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Individuals can work in a number of career fields after completing a bachelor of healthcare administration degree program. These programs are intended to help develop an understanding of administrative tasks in medical facilities.
Bachelors Degree=”Degree”
A Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration is necessary for those seeking a career on the business side of medicine. Students learn how to handle supplies, costs, staff, and other operations of medical facilities, hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. Students also learn business fundamentals, the theories and practices of healthcare organizations and how to organize employees and resources.
Course topics can include public health rules, healthcare law, economics, l ethics in medicine, health records management, quality control management, marketing, information technology, and operations management. Some programs help students focus on specific areas, such as emergency management, health information systems, and long-term care.
Careers
The healthcare industry is not made up of just doctors, nurses and other healthcare specialists. In administration at each hospital, clinic or ward, there are managers who run the offices, handle finances and even insure supply rooms get stocked.
While hospitals look for someone with a master’s degree for hospital administrator, doctors’ offices and clinics are usually ran by someone with a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration. These facilities need someone with a handle on legal and regulatory issues, who is able to put into practice new technology for both medical and non-medical use, to manage office finances, and to schedule and oversee medical and support staff.
A specific clinical area in a hospital or an outside clinic can be managed by a healthcare administrator with a bachelor’s degree. It is common for clinical managers to also have a background in the clinic’s area. On the business side, there is an organization to the operation outside the training of medical personnel. Clinic managers can work in occupation or physical therapy, rehabilitation or respiratory care clinics and manage the scheduling and paperwork that goes along with the administrative side of medical services. A clinic manager is responsible for developing procedures, evaluating personnel and work quality, managing the budget and preparing reports.
Patient records are a big part of the operation of any medical facility. A person who has a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration is an excellent candidate to manage a health information department, where the maintenance and security of patient histories is paramount. Technology and the ability to manage those who specialize in creating and managing databases have become very important as federal mandates dictate that patient records must be kept in a digital format. The health information manager is instrumental in keeping complete data and understanding how to access.
Another career option for someone with a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration is as a nursing home facility administrator. The manager at this facility is responsible for personnel, inventory, budgeting and controlling costs as well as compliance with state and federal guidelines.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has stated that about 90 percent of all people working in healthcare administration earn more than $53,940 annually as of May 2012. This figure goes up to $150,560 for those working in the top 10 percent. The exact salary each administrator receives depends on the job location and prior experience.