Healthcare Administration Jobs | Healthcare Management Jobs

What types of employment settings can healthcare administrators work in?

Healthcare Administrators can work in a variety of settings including hospitals, clinics, and long term care facilities (such as nursing homes). Generally physician’s offices hire medical office managers or administrators to handle the business side of their practice. Rehabilitation clinics with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language therapy services typically have a director of each profession. These directors are experienced in the area they are directing. So a director of physical therapy is likely credentialed in physical therapy and has moved up the ranks to having more administrative than patient care duties.

Learn more about the healthcare administration degree.

At hospitals, administrators handle the business side of the hospital and are not necessarily credentialed as practitioners. They have more of a business administration or health administration background. Hospitals may also have managers or directors over Healthcare Administration Jobs

certain areas within the hospital or over certain clinicians. It is more common for these specific managers to have training in the field they are supervising. These types of clinical managers develop protocol and policies for their department, and also supervise and assess personnel.

Learn more about healthcare administration jobs.

According to the American College for Healthcare Executives, other settings where healthcare executives are needed include: consulting firms, health insurance companies, healthcare associations, mental health organizations, public health departments, universities, and research institutions.

What are the specific job duties of healthcare administrators?

Healthcare Administration is a broad field that includes a variety of management and administration positions. Sometimes individuals who work in this field are referred to as Healthcare Executives. According to the American College of Healthcare Executives, job duties of healthcare administrators and executives include:

Partnering with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to provide the best quality of care possible.
Serving as educators in the community for health related issues.
Ensuring the hospital or facility they work for has the best medical, operational, and financial groundwork to best serve their patients.
Ensuring safety for the public by disseminating information in a timely manner during times of healthcare related crises.

As with any organization, the CEO is ultimately responsible for the hospital’s performance and compliance with all regulating bodies. Generally, healthcare administrators are responsible for serving as the liaison between the hospital or facility of which they are employed, and regulatory bodies such as the state medical board.

Hospital administrators ensure that licensed clinicians are being hired into their facility, and that employees are working within their scope of practice. Some hospitals and clinics have a credentialing department or individual who ensures their physicians are appropriately licensed. The hiring and terminating of employees also typically rests on the hands of healthcare managers. Also, healthcare administrators and managers focus on performance and process improvement. They ensure the hospital or department is functioning efficiently so that patients are provided with the highest quality care. There is also a financial component involved in being a hospital administrator. Budgeting appropriately and ensuring there is an appropriate number of staff while still making a profit is an important duty in this field.