What Is Health Care Administration And Is It Right for Me?
The healthcare industry is so big that it offers numerous career opportunities even if you don’t want to work directly with patients. There is an entire business side of it all where you’d have the opportunity to help run things and make sure patients get what they need. Health Care Administration can be a rewarding and long-term career path.
So What Is Healthcare Administration?
Healthcare administration is an important field that allows you to help with the management of healthcare facilities like clinics, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and more. Even insurance companies hire people with knowledge and experience in healthcare administration. And there are a variety of administration roles and responsibilities you might have including:
- Be involved with the decision-making process to help facilities run well
- Hire, schedule, and supervise staff
- Manage budgets
- Introduce new programs, policies, and procedures
What your actual job will be depends on the type and size of the facility you work at, but there are a lot of options! As a healthcare administrator, you may find a job within organizations such as:
- Hospitals
- Doctor’s offices
- Health care system that includes a variety of departments
- Insurance companies
- Nursing homes
- Home health organizations
- Government agencies
- Pharmaceutical companies
Now that you know more about what a healthcare administrator does, could it be the right career path for you? Here are some ways to decide:
You Want to Work in Health Care but not on the Patient Side
As a healthcare administrator, your skills, knowledge, and experience will be key to the decisions that your organization makes when it comes to how patients get the care they need. You won’t actually be the one who provides the care though. Your job will be in the office as you work with other facility staff and leaders.
You Like Office Work
Since you might deal with tasks like scheduling, budgeting, and program development, your work will generally happen through communication with other professionals and on a computer in your office.
You Want to be a Leader and Demonstrate the Right Skills
When you have a job in healthcare administration, you will likely need to show leadership as a supervisor. Your job may also require you to manage a staff or confidently make decisions that will affect the whole facility — including patients. These are the types of tasks that you can do well when you have the leadership skills you need.
You’re a Good Communicator
It’s important that you can communicate well and with lots of different people. It depends on your organization, but one hour you might have to give a presentation on a new program, while the next, you may need to talk with staff about your expectations of their work. In both instances — and countless others — you will have to clearly explain your thoughts and intentions to inspire people to follow you.
You Stay Calm
In any manager role, it’s impossible to anticipate every scenario you might encounter. Your job as a healthcare administrator might be fast-paced and you might even get called in on your time off, depending on your facility. To do your job well, it’s important that you lead by example. Stay calm even when stressful situations come up so that you can quickly find the best solution to a problem and people can feel comfortable when they need to come to you with an issue.
You Know the Healthcare Industry
You will be best prepared to make good decisions for your facility if you understand the complexity of the healthcare industry and how it works. A good degree program will give you the opportunity to learn about the healthcare industry and its challenges so that you’re ready for a healthcare administration role.
Does a career in healthcare administration sound like a good fit for you? Then contact Charter College today to learn about our bachelor’s degree completion program in Health Care Administration. It even offers you the convenience of completing your degree online.