Health-Services Administration: Career Opportunities

Because the need for healthcare has been increasing at enormous rates, this increase has generated a need for additional health-services administrators and a growing interest in the field. Today, the opportunities for health-services administrators are vast and wide-ranging.

Graduates of the Health Services Administration Program are prepared to seek administrative or managerial positions in hospitals, clinics, managed-care companies, health-insurance companies, and health-marketing firms, where a variety of duties are performed.

Health-services administrators run hospitals units/departments and other health-care facilities, where these administrators manage staff and ensure that the health-care needs of patients are met. As the cost of health care rises, health-services administrators make sure that hospitals and clinics run efficiently and stay in business. As such, the administrators set budgets and keep track of how the money is spent, as well as stay abreast of shifts in economic and demographic trends.

Health-services administrators also stay attuned to changes in health care, assess community health needs and ensure that the staff is aware of new developments, changes, and department needs. Furthermore, health-services administrators make sure that their organizations are ready to handle emergencies; that the buildings are safe, clean, and accessible to people with disabilities; and that equipment is in good working order.

In addition, some health-services administrators run clinical departments and health-care human-resource departments and are responsible for communicating policies and standards as a guide to professional behavior and practice. Health-services administrators write activity reports, establish work schedules, and assign duties to staff. Health-services administrators may manage the business affairs of medical group practices including performing daily business operations, billing, and managing the flow of patients. Moreover, health-services administrators occupy managerial positions in health-insurance companies and may also work in health-marketing firms or as pharmaceutical representatives.

Furthering Your Education
The curriculum of the Health Services Administration Program is also designed to provide a strong foundation for those students seeking to enter, after graduation, graduate programs in health-services administration, business administration, public health, health communication, and law. In fact, the program is an ideal stepping stone for those wishing to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree in public health, especially Drexel’s School of Public Health. Furthermore, the program can prepare the student interested in pursing law studies at Drexel’s new School of Law, which will have a strong health focus.