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What Is Healthcare Administration?
Healthcare administration is a job where professionals make decisions and manage healthcare centers. These administrators work in the background and aren’t as visible on hospital floors like doctors and nurses. However, their presence is felt in all areas of their medical centers. Healthcare administrators influence all daily operations and are in charge of policies, budgets, and patient care.
What Does a Healthcare Administrator Do?
Everything healthcare administrators do helps improve patient care. From overseeing facility operations to leading staff to meeting legal and regulatory requirements, these administrators have a lot to handle. Here are four main responsibilities that healthcare administrators have.
Financial Management
Healthcare administrators are in charge of the financial stability of their healthcare facilities. Tasks like budgeting and cost control are all important aspects of this job. Financial management also requires them to analyze financial data and use their findings to make decisions on how the center will improve its service.
Staff Management
Some positions in this field call upon professionals to be healthcare managers who keep staff members motivated and on the same page. Employee satisfaction directly impacts the quality of patient care and overall hospital culture as well as hiring and recruitment needs. Healthcare administrators must schedule shifts, consider workloads, and conduct performance evaluations to keep the staff in order.
Regulatory Compliance
To guarantee high-quality patient care and safety, the federal, state, and local governments have laws and regulations that healthcare providers must follow. Healthcare administrators must not only know these laws and regulations but also make efforts to guarantee that they are being followed by staff members. Violating these mandatory laws and regulations can result in severe punishments.
Improving Efficiency and Quality
All of the different things that healthcare administrators handle combine to improve the efficiency and quality of the overall healthcare center. Keeping the staff and patients happy, handling the finances, and following regulations and laws, all make for a more welcoming healthcare facility that can bring positive change in the community.
5 Key Qualities of a Healthcare Administrator
To be an effective healthcare administrator, you’ll need a range of soft and hard skill sets. Here are five key skills that healthcare administrators must have to be successful in their roles.
Knowledge of Laws and Regulations
Healthcare facilities must follow strict laws and regulations so patients can have a positive experience. These laws and regulations are in place to protect patient privacy, guarantee their safety, and minimize the risk of liability. Knowing which rules are in place and keeping up to date on any changes is an important part of the job. Healthcare facilities that don’t follow federal, state, and local laws face serious penalties like lawsuits and fines.
Leadership Skills
This role isn’t just sitting behind a desk and making decisions. Healthcare administrators must lead and persuade staff members to accept new changes. Oftentimes, staff members like doctors and nurses work in a busy, stressful environment. Managing healthcare professionals without negatively impacting team morale is a challenge, but when done well, it improves patient and staff satisfaction. A good healthcare administrator can manage crises, motivate employees, and make sure the patients are receiving high-quality care.
Communication Skills
Healthcare administrators don’t usually meet with the patients and family members at their center, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need strong communication skills. In fact, communication is a core skill that healthcare administrators must have. They regularly update staff on new procedures, regulations, and policies. This means meeting with staff face to face, writing emails, making phone calls, and running meetings. Getting the message across in a clear way that keeps up morale is a key skill that healthcare managers should have.
Financial Management Skills
Depending on the size of the healthcare facility, administrators will manage anywhere from a few hundred thousand to billions of dollars. Because of this, being financially savvy and developing critical thinking is another must-have skill set. Healthcare administrators need to make budgeting, pricing, and investment decisions for the good of the center. The financial decisions they make will have an overarching impact on the entire facility, which is why mastering this hard skill is key.
Understanding of Patient Care
Healthcare administrators don’t work with patients, but they must understand patient care to create a positive culture. Administrators can take steps to improve areas like wait time, cleanliness, and communication between patients and healthcare workers to make the patient’s stay more enjoyable. Understanding patient care can also give more insights into where administrators can make improvements by adding more staff or buying better equipment.
How to Become a Healthcare Administrator
Healthcare administration is a rewarding career path, but to take this path, you’ll need formal education and training. If you want to become a healthcare administrator, here is how you can get into the profession.
Obtain a Bachelor’s Degree
When it comes to healthcare administration positions, college is important. You’ll need to study a range of topics to manage the facilities. Because of this, the first step to becoming a healthcare administrator is to get a bachelor’s degree.
Those who want to become healthcare administrators can choose from several majors, including healthcare administration, public health, and health services management. Courses can include training on topics like finance, ethics, healthcare policies, and medical terminology to give you an edge on your competition.
Gain Work Experience
You’ll need to start your career with an entry-level position or internship to get some experience under your belt. Finding work as a billing coordinator, administrative assistant, or medical office assistant can help you quickly rise up the ranks and build knowledge about the healthcare industry.
For some, this may be an irrelevant step. If you’ve already worked in a healthcare organization and are shifting your career into healthcare administration, you’ll likely have a good amount of experience already. After attending a degree program, you should be able to seamlessly step into a healthcare administration role.
Consider a Master’s Degree
Getting a graduate degree can open up doors to more advanced positions in healthcare administration. Common master’s degrees in healthcare administration include a Master of Healthcare Administration, a Master of Public Health, and an MBA in Healthcare Management. Advanced degrees can unlock new jobs, starting with mid-level management positions and climbing up to executive roles.
Pursue Certifications
Certifications can add to your credibility and help you hone your skills for specific jobs. Some useful certifications that you may want to consider getting are Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM), Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC), Certified Medical Manager (CMM), and Certification in Healthcare Quality Management (CHCQM). The time you’ll need to get a healthcare administration certification will vary and can last anywhere from three months to two years.
Healthcare Administration Career Outlook
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that healthcare administration will expand in the coming years. Projections show a 29% increase in the employment of health services managers between 2023 and 2033.
Healthcare Administration Positions
Healthcare administration stretches over several career opportunities across the healthcare industry. These administrators may find themselves working at many different facilities including hospitals, nursing homes, physician offices, outpatient care centers, and government offices. Some common positions for healthcare administrators include:
- Health services managers: Health services managers determine the policies and procedures for departments and facilities, often hiring, coordinating, and monitoring employees.
- Health information managers: These administrators are in charge of the security and privacy of patients’ medical records and data.
- Nursing home administrators: Nursing home administrators run assisted living facilities or nursing homes, specializing in long-term and elderly care.
- Clinical managers: Professionals in this role manage operations and develop policies for specific departments and medical practices, such as surgical services and intensive care units.
- Hospital administrators: Hospital administrators are in charge of overseeing the operations of entire healthcare facilities and hospitals.
Healthcare Administration Salary
Not only is healthcare administration a rewarding role where you can be a positive force for the lives of those in need, it is also a high-paying position. According to Indeed, the expected salary range for a health services administrator in the United States starts at a low of $68,697 and rises up to $131,514 yearly. The average healthcare administration salary is $95,050 annually.
Become a Healthcare Administrator at CityU
Becoming a healthcare administrator gives you the chance to create a real and lasting impact in the healthcare industry. Finding the right degree program for your career is vital for getting started the right way. At CityU, we prepare aspiring healthcare administrators to make a difference with our B.S. in Healthcare Administration degree. Learn all of the key skills you’ll need to take on an important role in the healthcare field.
Visit our website to learn how CityU’s program can benefit your career.
Reviewed by Michael Fors, Dean, School of Business and Management at CityU of Seattle.
