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Healthcare Management Career Highlights
What is a Healthcare Manager ?
Health care is a business and, like every business, it needs good management to keep it running smoothly. Medical and health services managers, also referred to as health care executives or health care administrators, plan, direct, coordinate, and supervise the delivery of health care. These workers are either specialists in charge of a specific clinical department or generalists who manage an entire facility or system.
The structure and financing of health care are changing rapidly. Future medical and health services managers must be prepared to deal with the integration of health care delivery systems, technological innovations, an increasingly complex regulatory environment, restructuring of work, and an increased focus on preventive care. They will be called on to improve efficiency in health care facilities and the quality of the care provided.
Large facilities usually have several assistant administrators who aid the top administrator and handle daily decisions. Assistant administrators direct activities in clinical areas such as nursing, surgery, therapy, medical records, or health information.
In smaller facilities, top administrators handle more of the details of daily operations. For example, many nursing home administrators manage personnel, finances, facility operations, and admissions while also providing resident care.
Healthcare Management Salary Range
$ 73,340 - Annual Healthcare Management Degree Salary
$ 29,300 - Average U.S. Salary
Healthcare Management Job Outlook
Employment of medical and health services managers is expected to grow faster than average. Job opportunities should be good, especially for applicants with work experience in the health care field and strong business management skills.
Employment change. Employment of medical and health services managers is expected to grow 16 percent from 2006 to 2016, faster than the average for all occupations. The health care industry will continue to expand and diversify, requiring managers to help ensure smooth business operations.
Managers in all settings will be needed to improve quality and efficiency of health care while controlling costs, as insurance companies and Medicare demand higher levels of accountability. Managers also will be needed to oversee the computerization of patient records and to ensure their security as required by law. Additional demand for managers will stem from the need to recruit workers and increase employee retention, to comply with changing regulations, to implement new technology, and to help improve the health of their communities by emphasizing preventive care.
Hospitals will continue to employ the most medical and health services managers over the 2006-16 decade. However, the number of new jobs created is expected to increase at a slower rate in hospitals than in many other industries because of the growing use of clinics and other outpatient care sites. Despite relatively slow employment growth, a large number of new jobs will be created because of the industry’s large size.
Employment will grow fastest in practitioners’ offices and in home health care agencies. Many services previously provided in hospitals will continue to shift to these settings, especially as medical technologies improve. Demand in medical group practice management will grow as medical group practices become larger and more complex.
Medical and health services managers also will be employed by health care management companies that provide management services to hospitals and other organizations and to specific departments such as emergency, information management systems, managed care contract negotiations, and physician recruiting.