What is Healthcare Administration: Is it Right for Me?

When people think about the world of healthcare, they typically think of surgeons, nurses, doctors, dentists, and a host of other medical personnel. While these medical professionals work directly with patients, the business end of the medical practice has to be managed. And that’s where the world of healthcare administration comes in. Healthcare is the second largest employer in the U.S, providing over 11 million jobs.

Healthcare administration is a unique field of medicine and is a great option for individuals interested in the leadership and management of healthcare systems, hospitals, and hospital networks. Often referred to as medical administration or health systems management, this career option involves making both daily and long-term decisions on business strategies of the healthcare systems.

As leaders in an interdisciplinary and dynamic field that combines science, business, and health policy to manage human and fiscal resources, healthcare administration encompasses everything from policy making to department management.

How Do Healthcare Administrators Fit Into the Medical World?

The administrators endeavor to improve the business of healthcare, starting with sound policymaking and top quality patient care. They oversee the business components of medical care and their roles encompass patients’ rights, staffing, public relations, ethics, budget, finances, marketing, strategic planning, data collection, health records management, and other administrative tasks. While some administrators are responsible for an entire organization, others only work within a particular department.

The goal of healthcare administration is the same: to ensure that specific outcomes are achieved, the right people are in the right jobs, health care is delivered in a coordinated manner, people know what is expected of them, departments within a facility are running smoothly, all departments are working towards a common goal, and medical facilities are efficiently managed.

Skills and Qualities Needed To Be Successful In This Field

Healthcare administration is a growing field, especially due to the increased need for comprehensive health care as well as advances in science and technology. Health administrators must possess interpersonal skills, qualities, and business savvy required to successfully manage health care organizations. Here are top skills and qualification you’ll need to be successful in this field.

Strong Leadership Skills

Administration is largely about leadership, especially when it comes to strategic planning, facility management, and policy development. As such, one must be in a position to select goals, use organic strategies for goal orientation, and supervise progress on those goals.

Leadership is about more than being “the boss”; one needs to demonstrate character, class, and lead by example. As a leader, health administrators have to evaluate staff, foster teamwork, manage performance, quickly resolve conflicts, and effectively motivate and coach others.

Professionalism

In tandem with solid leadership, health administration also requires professionalism. This pertains to modeling an ethical and accountable demeanor, maintaining composure in the face of adversity, and demonstrating and encouraging continuous learning.

Health administrators must procure knowledge and disseminate it. All of this requires empathy, honesty, humility, good personal boundaries, and strong ethical parameters. Legal knowledge and technology skills also show professionalism.

Purposeful Decision Making

Successful healthcare administrators need to be strong decision makers. They are regularly faced with choices and must be able to weigh the options, evaluate the possibilities, and choose the best options for the patients and the healthcare facility in its entirety. This role also calls for an individual who’s able to focus without letting tasks through the cracks even when their attention is being pulled in different directions.

Top-Notch Communication Skills

A true leader knows how to communicate with colleagues, employees, as well as superiors. To be an effective health manager need excellent written and orals are crucial. They also need to easily communicate between departments. Health managers should be able to fully understand issues, address them, and come up with solutions. Excellent communication skills will come in handy when developing and presenting reports and proposals.

Importance of Formal Education

In order to be considered for a job as a healthcare administrator, you need to hold a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration. This course is normally a combination of a healthcare administration class and a business class. Students learn how managing a business applies to a medical model.

They are also generally equipped with the knowledge on how to deal with the ever-changing medical landscape and the processes that increase productivity and success of a business in the healthcare industry. Also, since health regulations are constantly changing, students learn about health law, including patient rights, corporate rights, and the responsibilities an ethical business must uphold.

Are you interested in helping a medical facility run smoothly? If you want to earn a Bachelor of Science in Health Science with a Concentration in Healthcare Administration, ECPI University offers this program at an accelerated pace. For more information, connect with a knowledgeable admissions representative today.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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Gainful Employment Information – Healthcare Administration - Bachelor’s

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