Health administration careers are found within managerial and executive positions at hospitals and medical centers. These professionals, according to the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), help make important decisions in how medical facilities, pharmaceutical companies, or hospitals are organized. Many of the business interactions between health insurance firms, medical care facilities, and pharmaceutical companies are done between health administrators.
If you are wondering how you can enter this profession, you might seek a bachelor’s degree in business or health administration from a AUPHA-approved degree program. However, many of the positions in health administration have a high-level of administrative direction. Many professionals who enter those jobs may have a master’s degree in health administration. If that is the case, does one need work experience before pursing a master of health administration?
What Health Administrators Do
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), medical and health service managers direct departments or whole medical facilities. Medical and health service managers must be detail-oriented and very interpersonal with staff or clients such as patients. As managers, they need a high-level of problem-solving and negotiating skills and need to be up-to-date on the latest medical trends or government regulations.
What Are Common Education Paths?
Many schools offer health administration courses within undergraduate business school programs. Some schools will place health administration as a concentration under business administration or even public administration. Even if a school does not offer health administration, taking courses or majoring in business administration is quite helpful and related to much of what you need to do as a manager. At the same time, there are master’s degree programs in health administration that students can enroll in.
Work Experience
It is interesting to note that the BLS states that many undergraduate programs in health administration include pre-professional experience in the form of student work-credit or internships at hospitals, nursing centers, or a medical practice. However, some students complete their bachelor’s degree in health administration without any pre-professional work. The BLS notes that some employers do employ or promote individuals who have several years experience working in lower administrative roles at medical facilities. These individuals could have bachelor’s or master’s degrees and some employers might still want them to work some years in the field before being hired or promoted to managerial positions.
Admission Requirements
In terms of admission into a master’s program in health administration, professional work is not seen as a pre-requisite for admittance. Like many graduate programs, GRE or GMAT scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation are considered more essential. However, some programs do recommend putting resumes and work history down because of the extremely competitive climate in graduate school admittance.
In the end, although it is not mandatory, it is a good idea to have some work experience after you earn a bachelor’s degree in health administration. The work experience can help you stand out in graduate school admittance and can help you progress within the health administration workforce.
