Are you highly-organized? Good with people? Love going over nitty-gritty details?
If so, a career in healthcare management may be right for you.
What can you do with a healthcare management degree? Let’s explore the options, so that whether you just graduated or are about to start a healthcare management program, you can enter the job field with a clear direction and confidence.
What Are Healthcare Administrators?
First things first, what are healthcare managers? Think of them as the business behind the medicine. They help operate the logistical side of things so that doctors and nurses can do their jobs and the healthcare industry can run smoothly.
Graduates with this degree program are typically highly organized, effective leaders, and clear communicators.
Healthcare administrators get the opportunity to work behind the scenes, as well as collaborate with healthcare providers, and interact with the community they serve. If you like multi-tasking, problem-solving, and working with a team, this is a great direction for you.
If you haven’t started your degree program yet, we recommend checking out the program at Ultimate Medical Academy, www.ultimatemedical.edu, where they offer an online degree that you can earn in 18 months.
What Can You Do With a Healthcare Management Degree?
The great news is that there are many different types of jobs you can get with a healthcare management degree in several different fields, from public service to hospital management, so you can find the right fit for you.
There are also plenty of opportunities to move up in your field, so you’ll always feel challenged and have new goals to work towards.
With that in mind, let’s look at the different directions you can go into with a healthcare management degree.
Medical Secretary/Patient Care Representative
This position is the go-between between patients and practitioners. Your job is to communicate with patients, answer questions, collect their information, and help with billing. You are the front desk person and handle all communication with the patients.
This role is very important since this is the first person a patient meets at a medical office, so interpersonal communication skills are a must, along with administration and organizational skills.
Office Administrator
Handling the logistics and day to day of a medical office, like a private practice, is a great entry-level job for a recent healthcare management grad. A job like this is a great place to gain experience working with healthcare providers in a smaller setting, where you’ll learn the behinds the scenes details of the industry.
You can expect to answer phones, schedule appointments, manage accounts payable, communicate with insurance companies, and potentially manage other staff members.
Nursing Home Administrator
This is a great position for someone looking to move to a larger setting. You’ll be responsible for similar administration tasks, but you’ll also have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the nursing home industry.
You would also manage a bigger staff, help coordinate events, and communicate with patients’ families.
Health and Social Services Manager
If the public sector or nonprofit work appeals to you, you can do extremely fulfilling work finding solutions to your community’s health needs. You’ll have the opportunity to develop programs that serve the medically vulnerable and provide valuable services to those in need.
Your job will entail finding the needs of the disadvantaged in your community, creating campaigns to serve those needs, and overseeing the implementation and effectiveness of your programs. You can also expect to manage budgets, analyze data, and recruit and manage staff members.
Public Health Educator
Take your specific healthcare knowledge and teach it to the masses. Similar to a health and services manager, this position allows you to get out into your community and serve your neighbors. You’ll be responsible for dispersing important public health information and creating campaigns that encourage citizens to live healthy lives.
In this position, you’ll also be looking for the needs in your community and working to fill in the gaps when it comes to public health. You’ll create and implement campaigns and programs to spread your message and become the resident health expert for the people you’re serving. This role also requires the same administration skills and responsibilities as mentioned before.
Healthcare Finance Manager
Manage the day to day finances of an organization. If working with numbers and spreadsheets, organizing, creating budgets, and managing paychecks is your skillset, seek out a job in healthcare finance.
This is a role that every practice, clinic, or healthcare organization needs, so it’s a good idea to sharpen your financial skills to become a sought-after candidate when you enter the job field.
Hospital Administrator
Manage a department or an entire hospital. This is the person who keeps the fast-paced hospital environment operating smoothly. A role like this usually requires experience in other administrative roles, and some hospitals prefer advanced degrees, but not all.
This isn’t an entry-level position, but it’s a great job to set your sights on if you want to have a long career. The hospital administrator is the head of operations, so strong leadership and communication skills are vital.
Hospital administrators are given a large amount of responsibility, including representing the hospital with donors and the boards and staying up to date with recent healthcare laws and advances.
If healthcare policy and medical technology interests you, becoming a hospital administrator will give you the opportunity to work around both.
Is Healthcare Management the Right Fit For You?
As you can see, there are many things you can do with a healthcare management degree, and opportunities to move up and advance your career are everywhere.
The healthcare industry wouldn’t survive without strong administrators. You don’t have to be on the frontlines of medicine to impact lives and create change in your community. You can use your skills to help keep medicine running smoothly and have a long and fulfilling career.
Check out the rest of our articles for more helpful career and education advice.