Health Care Administration Programs

If you are looking for an exciting and rewarding career in the health care industry, then health care administration programs are for you. Unlike doctors and nurses who take care of patients, health care administrators are charged with taking care of health care establishment itself which includes medical personnel working in it. Their duties are diverse from human resources to finance management. Depending on size of establishment, they can be all-in-one or specializing in a discipline within health care administration.

Institutions offer a host of programs in health care administration through campus and online modes. These programs prepare students for strong careers in the field. The programs span Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degrees. Though a Bachelor’s degree might suffice at entry level, yet higher qualifications, like a Master’s degree with experience, ensure rewarding careers. Course content includes health care policies and bottlenecks, legal implications and financial management to name a few. The success of administrators will largely depend on their people skills, customer liaisons, negotiation, analysis and interpretation of information, problem solving abilities and speed of critical decision-making.

The outlook for this industry is bright and growth is projected at 16-27% through 2014. Entry-level positions span project consultants and managers, health provider representatives, and accountants. Higher level jobs include marketing directors, department managers, case managers, contract negotiators and controllers. Health services managers can easily make $67,430 per year (US Bureau of Statistics, 2004 data) with potential to hit $117,990 annually.

The University of Phoenix with highly accessible quality education and Lincoln Technical Institute with hands-on training programs top the group followed by Kaplan University and Everest Institute. The former provides unique and distinctive education and the latter prides itself on providing flexible programs that fit into students’ lives. Completing the list is South University that focuses on student experience in achieving educational goals.