How To Become a Medical and Health Services Manager
Healthcare can be a meaningful field to work in. If you feel passionate about pursuing a career in healthcare but you aren’t interested in providing direct patient care, then a career in healthcare management might be the right fit for you.
What do medical and health services managers do? Explore this career guide below and learn how to become a medical and health services manager.
In This Article:
- What Do Medical and Health Service Managers Do?
- Medical and Health Services Manager Requirements: Skills
- Steps To Become a Medical and Health Services Manager
- Are Medical and Health Services Managers Needed?
- Start Your Educational Journey at GCU Today
What Do Medical and Health Service Managers Do?
A person in this role is responsible for planning, directing and overseeing the services offered by a healthcare organization. Some managers oversee a department, while others may oversee a specific clinical area (e.g., oncology). Other healthcare managers may be in charge of an entire hospital or clinic.
The overall goal of a healthcare manager is to ensure that the facility provides high-quality care and a positive patient experience. They are also responsible for making sure the organization is profitable and follows all applicable laws and regulations.
A health services manager is likely to deal with a wide range of tasks throughout any given day, such as the following:
- Identify and improve indicators of healthcare quality and efficiency, and develop implementation plans
- Shape the mission, objectives and goals of the hospital, clinical area or department
- Stay on top of frequently changing healthcare regulations and ensure the facility remains in full compliance
- Develop hospital/departmental budgets, track expenditures and ensure the facility operates within budget
- Manage HR tasks, including recruiting, training, supervising staff and handling work schedules
- Ensure accurate and up-to-date record keeping
Some healthcare managers choose to specialize. For instance, some might specialize in overseeing nursing homes or other long-term care facility operations.
Others are clinical managers. They are responsible for overseeing a particular clinical area or department, such as the physical therapy unit. Health information managers are professionals who specialize in healthcare IT, such as patient records and healthcare IT data systems.
Medical and Health Services Manager Requirements: Skills
As you begin to work on meeting the requirements of the job, you’ll also want to work on cultivating some of the most important skills and characteristics for these professionals. These include the following:1
- Communication skills: These professionals must be able to clearly communicate with their staff, insurance agents and others.
- Attention to detail: Keeping careful records, maintaining billing information and organizing schedules are important parts of the job.
- Leadership skills: Health managers are often responsible for managing staff, which means leadership skills are integral to the job.
- Analytical reasoning: An analytical mind is essential for evaluating healthcare delivery and identifying areas of improvement.
- Technical skills: Healthcare technology continually evolves, and health managers need to be able to use the software their facility implements.
Medical and health services manager requirements may vary based on the organization you work for, your experience or your level of education. Prospective managers may also need work experience in an administrative or clinical role in a hospital or other healthcare facility.1
Steps To Become a Medical and Health Services Manager
Are you still in high school but already know that you’d like to work in healthcare management? If so, it’s time to have a discussion with your school counselor about your career aspirations and how to become a medical and health services manager. You may be able to take more courses that will be helpful for you; these may include classes in business law, economics and accounting, as well as health classes.
It’s also a good idea to look for internship and part-time job opportunities at healthcare organizations. You’ll get an inside look at the inner workings of healthcare companies, which can help you determine whether this is indeed the right career path for you.
After high school, you’ll typically need at least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject.1 A healthcare administration degree is ideal, but you could also opt for a degree in health information management.1 However, a graduate degree may be required at some facilities.1 In addition, some professionals may find it helpful to earn a relevant doctoral degree in order to potentially pursue opportunities for career advancement.2
Earn Your Undergraduate Healthcare Administration Degree
After high school, the first step in the process of how to become a medical and health services manager is to earn your bachelor’s degree. There are no universal medical and health services manager requirements regarding the type of degree you should earn. However, it’s ideal to earn a healthcare administration degree.1
Here are some degree programs in this field:
Earn Your Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration
Alternatively, you might decide to go straight into a master’s degree program from your undergraduate studies. Since it’s not uncommon for many healthcare employers to require or prefer that their healthcare managers have a master’s degree, it may be a good idea to pursue graduate education shortly after earning your undergraduate degree.1 A Master of Science in Health Administration degree is a great program to check out if you are interested in pursuing healthcare administration.
Master’s degree students may or may not be required to write a master’s thesis. This is a lengthy academic research paper. Compared to a doctoral dissertation, however, a master’s thesis is shorter and typically does not require students to conduct original research. Alternatively, your school may instead require a capstone course and possibly a practicum experience. A practicum experience will involve being paired with a healthcare administrative mentor, such as during an internship experience.
Gain Professional Work Experience
Before you enter the workforce, you’ll want to gain as much hands-on experience as you can. Although you might plan on returning to school for your doctorate, it’s not uncommon for terminal degree programs to require applicants to demonstrate at least a few years of professional work experience.
At this point in your career pathway, you may pursue related roles, such as medical records specialist, administrative assistant or financial clerk at a healthcare facility.1 After you’ve gained a few years of work experience, you might decide to pursue a doctoral degree if you’re searching for a deeper understanding of leadership roles in health management.
Earn Your Doctoral Degree in Healthcare Administration
Some aspiring healthcare managers might work toward a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, while others may prefer to earn a Doctor of Education (EdD) degree. The main difference between these two programs lies in their focus and intent.
A PhD may be ideal for learners who want to focus primarily on research, such as investigating theories of healthcare management. An EdD may be ideal for learners who want to put their research into practice. While a PhD can certainly lead to a career as a healthcare manager, an EdD is often a better fit due to its focus on practical applications and versatile skills.
Are Medical and Health Services Managers Needed?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates job growth for medical and health services managers to increase by about 29% from 2023 to 2033, much faster than average, accounting for an estimated increase of 160,600 jobs in the field.3
The job growth rate for these professionals is partly driven by the aging U.S. population, which increases the need for healthcare services.3 As healthcare facilities expand, there is a growing need for managers who are skilled in health information technology.3
As of May 2023, the median annual wage for medical and health services managers was $110,680, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).4
Start Your Educational Journey at GCU Today
If you’re driven by a passion for health services management, consider exploring the degree programs available at GCU.
1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024, April 17). How to Become a Medical or Health Services Manager. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Retrieved Aug. 1, 2024.
2 Indeed Editorial Team. (2024, April 18). What Is a PhD in Health Care Administration? (Plus reasons To Pursue). Indeed. Retrieved Dec. 5, 2024.
3 COVID-19 has adversely affected the global economy and data from 2020 to 2023 may be atypical compared to prior years. Accordingly, data shown is effective September 2024, which can be found here: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Medical and Health Services Managers, retrieved on Sept. 16, 2024.
4 The earnings referenced were reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”), Medical and Health Services Managers as of May 2023. Due to COVID-19, data from 2020 to 2023 may be atypical compared to prior years. BLS calculates the median using salaries of workers nationwide with varying levels of education and experience and does not reflect the earnings of GCU graduates as medical and health services managers, nor does it reflect the earnings of workers in one city or region of the country or a typical entry-level salary. Median income is the statistical midpoint for the range of salaries in a specific occupation. It represents what you would earn if you were paid more money than half the workers in an occupation, and less than half the workers in an occupation. It may give you a basis to estimate what you might earn at some point if you enter this career. You may also wish to compare median salaries if you are considering more than one career path. Grand Canyon University can make no guarantees on individual graduates’ salaries. Your employability will b determined by numerous factors over which GCU has no control, such as the employer the graduate chooses to apply to, the graduate’s experience level, individual characteristics, skills, etc. against a pool of candidates.
Approved and verified accurate by the associate dean of the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions on Nov. 11, 2024.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grand Canyon University. Any sources cited were accurate as of the publish date.
