Find Out If The Health Administration Salary Can Lure You To The Job
Are your organizational and administrative skills good enough to help run a business like a medical facility? If you're up to the challenge then this might prove to be an even bigger attraction: the health administration salary is VERY rewarding.
The reality people keep forgetting is that the healthcare administration is not run by doctors, nurses and other medical professionals alone. In large part, health facilities like hospitals, clinics and nursing homes are businesses, and someone needs to run the place. Actually, a very competent someone is needed to make sure these establishments operate efficiently and effectively.
Why the job pays well
The need for health care services is at an all time high so the industry's demand for workers continues to rise. The population is aging. Medical and technological advances make it possible to detect diseases early and get appropriate treatment. While health practitioners buckle down to provide all these services, there are just as many people working in the background to ensure operations run as smoothly as possible. On top of all that is a healthcare administrator.
If the health administration salary is at the high point, it is simply because much is expected from the administrator. Health administration is no different from running a corporation or business. It involves office management, finance, budgeting, supplies, personnel, records and even security. And the effective manager is one who understands all these aspects and applies them to the health care setting, which is a highly specialized service industry. Think of patient medical records, insurance, medical billing and coding that are unique to health care.
As an administrator you may be in charge of the entire organization or a specific department. Your expertise may be as broad or as specialized depending on the requirements of your position or your workplace. If you've had experience as a medical assistant or some other administrative position (medical records and health information technician, medical transcriptionist or medical secretary) then you have pretty good idea of how things work in the medical setting.
Getting started
Entry level positions are open to people with at least a bachelor's degree from any accredited health administration schools or a related field like business administration. You can start out as a medical office manager in medium-sized clinics or medical facilities. Depending on the practice engaged in by your employers, your health administration salary will also vary but will be in the range of $30,000 at least for those with less than a year's experience.
If you've been at the job for at least five years and taken further studies, your payscale can be anywhere between $45,000 and $59,000 (these are March 2010 figures) depending on the specializations of your medical office (i.e. cardiology, pediatrics, orthopedics, dermatology, family practice, etc.)
In a bigger organization, the positions available at entry level are marketing or operations assistants, accountants, finance analysts or project coordinators. Experience and further studies of healthcare management courses will also boost your chances of advancement, like taking on supervisory or department head positions, as well as your healthcare administration salary.
Hospital administrators, because of the sheer size of their operations, do earn so much more, up to $80,000 in fact. But to even get to this position, you need a minimum of a master's degree in health care administration or management aside from years of experience running similar or smaller operations.
Consider this option
There are only so many hospitals nationwide, but the good news is there are many employers requiring the services of a health administrator including federal government, state and local governments, private companies and non-profit organizations, and they do pay top dollar for excellent health care managers.
Strong leadership skills are necessary to succeed in this position, aside from having a broad range of knowledge that encompasses administration, management and health care. If you thrive in challenges and would like to apply your skills in the field of healthcare but not in the area of medicine, then this is a position suited for you. Besides, isn't the health administration salary incentive enough?
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