You are passionate about improving health and well-being in your community, and you believe that a healthcare career will allow you to make a difference. The only problem? You prefer to avoid working in a clinical capacity, and fields like nursing are out of the question.
Thankfully, there are many other opportunities to make your mark in the healthcare sector. Healthcare administration, in particular, is worth exploring. This allows you to work behind the scenes to make clinics, hospitals, and entire healthcare systems more efficient and effective.
As a high school student, you have the chance to get a head start and develop the skills it takes to thrive in the promising field of healthcare administration. You can take simple steps now to explore your interests, set a few goals, and even develop foundational skills.
First, it is important to understand, what is healthcare administration, and what does a healthcare administrator do? We will cover these essentials in detail while revealing how to become a healthcare administrator.
What Is Healthcare Administration?
Healthcare administration brings purpose-driven oversight and coordination to healthcare organizations and systems. This far-reaching field focuses on the management, leadership, and operation of healthcare organizations and systems and involves overseeing the non-clinical aspects of healthcare delivery, ensuring that facilities run efficiently, comply with regulations, and provide quality care to patients. Successful healthcare administrators can have a huge impact on patient care while also reducing patient expenses and increasing healthcare revenue.
What Does a Healthcare Administrator Do?
Now that you understand the basics of healthcare administration, it is important to clarify: what is a healthcare administrator? At their most basic level, these hard-working professionals handle the business side of the healthcare industry.
Healthcare administrators are responsible for managing and overseeing the operations of healthcare organizations, such as hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and other medical facilities. Their work ensures healthcare services are delivered efficiently, effectively, and in compliance with regulatory standards. This is a diverse role that can include everything from strategic planning to negotiating contracts or staff scheduling. These and other responsibilities allow administrators to shape healthcare revenue and quality of care.
Key Responsibilities
It’s important to recognize the general purpose of healthcare administration, but this is only the beginning. A glimpse into the day-to-day life of a healthcare administrator can help you understand if this field is right for you.
Keep in mind that these jobs can vary considerably, depending on where administrators work and which specialties they pursue. This can make it difficult to truly understand, what do healthcare administrators do.
While no two jobs in healthcare administration look exactly alike, they often involve these essentials:
- Operational Management. Overseeing the daily functions of healthcare facilities, administrators may be involved in staff or patient scheduling. They help shape each facility’s flow, ensuring that patients receive quality care within a safe and supportive environment.
- Financial Management. There are many ways in which healthcare administrators can help control costs and, ultimately, boost revenue. They may be involved in contract negotiations with insurance providers or may streamline processes like claim submission to improve cash flow.
- Human Resources Management. Some healthcare administrators play an important role in recruiting or hiring. They help HR departments find and attract skilled physicians, nurses, and other important members of the facility’s clinical and administrative teams. HR responsibilities could also involve training, compensation, or benefits. The goal is: to promote a positive and productive workforce in which team members are motivated to provide exceptional patient care.
- Regulatory Compliance. Many complex rules and regulations shape the modern healthcare sector, and administrators can play a valuable role in ensuring that healthcare organizations follow these quickly evolving requirements. Policy implementation promotes patient privacy, infection control, or other priorities. Administrators can help with auditing so that compliance issues are pinpointed and resolved.
- Quality Improvement. Even the most well-run facilities can always find room for improvement. This is where healthcare administrators shine. Administrators increasingly rely on data-driven tools and strategies to reveal gaps in care or other concerns and show how these can be addressed. Healthcare administrators help bring a systematic approach to this process. This can drive meaningful change for patients and clinical staff members alike.
- Strategic Planning. While healthcare administration tends to focus on the day-to-day concerns of the healthcare environment, there are also opportunities to bring a strategic vision to this field. Through analyzing market trends and organizational strengths or weaknesses, administrators can help ensure that everyday decisions support long-term goals or visions.
- Communication and Public Relations. As skilled communicators, administrators can get their message across to a variety of people, including patients, clinical staff, insurance companies, and beyond. They can also help develop a strong relationship with the local community so that healthcare organizations are well-regarded.
Is Healthcare Administration a Good Career?
Healthcare administration can be a wonderful career, especially for people who feel driven to make a difference in the healthcare sector, but are not necessarily drawn to clinical roles.
While the most straightforward answer to the question, “Is healthcare administration a good career?” is a resounding yes, individual responses may vary. This field attracts detail-oriented professionals who value stability and career growth. However, those who prefer patient interaction and a direct role in improving health may find the clinical side more suitable.
When deciding if this field is right for you, consider how you want to help patients. Do you want to help them secure cost-effective care? Would you like to make it easier to navigate insurance challenges? Or do you feel that you can help clinical providers uncover opportunities for improvement? There are many ways to make a difference, and if you have the skills and temperament to thrive in a business or office environment, this field may be right for you.
What Jobs Can You Do with a Healthcare Administration Degree?
Healthcare administration is more diverse than many people realize. There are many opportunities to improve efficiency and standards of care through office management and coordination. Jobs available to healthcare admin graduates include:
- Healthcare Administrator. While senior healthcare administration roles often call for graduate credentials (such as an MBA), some entry-level opportunities are available to administrators with relevant bachelor’s degrees. These roles could involve everything from scheduling support to managing patient records or even healthcare inventory management.
- Medical Office Manager. Providing much-needed oversight for the administrative aspects of the healthcare system, medical office managers focus on daily operations, including everything from staff scheduling to patient flow and even financial concerns.
- Health Services Manager. Similar to the role of medical officer manager (but often involving larger facilities or organizations), health services management involves a broader range of responsibilities, which may be more strategic in nature. Common areas of focus include staff coordination, budgeting, and financial planning.
- Patient Services Representative. Acting as a valuable contact for patients (especially when first entering healthcare facilities), the patient services representative assists with everything from scheduling appointments to verifying insurance and processing payments. This is a great option for anyone who likes the idea of working in healthcare administration but hopes to also interact directly with patients.
- Health Insurance Specialist. Tasked with processing insurance claims, health insurance specialists play an important role in the medical billing process. Their goal is to ensure that healthcare organizations are properly reimbursed when they provide services for insured patients.
- Healthcare Human Resources Assistant. Involved with staffing essentials such as recruiting, hiring, and onboarding, HR assistants provide support for employees while also helping them boost their performance and productivity. These assistants provide valuable administrative support to HR teams, so they can focus more on the strategic side of HR.
- Medical Records Coordinator. Medical records play a huge role in the modern healthcare sector, but they can be difficult to navigate and maintain. Medical records coordinators help by ensuring that patient information is accurate and confidential. This role should not be confused with that of the medical billing or coding specialist. Medical records coordinators focus more on the overall management of patient records.
- Health Information Technician. Like medical records coordinators, health information technicians help shape the effective and confidential use of patient information, but with more of a technological focus. They help maintain electronic health record (EHR) systems and may also pinpoint or address issues with data quality.
- Healthcare Consultant. Offering a valuable outside perspective to many types of healthcare organizations, consultants help uncover inefficiencies or other concerns that in-house employees may struggle to reveal or deal with on their own. There can be significant overlap between this and many of the other roles in this list. Consultants may bring expertise in health information, healthcare HR, or health policy to the forefront.
- Administrative Coordinator. To keep administrative departments running smoothly, coordinators take on many logistical tasks (such as scheduling) so that other administrative professionals can focus on strategic initiatives.
- Health Policy Assistant. Eager to drive change at the state or federal level, some healthcare administrators play a role in developing and implementing health policies. They may be involved in researching health policies, analyzing proposals, or even collaborating with legislators.
How to Become a Healthcare Administrator
A degree is a must for entering the demanding field of healthcare administration. It’s never too early to prepare, and you can begin to explore this field as a high school student. A strong foundation in math, economics, and science will serve you well, helping you navigate eventual bachelor’s courses in quantitative literacy, or statistical methods.
After graduating from high school, you can begin taking more targeted coursework as you pursue your Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration. Consider enrolling in an online program, such as Baker College’s healthcare admin degree.
Exploring Healthcare Administration Degree Programs
Many degrees can provide excellent preparation for the healthcare administrators of tomorrow, but few are as well-suited to aspiring administrators as the Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration. This program provides a solid overview of the core principles of healthcare administration. You can expect to learn the basics of healthcare operations, human resources, ethics, and more.
Benefits of a Healthcare Administration Degree
A healthcare administration degree unlocks a world of possibilities, providing a strong foundation for immediate career success and long-term professional growth within a dynamic industry. This career-driven degree provides a deep dive into the nuances of the healthcare sector, but from a financial, ethical, and compliance perspective.
Skills Acquired
It takes a unique blend of healthcare knowledge and soft skills to thrive in healthcare administration.
- Healthcare law. From Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a complex web of legislation governs the healthcare industry. Healthcare admin coursework can help you understand and navigate this evolving legal landscape.
- Ethical leadership. With an entire course dedicated to ethics as they relate to the healthcare system, bachelor’s healthcare admin degrees provide plenty of opportunities to explore and understand issues such as conflicts of interest or informed consent.
- Communication skills. Every class discussion, group project, and written assignment provides an opportunity to hone your professional communication skills. This will help you interact more effectively with patients, clinical staff members, or even insurance representatives.
Career Advancement Opportunities
We’ve discussed several of the most compelling entry-level roles in healthcare administration, but this is only the beginning. Career advancement is a clear priority among many ambitious healthcare administrators who hope to eventually step into higher-level roles in healthcare management. Others prefer to specialize in areas such as revenue cycle management or compliance. There are many ways to shape your career according to your interests, abilities, and desire to make a difference, but you may need additional training to unlock these possibilities.
Choosing the Right Healthcare Administration Degree
Several healthcare admin degree programs are available, including options to study at both the bachelor’s and master’s levels. A bachelor’s degree can provide valuable preparation for entry-level positions and can also be a great starting point for those hoping to eventually seek graduate credentials.
Another important consideration is the program format, as some students prefer to pursue their healthcare administration degree online. Online courses provide enhanced flexibility, especially for working students. Online education also opens programs up to a wider range of students, regardless of where they live or work.
Program quality and reputation also matter. You want to feel confident your program will help you develop important skills and that your degree will command respect among potential employers. Look to accreditation status for an extra boost of confidence. The Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) can be an excellent resource.
Start Your Career in Healthcare Administration at Baker
Do you dream of making a positive difference in the healthcare industry? With the right skills and the right degree, you could have a powerful impact in healthcare administration. The first step? Earning your Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration with Baker College. Get in touch today to learn more.