Education You’ll Need for a Career as a Healthcare Manager

There are many educational paths that lead to a career in healthcare management. Whether you’re pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree, a healthcare management degree focuses on the knowledge you need to succeed in positions that involve the intersection of business and healthcare.

Education Overview

Healthcare managers are responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating medical and healthcare services. While a clinical background may be helpful in the management of a healthcare facility, a healthcare management degree provides knowledge related to the organizational and financial aspects of healthcare, which is critical for managers addressing the business-related challenges of the industry.

Depending on your interests and professional goals, you can pursue a general degree in healthcare management or a specialty such as informatics, public health, or policy and regulation. The wide range of educational options reflects the many types of positions and work environments available in this growing field.

No matter what direction you choose, a career in healthcare management requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.

“Usually, with a bachelor’s degree, you would find a person as an assistant manager, administrative manager, or team lead, especially if they don’t have practical experience,” says Coley Bennett, CMM, CHA, CMDP, COCAS, and chairwoman of the Professional Association of Health Care Office Management (PAHCOM) National Advisory Board. “Being in those assistant-level positions will give them the practical experience they will need to be effective at the next level.”

In many organizations, rising to the next level typically requires a master’s degree.

“The distinguishing factor in healthcare management between a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree depends on how far you want to rise in the organization,” says Cathy Bartell, MHA, associate director of the Sloan Program in Health Administration in the Cornell University School of Public Policy and chair of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) Career Trajectory Group. “People at the top levels at hospital administration—COOs, presidents, and vice presidents of the organization—are highly likely to have an MHA, or even sometimes an MBA.”

Many Programs and Degrees to Choose From

Whether you’re seeking a bachelor’s or master’s degree, finding the right healthcare management program requires considering your career goals and interests. An admissions counselor or program director can help you determine the best educational pathway.

No matter which program you choose, education becomes invaluable for the knowledge you obtain as well as the experience you gain in learning how to find crucial information. “It’s not enough just to know things, but you need to know where you can go to get new information,” Bennett says.

Degrees in healthcare administration and healthcare management are similar, but specific curriculum can differ due to the departments in which they’re offered. A healthcare administration degree in a business department may have a different emphasis than a healthcare management degree offered in a health services department.

However, a degree in any aspect of healthcare management is likely to require the same educational foundation.

“I would encourage students to focus on three courses that will always help you if you’re going to go into the business side of healthcare,” Bartell says. “Take an accounting course, take a finance course, and take a statistics course, because our curriculum is very top-heavy in the business and management of healthcare.”

Here are some typical degrees for a career in health management. Check with individual programs for specific prerequisites, time to complete, and curriculum.

While a degree in healthcare management can prepare you to take on these duties, work experience can help you fine-tune your knowledge for a specific workplace or specialty.

“Healthcare is one of those industries that you can’t lead unless you’ve actually been in it,” says Coley Bennett, CMM, CHA, CMDP, COCAS, and chairwoman of the Professional Association of Health Care Office Management (PAHCOM) National Advisory Board. “It’s hard to discern where you are clinically if you have no clinical background.”

Bachelor’s Degrees

Master’s Degrees

Faster Pathways to a Degree

Whether you’re pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree, you may qualify for programs that reduce the amount of time and money required to earn your degree.

Your school may offer one or more of the following programs that can help you earn a degree faster:

Internships

Many master’s degrees and some bachelor’s degrees require a healthcare administration internship. This may or may not be in combination with a requirement for a capstone project.

An internship typically lasts for a semester with a minimum number of weekly hours. If your school or university is associated with a hospital or medical center, it may have an established program with that organization. Some degree programs require you to find an approved internship on your own.

An internship can help you become familiar with the healthcare industry and expose you to different environments. This can help you determine your career direction and get work experience that can be applied toward certifications.

Whether required or not by your program, an internship in healthcare administration is worthwhile.

“Gain as much experience as possible during school,” says career and leadership coach Christina G. Hall, MHA, ACC, LSSGB, improvement manager at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and founder of CGH Careers, LLC. “Intern for different organizations in the healthcare sector (nursing homes, home care, academic medical centers, pharmaceutical, insurance companies, etc.). The internship experience will help navigate your career path forward.”

Online Programs

An online healthcare management degree program may be an attractive option if you must work or maintain family responsibilities while you’re in school. These programs can benefit students who have the technical skills and learning style necessary to thrive in a virtual environment.

While the coursework is the same whether you learn online or in the classroom, virtual programs can include some or all of these elements:

If you choose an online program, an internship will still be in person. Healthcare administration degrees that don’t require an internship may provide a degree that is entirely online with a final project rather than an internship.

What to Look for In a School

The best healthcare management degree for you is one that will help you meet your professional goals. Here are some tips to evaluate a program:

Costs and Financial Aid

Costs vary widely for a healthcare management degree. Most schools publish tuition fees on their websites for comparison, along with calculators that can help you determine whether you qualify for federal or school-based financial aid.

If you’ll be working while you go to school, find out whether you’re eligible for employer tuition assistance. Companies with these programs provide free or reduced tuition for college courses.

Scholarships can also help you close the gap between tuition costs and your ability to pay. Look for scholarships tied to academic merit or criteria not related to financial need.

Potential scholarship sources include:

• Nontraditional student scholarships
• Financial awards from your school or program
• National and local chapters of professional associations
• Military or other government service scholarships

If your final bottom line is still out of reach, consider using student loans to make up the difference.

Licensing and Certifications

Unlike clinical positions in healthcare, most roles in healthcare management don’t require state licensing. One exception is administrators of nursing homes and residential care and assisted living facilities. Licensure typically requires passing competency-based exams by the National Association of Long-Term Care Administrators Boards (NAB) and meeting other criteria established by state licensing boards.

Professional certifications usually aren’t required for healthcare managers, though earning one or more of these credentials can help you position yourself as a lifelong learner to prospective employers. In addition to your education, certification serves as proof that you have demonstrated your competency and received independent affirmation of what you can do, Bartell says.

There is a wide range of certifications related to general healthcare management as well as specific areas of expertise. Here are a few common certifications.

Here are three common certifications and the roles they can enhance.

Salary and Career Outlook

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the annual median salary for health and medical services managers, a category that includes healthcare managers, is $104,830. With so many positions included in this occupation, the salary range is just as broad. Annual median salaries range from $64,100 for the lowest-paying positions to $209,990 for the top 10% of earners.

The salary you earn can vary by factors such as your:

• Education
• Certification
• Experience
• Workplace
• Position
• Geographic location

Choosing to pursue roles in growing and in-demand areas can be a pathway to increasing your earning potential. Hall says healthcare managers are in demand in informatics and digital health to manage telehealth services, as well as in nursing home administration to run facilities that care for the growing aging population.

Job Growth

Qualified healthcare managers can expect to find an increasing demand for their skills. The BLS projects the employment of medical and health services managers to grow 28.3% through 2031.

The growing need for healthcare managers is partially related to the increasing number of senior citizens in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10,000 baby boomers will reach retirement age every day through 2030. This will increase the need for qualified healthcare managers who can manage the growth and demand for services.

Ever-evolving changes in information technology, patient data management, and risk and compliance make these areas in-demand specialties for healthcare managers with related expertise.

“It really is a full-time job being a compliance officer, whether that practice is a smaller solo practice or even in a healthcare setting at one of the bigger hospitals, so it is definitely a lucrative job if you’re so interested in that type of regulation,” Bennett says.