Healthcare Administrator Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Are you searching for a healthcare administrator job description? Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a healthcare administrator. Feel free to use our healthcare administrator job description template to produce your own healthcare administrator job description. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a healthcare administrator.
Who is a Healthcare Administrator?
Healthcare administration is an interdisciplinary profession that incorporates business, research, and health policies to enhance patient care. This field refers to the leadership, management, and administration of hospitals, hospital networks, and public health systems in all primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. It involves managing and dealing with every part of the commercial side of providing healthcare services.
The management of all non-clinical activities at a healthcare facility, including daily operations, staffing, budgeting, financial management, and long-term strategic planning to ensure the success of the healthcare system is the responsibility of a healthcare administrator. From managers in minor medical facilities to CEOs of sizable, important hospital systems, it comprises diverse degrees of administrative and healthcare control. A hospital’s or medical facility’s healthcare administration department is in charge of making sure patients get the best care possible. This department ensures that everything runs properly for everyone inside the building, including patients and staff. Healthcare administration is also known as health administration, healthcare management, health system management, or hospital management. The healthcare administration department of a hospital usually has several employees to whom the duties of hospital administration are delegated. These employees are called healthcare administrators.
Healthcare administrators are professionals in charge of running medical facilities. They typically oversee staff, establish workplace procedures and systems, ensure adherence to healthcare policies and laws, manage overall financial effectiveness, and develop educational programs. Their jobs are multifaceted, and administrators typically have several different responsibilities. Although they hardly ever interact with patients directly, healthcare administrators are responsible for creating and sustaining healthcare systems that focus on the well-being of the communities they serve. They oversee how hospitals, healthcare systems, and other medical institutions are run.
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities’ daily administrative operations are supervised by a healthcare administrator. They are tasked with organizing and managing all medical services. Large-scale choices for the healthcare facility or institution are made by healthcare administrators in the background. To improve patient experiences and guarantee the security of visitors and employees, they work directly with policy and budgets. The success of a healthcare facility is essentially in the hands of the administrators. They are also responsible for the hospital’s finances and have to make sure the facility is profitable while still offering patients the highest quality care. Healthcare administrators are also called medical systems managers or health services manager
To be hired in a starting position, healthcare administrators must possess at least a bachelor’s degree in healthcare management. The business and healthcare principles you’ll learn in this degree program will help you comprehend everyday operations, budgets, strategies, and communication for careers in the healthcare industry in medical institutions. To show that candidates understand the principles of person-focused and culturally relevant care and are well qualified for leadership in the healthcare industry, many employers will demand that applicants have an MBA in healthcare management or a master of health leadership. The executive strategy, large-scale management, and leadership principles that are essential for administrative jobs will be covered in more depth in these postgraduate degrees. Candidates for health administration are frequently preferred by employers who have worked in healthcare. You must have this kind of experience to prove that you are capable of assuming greater leadership roles inside a business. Consider your intended function when choosing the best healthcare leadership degree for you. A good healthcare administrator must be able to think critically, solve issues, and apply logic to a variety of situations. To motivate and inspire their staff to offer the finest treatment for patients, they should also possess excellent leadership and management skills.
Healthcare Administrator Job Description
What is a healthcare administrator job description? A healthcare administrator job description is simply a list of duties and responsibilities of a healthcare administrator in an organization. Below are the healthcare administrator job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a healthcare administrator job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
Healthcare administrators’ duties and responsibilities include the following tasks:
- Oversee the administrative department’s spending and write thorough reports regarding your findings.
- Keep thorough records of your office and medical supply purchases.
- Notify staff members of any new regulations or other changes.
- Create schedules for each employee’s workday.
- Monitor routine administrative tasks.
- Stay in touch with other departments always to know where to step in.
- Establish staff work schedules.
- Organize the personnel and medical records.
- Assess employees and create reports.
- Train newly employed staff.
- Make budgets and oversee spending and expenditures.
- Keep supplies in stock.
- Deal with any issues that may arise with patients.
- Collaborate with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare experts to determine their requirements and challenges.
- Respond quickly to inquiries from medical professionals, nurses, and patients.
- Verify the accuracy of patient medical records.
- Keep track of every expense, and suggest ways to cut costs.
- Ensure that all divisions adhere to the rules and laws that govern the healthcare industry.
- Establish strategic objectives for the organization in collaboration with the board of directors, and track your progress toward achieving them.
- Examine financial statements and create budgets using anticipated revenues and costs.
- Manage the employment of new personnel and the ongoing education of current ones.
- Create regulations that cover all organizational departments in areas like privacy and security.
- Examine medical records to confirm that patients are receiving effective treatment from their doctors.
- Direct daily hospital operations, manage staff, and, if necessary, recruit new hires.
- Analyze the performance of medical staff members and offer suggestions for improvement.
- Work together with insurance providers and governmental organizations to ensure that the hospital is paid for the services it provides.
- Create effective regulations that enhance patient safety and happiness by collaborating with other hospital administrators.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in management, health care administration, business administration, or related field is required
- At least five years of experience as a healthcare administrator or any similar position.
- Thorough understanding of healthcare rules and regulations.
- Knowledge of medical terminology.
- Practical experience with administrative and accounting processes is advantageous.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Organizational abilities.
- Problem-solving skills.
- Good time-management skills.
Essential Skills
- Communication skills: Healthcare administrators need effective communication skills essential to perform well in their position. Communication between healthcare administrators and a range of parties may include patients, medical professionals, other administrators, and hospital board members is bound to occur always. To ensure that everyone knows the same information and has the same expectations, effective communication is essential. Healthcare managers can handle problems and address concerns by having strong communication skills.
- Leadership skills: The day-to-day management of a hospital is the responsibility of healthcare administrators, so leadership skills are essential. Since administrators frequently serve as the ones who oversee hospital workers and make executive decisions, this calls for excellent leadership abilities. Healthcare leaders who are effective at motivating their staff to collaborate and achieve shared objectives.
- Budgeting skills: Budgeting skill is required in healthcare administration because healthcare administrators are in charge of overseeing their organization’s finances. This includes setting up and managing the hospital’s budget. Budgeting expertise is used by healthcare administrators to develop financial plans for the hospital and its divisions. They make sure the hospital is functioning within its means by using their budgeting expertise as well.
- Teamwork: To make sure the hospital works properly, healthcare administrators frequently collaborate with a team of other administrators, executives, doctors, nurses, support workers, and other experts. Healthcare administrators that are good at working in teamwork would be able to communicate well with their groups and encourage, and foster collaboration to accomplish shared objectives.
- Problem-solving skills: Healthcare administrators frequently have to find quick and efficient solutions to issues because they are in charge of monitoring a hospital’s daily operations. As a healthcare administrator, you would still have to deal with problems involving patient care, employee relations, budgeting, upkeep of equipment, and other things. Efficient healthcare administrators must find solutions to a variety of issues. The most recent healthcare rules enforced at the municipal, state, and federal levels must be maintained at their institutions. Even with a nursing shortage, staffing issues, and low employee morale, healthcare administrators would still have to deal with the staffing oy their healthcare facilities. Strong problem-solving abilities can assist you in addressing problems swiftly and discovering solutions that are beneficial to your firm.
- Financial expertise: Effective healthcare administrators must make tough choices that affect a facility’s budget, and financial expertise is needed to make a positive impact. Healthcare facility administrators often make difficult funding decisions, such as whether to prioritize one department over another. These healthcare workers also deal with food service, equipment maintenance, and other things. Budget cuts can be made by the best managers without compromising care. Healthcare administrators need to be meticulous, but it’s not enough to state that; they also need to understand budgets and how decisions in one area affect decisions in other areas.
- Organizational skills: This skill is essential because almost every facet of a healthcare facility’s daily operations must be organized by a healthcare administrator. This can range from overseeing the arrangement and maintenance of a sizable number of patient health records to maintaining a well-organized work schedule. The healthcare administrator needs to be able to manage both large-scale organizational systems and small-scale specifics.
How to Become a Healthcare Administrator
Step 1. Obtain a bachelor’s degree
To become a health care administrator, you must first have an undergraduate degree. There are many additional bachelor’s degrees that can help you, even though some are focused on helping you become a health care administrator, including a degree in business administration, human resources, or health care administration. For instance, some healthcare administrators study public health or nursing before making the switch to administration. If a student enrolls in school full-time, it usually takes them four years to finish these degrees. Health care management, business management, accounting, ethics, economics, statistics, leadership, management, and finance are some of the subjects included in the coursework for these degrees.
Step 2. Acquire experience
Getting the necessary experience for the position is the next stage in becoming a health care administrator. You may have various alternatives for relevant job experience, depending on the undergraduate degree you chose to pursue. Finding employment in such fields after earning a degree in nursing or another medical profession will provide you with priceless expertise you can utilize as a healthcare administrator. If you have a degree in business administration or health care, you can locate entry-level administrative work to obtain additional experience. Although hospitals and other healthcare institutions are where most healthcare managers work, you can also obtain expertise in other businesses. As a health care administrator, you can benefit greatly from administrative experience from businesses and insurance companies. It can also help hiring managers find your work history appealing.
Step 3. Pursue a master’s degree
Attending a master’s program is the next step to becoming a health care administrator after having worthwhile work experience in a related sector. A master’s degree in health administration or health care administration is often preferred by companies. Selecting the right undergraduate degree is analogous to selecting the right master’s degree for a position as a health care administrator. A lot of health care executives might decide to pursue a master’s degree in one of many possible disciplines, such as business administration, public administration, or public health. Your undergraduate degree might serve as a starting point for choosing which master’s degree to pursue. For instance, it might be simpler to get admitted into a master’s program in business administration if your undergraduate degree was in business administration. Health care management, health care finance, health care legislation, health care ethics, and healthcare marketing are among the subjects covered in master’s degree programs that normally last two years to complete.
Step 4. Enrol in a post-graduate program
Even though it may not be necessary for some employers, a post-graduate health care administration program or fellowship is a good approach to further your education and build your professional network. You can work directly with hospitals, other healthcare facilities, and their administrative employees by participating in a fellowship, which typically lasts one to two years. This employment, which is frequently paid, rotates you among various hospital areas and tasks. This exercise will prepare you to work in several departments and teach you about the various jobs that healthcare administrators perform.
Step 5. Find your position and apply for it
More specialized job titles exist in the field of healthcare administration. They include the chief executive officer, patient care executive, and nursing executive. To assist you in choosing the appropriate position, consider your interests and prior experience. Consider applying for an administrative position in a mental health centre, for instance, if mental health is your area of expertise. Start by looking for administrative positions in long-term care or elderly care facilities if you want to work in those fields.
Where to Work as a Healthcare Administrator
There are several employment opportunities for healthcare administrators. They are typically employed in outpatient health centres, clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation facilities. The majority of them work for hospitals, where they manage sizable personnel and budget. Healthcare administrators are common in larger hospitals, with each one of them specialized in a particular area. A healthcare administrator may be in charge of the hospital’s radiology, accountancy, or nursing, depending on their area of specialization. S
maller healthcare facilities also have a healthcare administrator who is in charge of more facets of the facility’s daily operations. Additionally, they work in hospitals, healthcare organizations, doctor’s offices, and businesses that offer home health care. While working in an office most of the time, they could spend a lot of time walking around the hospital meeting with staff, patients, and visitors. Although there may be periods when additional hours are required, healthcare administrators typically work 40 hours each week. Because the nursing homes, hospitals, and other facilities they manage are open 24/7, they could get calls at all hours to handle problems. Due to the necessity to inspect satellite facilities, attend meetings, etc., some travel may also be necessary for healthcare administration work.
Healthcare Administrator Salary Scale
The average Healthcare Administrator salary in the United States is $82,134, but the salary scale typically falls between $73,039 and $91,401. In the UK, the average healthcare administrator’s salary is £23,500 per year. The entry-level positions start at £21,500 while the experienced workers earn up to £30,000 per year. In Germany, the average healthcare administrator’s salary is 255.499 €. The salary scale typically ranges from 155.954 € to 426.796 € per year.
In Canada, the average healthcare administration salary is $61,064 per year. The entry-level positions start at $49,375 per year, while most experienced workers can earn over $87,876 per year. The typical average healthcare administrator salary in Australia is $71,733 per year. The salary scale usually falls from $60,484 to $98,079 per year. Healthcare Administrator’s salary in India is an average annual salary of ₹ 4.3 Lakhs. The salary ranges from ₹ 0.6 Lakhs to ₹ 14.9 Lakhs. A person working as a Healthcare Administrator in Nigeria typically earns around 4,176,000 NGN per year. The salaries range from 2,256,000 NGN to 6,312,000 NGN.