What is a Hospital Administrator?
A hospital administrator is a good career choice for people who would like to work in the healthcare field but don’t want to be a doctor or a nurse. An administrator performs administrative and managerial functions for a public-sector or privately-owned hospital, ensuring that the institution runs efficiently so that the health care personnel can perform their jobs and ensure that the patients get the care they need. Of course, those running private hospitals also have to ensure the profitability of the institution.
It is not necessary for an individual to have a background in health care to become a healthcare administrator, but it is desirable so that they would have a deeper understanding of the particular requirements of running a health care institution. However, even those with only a business management background can find employment as a healthcare administrator.
A hospital administrator is one of the better compensated among administrative positions, with the median annual salary of healthcare administrators being around $71,000 to $87,000 depending on the type of facility they are managing, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To qualify as a healthcare administrator, a candidate has to have at least a Master’s degree in a related field such as health services administration, health sciences, long-term care administration or business administration, on top of their undergraduate degree. If they want to work in the public sector, they should seek an advanced degree in public health or public administration. A Masters degree in health care administration generally takes around two to three years to complete, depending on the type of qualification earned, and candidates will be required to take courses in health care management and organization, health care law, health care information systems and medical ethics. Online Master’s degrees may also be available that allow the candidate to earn their degree through the Internet while still maintaining a regular job. However, some courses may require that the candidate for a Masters undertake a supervised internship at a participating health care facility to enable them to gain practical experience.
For those who are interested, it is a particularly good time to enter the field as the baby boomer population ages and the demand for health care increases, creating opportunities for healthcare administrators as new health care facilities are established. The BLS has projected that job growth in healthcare administration positions will be around 16% for the ten-year period starting in 2008 up to 2018, creating a wealth of new opportunities for those who would like to become a hospital administrator.