree in Special Education and is currently studying to become a board certified behavior analyst. Inspired by his brother and hero Jeff, it is Alex’s dream to work with children dealing with autism.