If you have a television, chances are you know that there is a growing demand in the healthcare industry for a number of different types of professionals. Commercials are run on a regular basis encouraging individuals to pursue a degree in healthcare in an effort to reduce the gap between supply and demand in various fields of healthcare. As baby boomers continue to age and healthcare reform laws change how medical insurance works, one field where demand is particularly high is the field of healthcare administration.
Healthcare administrators manage a health care facility to set health care standards, to make policy decisions, and to ensure that the facility complies with government regulations. Like many other industries, advances in technology have affected this field significantly. If you are interested in becoming a healthcare administrator, learn how electronic record systems and the shift towards maintaining an electronic patient record has changed the roles of an administrator and decide if this is still the right profession to pursue.
Healthcare Administrators Are Responsible for Understanding the Demand and Need for Technology
There is a growing need for Information Technology in the healthcare industry. Not only do physicians require technology to deliver high-quality treatment, patients require technology to get the fast treatment they desire. While a lot of the technology in healthcare facilities is patient-centric and used to diagnose and treat patients, other technology is used behind-the-scenes. This technology includes systems to schedule appointments, to manage a customer database, to store data, and to store electronic patient records.
As a healthcare administrator, you will be responsible for implementing new technology in a facility and overseeing the implementation to ensure that it runs as smoothly as possible. Part of the implementation process will be creating a budget and staying on-budget as you introduce new medical technology into the clinic, hospital or healthcare facility.
Learning the Systems, Knowing Government Regulations
As previously explained, a healthcare administrator is responsible for ensuring that the facility or hospital is in compliance with government regulation. Electronic Medical Records are now becoming a government requirement, and any physician or facility that does not adopt the EMR system by the deadline will face serious penalties. As a healthcare administrator, it will be your job to avoid being penalized for failing to implement the EMR system. The upcoming deadlines to adopt EMR are in 2015.
You will also need to get certified in EMR, learn the regulations, and keep track of incentives the government offers for implementation of the new Electronic Medical Records program. As you can see, the shift towards electronic record keeping has significantly impacted what a healthcare administrator will do. In fact, with the shift currently taking place, these professionals have a great deal of transitioning to deal with for at least the next 5 years.
Be sure to complete a degree program that is accredited with the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education to ensure that you learn everything that you need to know to compete in this field. Accredited programs will teach you about EMR, government regulations, and the technology as a whole so that you can prepare for a field that is advancing and changing rapidly.
