Healthcare Administration

Name

Institution

Healthcare management or healthcare administration is a field of study that tries to prepare people on how to be good leaders, good planners, and good managers when it comes to healthcare processes and services. That is, healthcare facilities such as hospitals, healthcare systems, hospital networks and public health. Healthcare professionals that exhibit these qualities are either healthcare administrators or healthcare executives (Walshe, 2011). Their work is ensuring efficiency and qualitative delivery of healthcare services to patients, follow up on new laws and regulations that require adherence by the facility, make work schedules, supervise their juniors, represent facility in meetings as well as keep records and organize them. Additionally, these health executives/health administrators work in offices situated in the healthcare facilities such as hospitals, group medical practices, and nursing homes. The following paper is a discussion of healthcare management biasing on its roles in the healthcare sector.

For an individual to acquire the healthcare administrator title they should have the necessary education and training. In most cases, the standard requirements for one to be termed as a healthcare administrator/healthcare executive an individual requires to be holder of a master’s degree. The master’s degree should be from one of the following doctrines Master of Health Services Administration, Master of Public Health, Master of Business administration in Hospital management Master of Health Administration, Master of Public Administration, and Master of Science. In addition to this, there are specific areas that require completion during their coursework. These areas include population health, organizational behavior, healthcare economics, management of healthcare organizations, health policy, healthcare marketing, governance, human resource management, financial analysis and management, statistical analysis and application, and information systems management/assessment (Shanks, 2011).

Acquisition of the stated credentials will requires healthcare professional to attain licensure if they intend to indulge in activities such as opening their own facilities since most countries demand licenses from nursing homes and healthcare providers (Goldsmith, 2011). The reason for this is ensuring that authorities do regulate the healthcare sector to curb out malpractices. Organization mandated the responsibilities of certification are few an example of such a body is the Certified Healthcare Executive (Walshe, 2011). In addition, certification is also for the purposes of verifying the education and experience credentials to give these professionals recognition in the job market. It is also important to note that there are some general qualities associated with a health care professional. Such qualities include good communication skills, being detail oriented, analytical skills, having the capability of solving problems, interpersonal skills, and technical skills and most importantly, the individual must always maintain professionalism.

In conclusion, healthcare managers or administrators progress by moving to higher ranks and much paying positions with the annual average pay being $84,270 while the low earners get an average of $51,280 as in May 2010.The difference in earnings depends on the facility and level of the task being performed (Shanks, 2011). Medical administrators in most health facilities work full time since their services are important at all hours especially in times of emergency. Employment opportunities in the sector have a tendency of increasing with time (Goldsmith, 2011). This given the fact that there is population increase, which in turn increases the need for medical facilities and services as more individuals, will require medical attention. Hence, mangers will be required to apply their skills in organizing and planning every activity in the healthcare industry.

References

Goldsmith, S. B. (2011). Principles of healthcare management: Foundations of a changing health care system. London: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Walshe, K. (2011). Healthcare Management. Hoboken: McGraw Hill Publishers.

Shanks, H. N. (2011). Introduction to health care Management. London: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.