Healthcare Careers: A Day in the Life of a Healthcare Administrator

By Rick Fromme

In today’s ever-increasingly complex world of healthcare delivery, skilled Healthcare Administrators are essential in overseeing and managing a wide range of medical facilities. They’re in large part responsible for the facility’s overall efficiency and ensuring it consistently delivers expert patient care. Healthcare Administrators plan, direct, coordinate, and supervise the delivery of healthcare. They deal with the integration of healthcare delivery systems, technological innovations, an increasingly complex regulatory environment, restructuring of work, and an increased focus on preventive care. The healthcare administrator job description is constantly evolving to adapt to a perpetually changing environment. It’s a challenging job, but one that can be rewarding both personally and financially. 

Postive Job Outook

Just like numerous jobs in the clinical aspect of healthcare (i.e., physicians, physician assistant, ARNPs, physical therapists, dentists, etc.), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job outlook for Healthcare Administrators is also projected to increase; projecting a 22% growth in this field over the next ten years.  Those who have strong business management skills and usually an advanced degree, such as having graduated from an MBA program specializing in Healthcare Management will prove to be the best candidates for this multifaceted leadership role.  

Various Work Environments

In addition to the hospital or medical center’s principal CEO, large medical facilities usually employ several assistant administrators who aid their top administrator and execute a variety of tasks. Assistant administrators often direct activities in clinical areas such as nursing, surgery, therapy, medical records, or healthcare IT. They may be in charge of recruitment or — especially in today’s evolving legislative/regulatory environment — be assigned as a liaison to the government.

In larger facilities, hospital administrators (and their staff) serve as liaisons between governing boards,   
medical staff, and department heads. They also ensure the activities of all departments are integrated, so they’ll function synergistically. They must also adhere to policies set by a governing board of trustees and regulatory entities.

Likewise, in these larger environments, clinical managers have training or experience in a specific clinical area and, accordingly, have more specific responsibilities than do generalists. For example, directors of the robotic surgery department are experienced this innovative field, perhaps having undergone specialized training with the device’s manufacturer. Clinical managers establish and implement policies, objectives, and procedures for their departments; evaluate personnel and work quality; develop reports and budgets; and coordinate activities with other managers.

Kaweah Delta Medical Center office along Mill Creek (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In smaller facilities and group practices, administrators are in charge of more of the day-to-day operations. For example, in a fairly large group practice that may involve several medical doctors, physician assistants, nurses, medical assistants, clerical and marketing staff, healthcare IT, etc., the healthcare administrator will oversee the operations and performance of this varied personnel. Depending upon their professional arrangement, a healthcare administrator in these types of practices may focus predominately on operational and business affairs, leaving policy decisions up to the physicians in the group.

Requisite Skills

Regardless of whether they’re in charge of a clinical area or the management of a healthcare facility, a variety of business and management skills are mandatory in order to establish long-range planning, the creation of operating objectives and annual budgets, and establishment of an overall system for the efficient implementation of medical services. The ability to create and understand detailed financial reports, managed care contracts and major expenditures are necessary, as is the ability to structure and administer administrative policies. In a clinical setting, this may also include detailed procedures and protocols for patient care.  

Healthcare is constantly evolving. Consequently, Healthcare Administrators are tasked with defining andmaintaining the quality of care being provided and do it as efficiently as possible. The healthcare administrator needs to adapt to:

• The various ways care is delivered
• The technology deployed
• The regulations that must be followed
• The changing work environment
• The increasing role of preventative care
• The evolving federal laws pertaining to healthcare delivery (i.e., changes in ACA, Medicaid, Medicare)

In larger healthcare practices and facilities, Healthcare Administrators oversee such areas as:

• Nursing
• Surgery
• Internal medicine
• Medical records
• Information systems
• Human resources
• Finance
• Facilities and material
• Patient admissions

Because healthcare administration has its hands in many functions of healthcare delivery, it can be a very challenging position. Working conditions vary. Oftentimes, 40+ hour work weeks and being on call are the norm. Especially since many large facilities have 24-hour health care services, its administrative staff must be available when certain issues occur. 

This is in line with the overall growth of health care and many of the delivery roles. The median salary is noted as $90,000, 000 per year. This can vary dramatically based on the degree, experience and size of facility.

Educational Requirements

Images of custom amirugami, an amirugami graduate in cap and gown. Self-made. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To be qualified to work in healthcare administration it is advised to obtain and Bachelor’s or master’s degree. A Bachelor’s in Healthcare qualifies applicants to work small group practice or individual departments. A master’s degree and previous professional experience is required to work in larger practices, to be in charge of multiple departments, or to head up a major medical entity.  However, depending upon the situation, if one is already degreed and trained in a specific clinical area such as nursing, pharmacy or medical technology, then a sometimes Bachelor’s degree in Health Care Administration may be sufficient.

It’s also possible to specialize. For instance, there are separate degrees available in Healthcare IT, (see our previous blog, “A Look Inside Healthcare IT Jobs”) Accounting and Finance, and Human Resources. These degrees would prove beneficial when seeking employment in larger facilities such as a regional medical center. 

Be forewarned that like many top tier clinical medical careers, being a Healthcare Administrator is a demanding, multifaceted job. But for someone who is passionate about health care and wants to employ their business acumen for the betterment of patients and the myriad healthcare personnel who serve them, healthcare administration can be a satisfying and rewarding career path.

In this article, I discussed the roles and responsibilities of a Healthcare Administrator. I explained many of the areas of
oversight for which Healthcare Administrators are responsible.   I also pointed out some of the various workplace environments for Healthcare Administrators and provided information about educational requirements to enter the in-demand, but challenging field. If you found this article useful, please feel free to share it with your colleagues and others. If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so below.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube. 

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