Chapter 8: Healthcare Administration and Informatics
Chapter 8: Healthcare Administration and Informatics
Katie Baker
Healthcare administration includes careers where people manage and coordinate the operational, financial, and logistical aspects of healthcare organizations to ensure the efficient delivery of medical services and optimal patient care. Administrators may make budgetary or scheduling decisions, may hire and fire employees of the organization, and may be responsible for collective bargaining over union employee contracts, pursuing credentialing of the organization with third party payers such as insurance companies, bringing in large donors and coordinating organizational sponsorship opportunities such as local public health events in the community.
Like the administrators in any large organization, healthcare administrators are typically salaried employees rather than hourly wage earners. Although they have a higher rate of pay, they may frequently be asked to work late or extended hours. This is something to take into account when deciding if this is the right career for you. There are many opportunities to be successful in this field, which we will discuss in section 8.6.1.
Some of the ways in which a healthcare administrator can contribute to patient care is by ensuring that a standard of care is followed by all healthcare providers under their direction. In addition to providing guidelines for practitioners, administrators can ensure that their facility is meeting licensing requirements and providing cost-effective care to the community. Working with physicians in the community who are seeking admitting privileges and maintaining the presence of the facility in the community through outreach programs and public health events are also ways in which the administrators can support the health of their community. Planning and developing events and programs to enhance patient healthcare is another aspect of a career in healthcare administration.
As a final note, a healthcare administrator is not the same as a office manager or clinical director who perform more of the day-to-day management tasks including reception, billing and scheduling as well as inventory and customer service duties. As the career path to administration requires a higher degree, this may be more of a long-term goal for someone like Alma from the chapter overview.
Possibilities in the Field of Healthcare Administration
There are a number of different opportunities in the field of healthcare administration. For positions such as chief nurse, degrees in the relevant fields (IT, HR, nursing, etc) can be supported with Master’s degrees in business or administration. Many of these positions will also allow employees to move up through the ranks and some companies will provide tuition assistance for achieving the appropriate business degree to advance your career.
In order to pursue a career in healthcare administration at a higher executive level, individuals must earn either a Master’s degree or PhD in healthcare or hos