A Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Healthcare Administration can open countless career doors for dedicated and ambitious professionals. Read on to learn about the advantages of working in the healthcare administration field and the various career paths within it.
Why Pursue a Career in Healthcare Administration?
The healthcare industry may change over the years, but unless people stop getting sick and suffering injuries, the demand for healthcare will remain consistent with population rates. In fact, the healthcare industry is staggeringly broad and growing rapidly in most sectors. Furthermore, most administrative positions in the healthcare field tend to command a competitive salary.
Top Employers for Healthcare Administration Jobs
When people hear about healthcare jobs, they immediately think about doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. But the average medical organization must employ a number of business management and operational administration professionals to keep their facilities running. Here are some of the leading employers and industries that currently have a significant need of health administration workers.
Hospitals
To support the broad range of patient services that it provides, the modern hospital typically employs numerous nonmedical personnel. This gives the modern healthcare administrator a wealth of career opportunities. The human resources departments of major hospitals and medical centers are constantly on the lookout for operations and department managers with the right combination of academic training and professional experience to fill vacant positions.
Doctor Practices
Physician practices may operate independently or as part of larger administrative networks and can either provide general family care or specialize in any number of medical specialties. The functions of healthcare administrators in service of doctor practices might include scheduling, accounting, budgeting, marketing, record keeping, and inventory management.
Medical Service Organizations
Healthcare facilities and physician practices aren’t the only organizations that employ administrators to support patient care. A medical service organization (MSO) is a company that performs non-clinical services for direct care. MSOs need health services managers to lead operations, develop strategies, and organize systems, either as internal employees or third-party contractors. MSO administrators also conduct risk assessments, audit medical records, perform hiring activities, and ensure regulatory compliance.
Healthcare Tech
Technology drives innovation across industries and markets worldwide, and the medical field is certainly no exception. People seeking to explore a love of tech within the world of health and wellness can find countless opportunities in the fields of healthcare data management and information technology. Responsible for handling extremely sensitive and important patient information, healthcare tech professionals are not only in high demand but command very good salaries.
Healthcare Insurance
Healthcare administrators can also find ample career opportunities with health insurance companies. For example, a health insurance operations director will commonly oversee programs that span service areas such as account installation, coverage implementation, claims processing, and customer support. Most healthcare insurance administrators must have a strong knowledge of healthcare industry processes as well as a general background in business operations and management.
Healthcare Consultants
Generally functioning as financial and/or operational analysts, healthcare consultants are tasked with identifying opportunities to lower costs while increasing revenue. Unlike analysts in other business sectors, healthcare consultants must take care to avoid any negative effects on the overall quality of patient care. To maximize efficiency using appropriate methods of implementation, healthcare consultants must possess a firm understanding of relevant clinical care processes. According to sources that range from Forbes to Salary.com, healthcare consultancy is a rapidly growing field that offers highly stable employment prospects.
Public Health
Widely employed by government agencies, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and nonprofit organizations, public health business administrators are typically tasked with weighing the benefits of specific public health policies against their related costs. Public health policy analysts, for example, collect and evaluate data on existing and emerging policies that relate to public health and healthcare within target communities or organizations. Common aims of public health administrators include improving education, preventing disease, and promoting healthy life habits.
Government
Governments at the local, state, and federal levels need healthcare administrators to lead operations in various public health departments. Beyond the field of public health policy, there are extensive job prospects for healthcare administrators in the government sector. From military healthcare facilities to free clinics, government agencies spearhead countless medical initiatives that require healthcare administrators to facilitate.
Pharmaceuticals
Business administrators in the pharmaceutical industry are generally responsible for spearheading and overseeing the planning, resourcing, budgeting, and on-time completion of projects in areas that range from product development to regulatory compliance. Using advanced data analytics and other techniques within a strong framework of healthcare knowledge, pharmaceutical executives can choose among many diverse areas of specialization and enjoy a competitive earning potential.
Five Manager-Level Healthcare Administration Careers
While senior executive positions may take some time to acquire in the healthcare field and elsewhere, many MBA graduates are able to secure a manager-level healthcare position directly out of school with little to no professional experience. Here are five popular leadership career paths for MBA grads interested in healthcare administration.
1. Nursing Home Administrator
As the baby boomer generation continues to age, nursing care facilities are filling up like never before. Offering places to live along with health and wellness care for individuals who are elderly or infirm, these facilities represent a growth industry for healthcare administrators tasked with managing their daily operations, human resources, inventory levels, and patient data, among other essential duties. As reported by the independent education and career resource Best Colleges, the average annual salary for a nursing care facility administrator is $97,300. Entry-level compensation in this area is $73,030 per year, but seasoned nursing care facility administrators can expect to command a three-figure salary.
2. Health Services Administrator
As previously discussed above, medical service organizations (MSOs) perform non-clinical services for medical centers, doctor’s offices, and other direct care providers. To operate MSOs at maximum efficiency, health services administrators must set goals, craft strategies, organize systems, and oversee processes with a dual focus on cost savings and patient care. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) places the median pay for a health services manager at $101,340 per year. With a projected employment growth rate of 28 percent through 2031, the health services manager profession has a job outlook that is considerably better than the national average, which is a mere 5 percent.
3. Insurance Company Admin/Director
The highly regulated and infinitely complex world of healthcare insurance requires leaders with a great deal of business expertise focused on lean management and systematic problem-solving. All this expertise certainly doesn’t come cheap for US insurance companies. According to Salary.com, the average yearly salary for a health insurance operations director is $162,618, and the top 10 percent of health insurance operations directors earn more than $200,000.
4. Hospital Administrator
Hospital administrators make long-term strategic plans for the hospitals they serve. Areas under their purview range from patient care and quality assurance to various legal, communication, and public health initiatives. Salary.com reports an average annual hospital administrator salary of $254,169 in the United States. At the top end of the pay scale, hospital administrators can command well over $350,000.
5. Administrative Services Manager
Whether working for a healthcare facility or another organization, administrative services managers oversee planning, integrating, and coordinating a broad spectrum of activities that optimize operational efficiency. While the specific duties of administrative services managers will vary considerably between organizations, these professionals are commonly tasked with recordkeeping and office communication. According to the BLS, the median pay for an administrative services manager is $99,290 per year, and the job market for this position is growing slightly faster than the 5 percent average for all US occupations.
Kick-Off Your Healthcare MBA at UTC
The positions and industries outlined above scarcely scratch the surface when it comes to the professional opportunities in the world of healthcare administration. It is little wonder that large numbers of people are considering a career in this field.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Gary W. Rollins College of Business offers an MBA with a concentration in healthcare administration. Whether you want to pursue your healthcare-focused MBA entirely online or through a hybrid program that combines distance and in-person education, you can chart a graduate school journey that works for you. Our MBA in Healthcare Administration program offers targeted training in areas that range from healthcare policy and economics to health informatics research methods.
For more information about our MBA in Healthcare Administration, its academic requirements, and the flexible study options on offer, visit our MBA Curriculum page today.
