Medical and Health Services Managers

Summary

Medical and health services managers often work closely with medical staff to plan, direct, and coordinate the delivery of healthcare.

Quick Facts: Medical and Health Services Managers
2010 Median Pay	$84,270 per year $40.52 per hour
Entry-Level Education	Bachelor’s degree
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
On-the-job Training	None
Number of Jobs, 2010	303,000
Job Outlook, 2010-20	22% (Faster than average)
Employment Change, 2010-20	68,000

What Medical and Health Services Managers Do

Medical and health services managers, also called healthcare executives or healthcare administrators, plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services. They might manage an entire facility, specialize in managing a specific clinical area or department, or manage a medical practice for a group of physicians.

Work Environment

Most medical and health services managers work in office settings in healthcare facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes, and group medical practices.

How to Become a Medical or Health Services Manager

Most medical and health services managers have at least a bachelor’s degree before entering the field; however, master’s degrees also are common. Requirements vary by facility.

Pay

The median annual wage of medical and health services managers was $84,270 in May 2010.

Job Outlook

Employment of medical and health services managers is expected to grow by 22 percent from 2010 to 2020, faster than the average for all occupations. As the large baby-boom population ages and people remain active later in life, the healthcare industry as a whole will see an increase in the demand for medical services. Managers will be needed to organize and manage medical information and healthcare staffs in all areas of the industry.

Similar Occupations

Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of medical and health services managers with similar occupations.

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Contacts for More Information

Learn more about medical and health services managers by contacting these additional resources.

What Medical and Health Services Managers Do About this section

In group medical practices, medical and health services managers work closely with physicians.

Medical and health services managers, also called healthcare executives or healthcare administrators, plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services. They might manage an entire facility or specialize in managing a specific clinical area or department, or manage a medical practice for a group of physicians. As healthcare changes, medical and health services managers must be able to adapt to changes in laws, regulations, and technology.

Duties

Medical and health services managers typically do the following:

• Work to improve efficiency and quality in delivering healthcare services
• Keep up to date on new laws and regulations so the facility complies with them
• Supervise assistant administrators in facilities that are large enough to need them
• Manage finances of the facility, such as patient fees and billing
• Create work schedules
• Represent the facility at investor meetings or on governing boards
• Keep and organize records of the facility’s services, such as the number of inpatient beds used
• Communicate with members of the medical staff and department heads

In group medical practices, managers work closely with physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians, and other healthcare employees. For more information, see the profiles on physicians and surgeons, registered nurses, and medical and clinical laboratory technologists and technicians.

Medical and health services managers’ titles depend on the facility or area of expertise in which they work. The following are some examples of types of medical and health services managers:

Nursing home administrators manage staff, admissions, finances, and care of the building, as well as care of the residents in nursing homes. All states require them to be licensed; licensing requirements vary by state.

Clinical managers manage a specific department, such as nursing, surgery, or physical therapy and have responsibilities based on that specialty. Clinical managers set and carry out policies, goals, and procedures for their departments; evaluate the quality of the staff’s work; and develop reports and budgets.

Health information managers are responsible for the maintenance and security of all patient records. They must stay up to date with evolving information technology and current or proposed laws about health information systems. Health information managers must ensure that databases are complete, accurate, and accessible only to authorized personnel.

Assistant administrators work under the top administrator in larger facilities and often handle daily decisions. Assistants might direct activities in clinical areas, such as nursing, surgery, therapy, medical records, or health information.

Work Environment About this section

Some medical and health services managers oversee the activities of a number of facilities.

Medical and health services managers held about 303,000 jobs in 2010. Most medical and health services managers work in offices in healthcare facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes, and group medical practices. 

The following industries were the largest employers of medical and health services managers in 2010:

Work Schedules

Most medical and health services managers work full time. Because their services are sometimes needed in emergencies or at facilities that are always open, some work may be required during evenings, on weekends, or overnight.

How to Become a Medical or Health Services Manager About this section

Large healthcare facilities usually have several assistant administrators who aid the top administrator and handle daily decisions.

Most medical and health services managers have at least a bachelor’s degree before entering the field; however, master’s degrees also are common. Requirements vary by facility.

Education

Medical and health services managers typically need at least a bachelor’s degree to enter the occupation. However, master’s degrees in health services, long-term care administration, public health, public administration, or business administration also are common.

Prospective medical and health services managers have a bachelor's degree in health administration. These programs prepare students for higher level management jobs than programs that graduate students with other degrees. Courses needed for a degree in health administration often include hospital organization and management, accounting and budgeting, human resources administration, strategic planning, law and ethics, health economics, and health information systems. Some programs allow students to specialize in a particular type of facility, such as a hospital, a nursing care home, a mental health facility, or a group medical practice. Graduate programs often last between 2 and 3 years and may include up to 1 year of supervised administrative experience.

Work Experience

Although bachelor’s and master’s degrees are the most common educational pathways to work in this field, some facilities may hire those with on-the-job experience instead of formal education. For example, managers of physical therapy may be experienced physical therapists who have administrative experience. For more information, see the profile on physical therapists.

Important Qualities

Analytical skills. Medical and health services managers must be able to understand and follow current regulations and be able to adapt to new laws.

Communication skills. These managers must be able to communicate effectively with other health professionals.

Detail oriented. Medical and health services managers must pay attention to detail. They might be required to organize and maintain scheduling and billing information for very large facilities, such as hospitals.

Interpersonal skills. Medical and health services managers need to be able to discuss staffing problems and patient information with other professionals, such as physicians and health insurance representatives. They must be able to motivate and lead staff.

Problem-solving skills. These managers are often responsible for finding creative solutions to staffing or other administrative problems.

Technical skills. Medical and health services managers must be able to follow advances in health care technology. For example, they may need to use coding and classification software and electronic health record (EHR) systems as their facility adopts these technologies.

Advancement

Medical and health services managers advance by moving into more responsible and higher paying positions. In large hospitals, graduates of health administration programs usually begin as administrative assistants or assistant department heads. In small hospitals or nursing care facilities, they may begin as department heads or assistant administrators. Some experienced managers also may become consultants or professors of healthcare management. The level of the starting position varies with the experience of the applicant and the size of the organization. 

For those already in a different healthcare occupation, a master's degree in health services administration or a related field might be required to advance. For example, nursing service administrators usually are supervisory registered nurses with administrative experience and graduate degrees in nursing or health administration. For more information, see the profile on registered nurses.

Licenses

All states require nursing care facility administrators to be licensed; requirements vary by state. In most states, these administrators must have a bachelor's degree, pass a licensing exam, and complete a state-approved training program. Some states also require administrators in assisted-living facilities to be licensed. A license is not required in other areas of medical and health services management.

Pay About this section

The median annual wage of medical and health services managers was $84,270 in May 2010.  The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $51,280, and the top 10 percent earned more than $144,880.

Earnings of medical and health services managers vary by type and size of the facility and by level of responsibility.  For example, the Medical Group Management Association reported that, in 2010, median compensation for administrators was $86,459 in practices with six or fewer physicians; $115,000 in practices with seven to 25 physicians; and $150,756 in practices with 26 or more physicians.

Most medical and health services managers work full time. Because their services are sometimes needed in emergencies or at facilities that are always open, some work may be required during evenings, on weekends, or overnight.

Job Outlook About this section

Employment of medical and health services managers is expected to grow by 22 percent from 2010 to 2020, faster than the average for all occupations. As the large baby-boom population ages and people remain active later in life, the healthcare industry as a whole will see an increase in the demand for medical services. This increase will in turn result in an increase in the number of physicians, patients, and procedures, as well as in the number of facilities. Managers will be needed to organize and manage medical information and staffs in the healthcare industry. There will likely be increased demand for nursing care facility administrators as well as baby boomers age.

Employment is expected to grow in offices of health practitioners. Many services previously provided in hospitals will shift to these settings, especially as medical technologies improve. Demand in medical group practice management is expected to grow as medical group practices become larger and more complex.

Contacts for More Information About this section

For information about medical and healthcare office managers, visit

Professional Association of Health Care Office Management

American Health Information Management Association

American College of Health Care Administrators

For more information about academic programs in this field, visit

Association of University Programs in Health Administration

Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education

For information about career opportunities in healthcare management, visit

American College of Healthcare Executives

For information about career opportunities in medical group practices and ambulatory care management, visit

Medical Group Management Association