Healthcare administration is a critical part of the medical industry. With so many departments to manage and conditions to care for, hospitals and medical clinics often require experience, time and dedication to run smoothly. Healthcare administrators play a crucial role in ensuring that patients receive the care they need and that any and all applicable regulations and laws are adhered to. But what does all of this mean, and how does it look in practice? Let’s take a closer look at healthcare administrators and what their careers tend to look like.
What is a healthcare administrator?
Despite being critical to society, the healthcare administrator’s role is largely overlooked. Caregivers themselves are often lauded for providing quality healthcare services, and while that is well-deserved praise, healthcare administrators are the people who make that level of service possible.
Healthcare administrators are in charge of facilitating patient care. This is not a straightforward task, and requires a wealth of knowledge in how hospitals are run as well as effective communication skills and medical law.
Individuals interested in a healthcare administrator position might be interested to know that the field requires a broad understanding of many different disciplines such as risk management, business development, human relations, accounting, and regulatory compliances in addition to healthcare. There is no one-size-fits-all explanation for an administrator’s duties beyond this, however, as each position will contain its own scope of work and require its own database of knowledge.
Healthcare administration specializations
‘Healthcare administrator’ is often used as a job title, but it is actually more of an umbrella term than it is a specific position. There are a number of fields that serve as specializations, and they can vary widely. Some of the positions that healthcare administrators are likely to hold include:
- Practice administrator
- Managed care specialist
- Patient advocate
- Clinical IT application support
- Healthcare informatics specialist
- Program director
- Hospital HR manager
- Healthcare law specialist
These are only a few of the common areas that healthcare administrators practice. We will look at some of them in more detail below.
Patient advocate
Communicating with healthcare professionals is not always easy. Many people are taught from a young age to ‘listen to the professionals’, which often translates to doing whatever they are instructed to do. This might be sound advice in many cases, but there are always exceptions. One of the most prominent of them is the need to communicate requirements and concerns to caregivers, especially when serious health conditions are discussed. Sometimes, doctors take important aspects of their patients’ lives into account, especially when they have a busy workload with many different patients.
A patient advocate serves an important role in the healthcare industry. Advocates are trained to communicate with physicians, insurance agencies and administration in order to ensure that they receive the very best care possible. Think of advocates as the ‘voice’ of the patient. They work directly with patients and other parties as needed to meet the patient’s healthcare needs. Patient advocates can also sometimes negotiate financial assistance and work to have insurance claims processed in a timely manner.
Healthcare informatics
The link between patient care and evolving technology that can streamline the process is not always the easiest to identify. Healthcare informatics specialists focus on how technology can be used to boost the quality and efficiency of the care that patients receive. This is done in a variety of ways, including mastering healthcare information systems, business intelligence and data analysis. Note that not all of the tools that healthcare informatics specialists must possess are directly related to healthcare. Data analysis and business intelligence are both critical to the career, but are not necessarily confined to the industry.
Healthcare informatics specialists are found all throughout the medical field and work in a variety of locations. Some of the most common include hospitals, long-term care facilities, and medical care offices as well as insurance companies, residential care and public health entities.
Healthcare regulations and policies
The healthcare industry is often beset with changing policies and regulations. In fact, because it plays such a vital role in maintaining a healthy population, the medical field sometimes seems constantly in flux. One of the most important areas of healthcare is, unsurprisingly, policy and regulation. Policy and regulation specialists are in charge of understanding the ins and outs of regulations and applying any changes to the policy of their workplace.
Healthcare regulations and policies is a great healthcare administration specialization for people who are interested in law, as well as those who enjoy using their critical thinking and analyzation skills regularly. Courses of study include applied healthcare law and health policy. Professionals can work in a wide variety of positions, including the public and private sectors of the industry.
Program director
The healthcare industry is not a particularly easy one to run. From small clinics to massive hospitals and everything in between, there are many roles that need to be filled in order to provide patients with the best care possible. This includes coordinating between agencies to ensure that programs run smoothly.
Program directors are in charge of implementing programs and ensuring that they are a good fit for the hospital. These professionals might be responsible for a single department or they might run multiple at one time, and the number of departments run will naturally impact the scope of work to be completed. Therefore, the job is most well-suited to individuals who like a challenge and can handle pressure. Program directors must have an innate understanding of the departments they direct and should be prepared to study business management in addition to other relevant courses.
What do healthcare administrators do?
Healthcare administrators work hard to keep hospitals running smoothly. We’ve discussed specific specializations in detail above, but there are also broader roles to consider. Healthcare administrators are collectively responsible for everyday operations in non-profits, healthcare organizations and healthcare companies. They handle the majority of daily operations so that other employees can focus on their own respective tasks.
Just about every healthcare organization as well as organizations that are involved in some way with healthcare services need reliable, well-trained and responsible professionals with an innate understanding of industry best practices, even if they change over time. This combination of professionals is what ensures that patients receive high-quality care and that the hospital (or other facility) remains profitable.
In short, and on a broad level, healthcare administrators keep hospitals running. Each specialization will have its own rules, needs and duties, but the bottom line is that these professionals are responsible for driving organizational success through providing efficient and quality healthcare services.
Is healthcare administration a viable career choice?
Healthcare administration is an excellent career choice. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the outlook for health and medical services managers is bright. The industry is expected to grow by 28% from 2021 to 2031, which is significantly faster than the average industry. This translates to an extra 136,000 jobs in addition to the nearly 500,000 employees already in the industry. There is plenty of room for more business administrators in the healthcare field, in other words, and outlook for the career is excellent.
Studying healthcare administration prepares you for the pressure and responsibility of being in charge of an entire hospital’s worth of departments and specialties. The specific course of study will vary depending upon the specific title you are interested in. However, there are a few topics that are critical to nearly all of them. The most important of these is understanding the healthcare industry. You cannot run a hospital or other facility if you don’t understand how they work along with the ins and outs of daily operations.
The best news about healthcare administration is that while a degree is always a good investment, it is not strictly necessary to become a healthcare administrator. This will vary from job to job, but some employers place importance on experience as well as expertise in related fields such as business management. If you are serious about investing in a healthcare administration job, however, and you have little experience in the industry, then an academic degree from a trustworthy provider is often the best choice. This is especially true as the number of job seekers increases over the coming years.
Are you ready for a career in healthcare?
As you can see, the healthcare industry requires a great many people to run properly. None of them are more important than the caregivers themselves, however, and nursing is an especially in-demand job. If you are ready for a career in the industry, then consider earning an online MBA in nursing from an accredited program! Look for a reputable provider before you sign up and begin studying. Spring Arbor University is a good example of an online university with experienced and talented faculty.
Individuals interested in pursuing a healthcare administration career are in luck. The industry is poised to grow significantly over the next decade, and the number of specializations means that students and professionals can often find something that fits their needs.