A Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration is a type of advanced degree designed to prepare professionals for management roles in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. If you are interested in learning more about the business side of healthcare and enjoy helping others as part of your role at work, a degree and career in healthcare administration might be ideal for you.
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Why Master’s in Healthcare Administration Jobs Are Important
The career roles that are available for people with a master’s in healthcare administration are important as they are crucial to ensuring that medical facilities are able to run smoothly. There are various institutions and organisations that depend on professionals with this qualification to manage operations and people including private practices, hospitals, specialty clinics, mental health clinics, nursing homes, rehab centres, public health agencies, pharmaceutical companies, health insurance companies, and more. Getting a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration such as this Executive MHA program online from uOttawa will prepare you to work as a leader in the constantly changing healthcare industry, along with improving your employability with companies that are looking for management-level employees that have knowledge and skills that are relevant and specific to the medical field. Jobs in healthcare administration are in high demand and will usually pay quite well. Here are some career paths that you may want to consider if you are thinking about getting a degree in this subject.
Chief Operations Officer
Chief operations officers (COOs) at healthcare organisations and other facilities such as hospitals will work closely with CEOs to manage the daily operations. They are responsible for making sure that the facility runs efficiently, smoothly, and turns over a profit. Their duties involve creating strategic business plans for the company and developing the facility’s programs and policies. They will often work closely with department leaders to come up with new ways to offer new services, generate more efficiency for workflows within the company and reduce costs. In some settings, they may also work closely with doctors and other healthcare professionals to solve problems, improve relations, and monitor performance.
Chief Executive Officer
The chief executive officer (CEO) is one of the most advanced positions that you can get in a healthcare organisation. These business professionals work closely with executives, managers, and the board of directors to ensure that each department is working as efficiently as possible. They are responsible for the setting and implementing of goals for long-term success of the business and are in charge of hiring qualified staff, ensuring that the organisation complies with all legal and state requirements, creating a positive company culture, overseeing finances, and handling media and community relations.
Nursing Home Administrator
A nursing home or long-term care administrator is responsible for overseeing teams and patient care in facilities like nursing homes and assisted living centres. They are responsible for ensuring that the facility runs smoothly and earns a profit while making sure that residents receive a high-quality level of care and that emergencies are handled well. These professionals need to have a solid understanding of the unique requirements, legalities and policies that relate to long-term nursing care. They may also be responsible for promoting the facility within the community and assisting with carrying out long-term business goals.
Director of Nursing
A director of nursing is responsible for overseeing the nursing employees at hospitals and other healthcare organisations. Getting a master’s in healthcare administration is an ideal way for nurses who are interested in a leadership role to prepare for moving into this position. Nursing directors will develop and review policies for patient care along with performing a range of administrative tasks such as managing medical records and budgets. They are responsible for maintaining a high level of patient care and may often be the main decision-maker in difficult cases. In this role, you will be working with a range of different people from the patients and their families to doctors and hospital administrators.
Director of Rehabilitation
A director of rehabilitation works in a role where they are responsible for overseeing certain facilities or departments within healthcare facilities such as hospitals where mental, physical, substance abuse or vocational rehabilitation services are provided. This role includes management of employees, performance evaluation, keeping operations on budget, creating efficient workflows, and ensuring that departments are compliant with all legal requirements. To work as a director of rehabilitation, you will usually be required to have experience and knowledge of the rehabilitation industry and strong communication skills in order to communication with patients and their family members along with hospital administrators and medical employees.
Healthcare Consultant
A healthcare consultant is a professional that works directly with health-related companies to improve organisation and profits. Companies may hire healthcare consultants part-time to reorganise departments, while some healthcare consultants have full-time roles helping a specific company improve efficiency on an ongoing basis. Their main roles include researching and evaluating staff, financial information, and policies to find new ways to improve workflows and save money. They are responsible for creating reports that detail their findings and work closely with management teams to implement the suggested changes.
Clinical Director
A clinical director is responsible for overseeing the daily operations at clinics or practices. This is a role that is more involved with the patient care rather than the business strategies and may be an ideal choice for you if you are interested in working in a role where you can be directly responsible for improving standards of patient care within an organisation. Clinical directors will often be responsible for hiring, evaluating, and training medical employees along with determining work schedules. They may oversee all the organisation’s operations or those of just one department depending on the size of the clinic or facility that they work for. They are responsible for helping to create a positive work environment and will encourage employees to work towards meeting shared goals.
Health Information Management Manager
A health information manager specialises in information technology at healthcare facilities and organisations such as nursing homes, clinics, hospitals, research organisations and government health departments. They are responsible for designing and maintaining digital health records and information systems for a company, along with making sure that patient information is kept secure and organised. To work in this role, you should have a solid understanding of the latest data collection and storage technologies. Health information managers will often be responsible for training hospital employees on the use of medical record systems along with supervising and overseeing the work.
Hospital Administrator
A hospital administrator works in a role where they oversee daily operations for entire hospitals. They set rates for services, create budgets, create and maintain various policies, and ensure that employees are providing their patients with the best care. The role is heavily involved in public relations, and they are also responsible for employee evaluation and improving department communications. Hospital administrators will often work as a part of an administrative team at larger facilities. The role involves staying updated on health insurance policies, new healthcare technologies, and the latest healthcare regulations and research.
Practice Manager
A practice manager or clinic manager will usually be responsible for overseeing the daily operations at a specialty clinic or private practice rather than a large health organisation such as a hospital. These professionals are involved with all aspects including business planning, billing and budgeting, hiring and firing employees, evaluating employee performance, scheduling, conflict resolution, employee training, workplace policy implementation, inventory management and more. To work as a practice manager, it is important to develop excellent leadership and communication skills as this role involves management of all staff from administrative employees to healthcare professionals.
Medical Records Supervisor
A medical records supervisor works in the records department of a clinic or facility to manage and track patient data and health data both in electronic and physical format. The medical records supervisor is responsible for making sure that all this private information is kept secure, organised, and up to date. To work in this role, it’s important to be familiar with data storage systems along with billing and insurance programs. These professionals may work in roles where they oversee teams of health information clerks, technicians, secretaries, and coders when it comes to accurately entering data and following guidelines to make sure that patient privacy is upheld. The role involves making sure that policies and enforced and that employees follow the correct procedures. In this role, you will also need to consistently stay up to date on new insurance requirements and data collection procedures and technologies.
Reasons to Consider a Career in Healthcare Administration
You do not have to be a nurse, doctor, or other healthcare professional to have an impact on patients and improve standards of patient care. Individuals who work in administrative roles, often behind the scenes, are essential and play a key role in how effective healthcare organisations and facilities are when it comes to providing the best quality and standards of care. Working in a healthcare administration career offers a lot of benefits that come from doing work that makes a difference to others. Here are some of the main reasons to consider going into a healthcare administration career.
Lots of Career Path Options
Healthcare is a very dynamic industry that has various areas of specialisation to consider, from quality control to health information management to clinical leadership. When you decide to pursue a career in healthcare administration, this means that you have lots of options ahead of you where you can easily get into a role that is based on your personal interests or your best strengths. And, the industry is constantly evolving, meaning that you will always be able to keep your career exciting and fresh with new innovations in healthcare.
Competitive Salaries
If you want to get into a career with competitive entry level salaries and the opportunity to increase your salary over time, healthcare administration is a great choice. As with many careers, there are various factors that will go into determining how much you can earn including your experience level, location, and educational level. However, this is a career that tends to offer generous entry level salaries, the opportunity for progression and higher earnings, and rewards for experience and leadership.
Growth Potential and Leadership Opportunities
Education that allows you to get into healthcare administration career positions can lead to big rewards later on. Employers will often prioritise the soft skills that are demonstrated by managers and leaders while hiring, so if you are a leadership-minded person with great soft skills that will equip you for a career in management, there are lots of opportunities available to progress in your career and take on leadership roles in the future.
Make a Positive Impact
While healthcare administration roles are not always quite as hands-on with patients in comparison to healthcare professional roles, working in this industry allows you to help, support, or lead the individuals who are face-to-face with patients every day. Because of this, the work that you will do in a healthcare administration role can make a real difference when it comes to improving patient care and outcomes. For example, healthcare administration roles may involve managing health information and making sure that patients are moved efficiently through the care process. Or, you may be responsible for gathering clinical records for analysis and research to identify and work on improving any obstacles or gaps in providing quality care. In some administrative roles you may be responsible for making sure that the right level of healthcare staff is in place to ensure that your facility can meet a growing demand for care and provide the best standards of care. Regardless of the position that you hold, healthcare administration professionals can have an impact that will be felt by the patients at the facility.
If you like the idea of helping others in the healthcare industry but want an office-based, behind the scenes job rather than working on the front line of healthcare, careers in healthcare administration can be the perfect opportunity for you.
