The number of hospitals in the US has remained relatively stagnant over the last decade, while smaller private practice and physician partnership clinics are on the rise. Though most clinics only offer outpatient based services, their prevalence and growth rate have resulted in an increase in the number of employment possibilities for health care administrators.

Not all clinics are of the size and type that require high level administration. Clinics with one or two physicians are often managed by executive secretaries or secretarial staff. For those with multiple physicians, however, the administrative needs often require the services of someone trained in the unique aspects of health care administration.

Educationally, health care administration hasn’t been a traditionally popular field. Students considering a career in health care often overlook the managerial possibilities inherent in businesses that have strong ties to the insurance industry. Indeed, it is more often those ties than the service centered mantra of health care facilities that separates health care administrators from mid level managers in other fields. From regulation to reimbursement, the health care industry’s administrative requirements are a direct result of the synergistic relationship it has with health insurance providers.

As such, positions in health care facilities from not for profit and private hospitals to mid sized and larger clinics are normally filled by health care education majors with master’s degrees. Employment prospects for these positions are predicted to be better than the average for all industries through the decline of the baby boom generation. Unfortunately, supply will not be enough to meet future demand.

If a negative stigma exists with particular students regarding careers in the healthcare industry, it’s often associated with direct patient care. Many students look for an opportunity within the business world exclusive of health care as a result. Though hospitals and clinics are part of a service based industry, it’s an industry that differs little from any other service based industry in terms of the business environment.

The position itself calls for a unique understanding of the health care industry, but only as it pertains to business. That fact, along with the upward mobility that a career in health care can offer, means students who are looking for a managerial opportunity in an industry with exceptional growth potential would do well to consider it.

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