One of the most popular career choices after receiving a master of health administration degree is to work as a hospital administrator. Working as a hospital administrator is challenging but rewarding work as you must coordinate all aspects of a large medical facility. The hospital administrator is responsible for supervising the administrative staff within a hospital, including those who are running the records, nursing or therapy divisions. Developing hospital budgets and expenditure reports also falls under the jurisdiction of the hospital administrator.
Physicians' groups, outpatient services, senior centers, mental health clinics and home health care agencies are all examples of medical facilities requiring clinical management. These smaller medical settings require direct involvement with administrative details such as budgets, coordination of services, medical records and personnel. Specialized outpatient services and smaller health care provider agencies are expected to grow at a good pace in the near future, thus providing increased career opportunities.
Nursing home administration is considered another potential growth industry requiring more professional health administrators. These professionals work in settings similar to hospital administrators as they supervise staff, budgets and records of large nursing home facilities. In order to begin a career in the field of nursing home administration, state approved training and educational expertise is required. In addition, all 50 states mandate that professionals interested in becoming nursing home administrators pass a licensing exam.
Access to patient medial records is a unique area of management. As medical record privacy is taken seriously by the U.S. government, health information managers are required to ensure that health facilities are up to date with legislative requirements pertaining to these records. Health information managers are required to keep up with current computer technology and ensure that records are maintained correctly, securely and accurately.
Experienced health care administrators may want to branch out on their own and become consultants to the health care industry. Many clinical settings may require advisement in the areas of contract negotiations, recruiting and cost containment. Smaller agencies may budget for consultation instead of full-time staff for assistance with their medical records, computer software and interagency coordination.