Why Pursue a Health Services Administration Career?
Healthcare administration, also referred to as health services administration, is a field concerned primarily with the organization, leadership, efficiency maximization and management of hospitals and other healthcare centers or public agencies. A healthcare administrator, while primarily occupying a management position, is considered a healthcare professional. But why should an MPA graduate choose a career in health services administration over other opportunities in the public or private sectors?
Refine Your Skills
Healthcare, like any business concern, requires quality management in order to run smoothly and provide its vital service to communities. A healthcare administrator handles a hospital or medical system’s planning, direction, coordination, and delivery of healthcare services to parties in need.
Typically a health services administrator working inside a smaller hospital will serve as a sort of general manager, overseeing the activities of all departments within the organization. At a larger hospital, often several specialists will make up a team of health services administrators with each specialist servicing a particular department within the hospital. The importance of health services work and the requirements for efficiency and quality improvements at healthcare facilities will ensure that you, as an MPA graduate, are provided with rigorous hands-on experience in your field.
Humanitarian Concerns
If you want to give back to your community, then what better way to do it than by ensuring the quality, consistency, and speed of its healthcare services? Now more than ever, large healthcare institutions like hospitals, nursing homes, hospice houses and the like require competent, capable administrative professionals to keep costs down and make sure that the standard of healthcare service provided meets the industry’s high expectations. Healthcare is a business, but it contains unique chances to engage with the community and to provide a vital service on the municipal or state level.
Job Outlook
The health services industry displays a strong, clear trend toward steady growth. With employment of medical and health services managers expected to increase by 16 percent from 2008 to 2018, a rate superior to the average for all occupations, the healthcare industry will continue to expand and specialize, increasing its demand for administrative professionals. Increasing regulatory issues, soaring malpractice insurance rates, the high institutional accountability demanded by Medicare, and other factors mean that MPA graduates specializing in healthcare administration will continue to be in demand for the foreseeable future. The increasing numbers of clinics and of outpatient care sites in general means that various opportunities will present themselves to professionals in the industry.
Give Back: Get Something in Return
Whether you’re supervising the complex internal organization of a hospital or providing much-needed logistical support at an outpatient clinic, your efforts in the health administration field will be rewarded. The sector is growing, which means so are the chances for advancement in this very stable occupation. In short, health services administration lets you serve the public and build your career.
- http://healthmanagementcareers.org/, 2012.
- http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/beyondco/beg_09.pdf
- http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/beyondco/beg_09.pdf