Health Administrator

While doctors, clinics and hospitals may boast of the best medical care, this alone does not guarantee these facilities will prosper and flourish. As with any organization, health care enterprises must operate efficiently and profitably to survive. Professionals in health care administration ensure that the business side of medicine prospers. Health care administrators, also known as medical and health services managers or health care executives, coordinate the activities of medical organizations ranging from doctors’ offices to hospital departments to health care corporations. They create goals and the strategies for achieving them, and communicate this information to all employees. Because administrators tend to such business concerns as budgeting, scheduling, information management, marketing and internal communication, the medical staff can concentrate on health care. Administrators also ensure their facilities comply with all regulations and may represent their areas of responsibility at board meetings or public hearings. Specific duties in health care administration vary according to job title. Nursing home administrators, who require state licensing, ensure that nursing home residents receive proper care. Practice managers administer the practices of one or more doctors by handling their accounting, taxes, inventories and patient scheduling. Clinical managers have expertise in such medical specialties as physical therapy or nursing, and can thus manage departments devoted to that specialty. Medical information managers collect, organize, process and secure information about patient conditions, diagnoses, and treatment. Assistant administrators help higher-level administrators with daily tasks. Professionals in health care administration can look forward to above-average job growth of 22 percent from 2010 to 2020, notes the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase comes from an aging baby boomer population seeking medical services. As of May 2010, administrators averaged $96,030 annually, or $46.17 hourly. However, they earned as much as a mean $139,400 per year, or $67.02 per hour, working for insurance and employee benefit funds, and an average of $138.800 yearly, or $66.73 hourly, in scientific research and development services.