Recently, we discussed what healthcare administration is, why it’s important, and why you might want to get into the field. Here we’ll explore whether or not healthcare administration is a difficult discipline to study and succeed in.
Many people think that healthcare administration is challenging , including being difficult to study, difficult to become an expert in, and difficult as a career, but none of these ideas are true.
While healthcare administration does require a complex set of skills and abilities, as well as excellent attention to detail, the career field isn't any more challenging than other popular fields of study that lead to excellent lifelong career opportunities.
In fact, for some people, healthcare administration may even be a much easier discipline than other potential options; it just depends on what you like and what you’re good at doing.
To help alleviate any concerns about healthcare administration being too difficult, this post will explain why people think it’s hard, what you’ll need to do to get a good job in the industry, and why you should think about getting into the field.
If you’re interested in launching a career as a professional healthcare administrator, fill out our information request form to receive additional details about our online Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration.
If you’re ready to get started, submit your application.
Why Do People Think That Healthcare Administration is Difficult?
Many people find healthcare administration to be challenging, but the most common reason seems to be the need to develop expertise in two very different subjects, which are:
- Business expertise - ensuring that the organization, department, or services you oversee remain profitable.
- Healthcare expertise - ensuring that the organization, department, or services you oversee deliver effective healthcare services.
While this is a complex field that requires two different and potentially challenging sets of skills, having both business knowledge and healthcare abilities means you can provide significant value to any organization from your first day on the job.
Many might think it would be easier to focus on just one of these skill sets, but the healthcare industry is structured in such a way that a single individual is needed to oversee both sides at the department level.
The best way to ensure that you’ll be able to overcome the steep learning curve required to develop both the business and healthcare capabilities required to get into and succeed in this industry is to study the field in a challenging and rewarding academic setting, within a respected, accredited degree program.
It’s Not as Bad as You Might Think
Earning your degree in healthcare administration really isn’t any more difficult than any other potential field of study.
Just like any other program, you’ll run into some elements of healthcare administration that are complex, but you may also find some of it to be relatively intuitive, or even easy.
As with any other subject, you’ll need to study and apply yourself if you want to succeed, but that remains true for virtually every single major.
The level of difficulty you’ll experience studying healthcare administration is almost certainly going to be based on what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing.
Whether you’re perfectly suited to become a professional healthcare administrator, you need to challenge yourself to learn the skills required to succeed in the field, the best way to ensure success in the industry is to enroll in an accredited healthcare administration degree program.
What Basic Skills Do You Need to Learn to Become a Professional Healthcare Administrator?
To overcome the common challenges professional healthcare administrators face on a daily basis, you’re going to need to develop your skills and abilities so that you can do things like:
- Managing budgets and financial resources.
- Overseeing human resources functions, including staffing and recruiting.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams like physicians, nurses, and other medical and administrative staff.
- Ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations.
- Marketing the organization to attract patients and customers.
You’ll also need to develop your capacity to provide these sorts of services to both private and public organizations, as a healthcare administration professional may find themselves working with both types of clients.
At some point, you may decide which type of organization you like best, and you can then specialize in one or the other, but as you’re gaining experience and working on launching your career, the ropes and working on launching your career, it’ll be a good idea to understand how to work with both types of organizations.
These tasks may not seem easy, but they’re not so difficult that you can’t learn to do them, and the best way to develop your capacity for them is to complete a degree program in the field.
What Do You Need to Learn to Become a Healthcare Administrator?
You’ll need to develop skills and abilities in both business and healthcare areas, including:
Business Skills:
- Operations management and supervision
- Policy management
- Human resources
- Communication
- Decision-making
- Strategic planning
- Project management
- Operations
- Finance
Healthcare Skills:
- Quality assurance
- Risk management
- Managed care
- Healthcare finance
- Healthcare laws and regulations
- Ethics
- Population health
These areas of expertise will be essential for handling the daily responsibilities of healthcare administrators and managers, which include diverse challenges like:
- Improving the quality and efficiency with which the organization provides health care services
- Creating budgets and allocating resources appropriately
- Communicating with healthcare providers, caregivers, and other staff members about new policies and procedures
- Recruiting and training new administrative staff
- Overseeing the delivery of healthcare services
- Managing medical practices, clinics, or departments
While you should expect there to be a bit of a learning curve for developing these more complex skills and abilities, it’s nothing that can’t be overcome with dedicated study and serious coursework.
And once you’ve learned to handle these complicated healthcare administration duties, you’ll be able to apply that expertise in many different healthcare administration settings, making you valuable asset at nearly any organization.
Who Should Consider Becoming a Healthcare Administrator?
Healthcare administration isn’t for everyone, but some people are perfectly suited to succeed in this industry.
Here’s a list of several character traits that could help improve the chances that this is the right field of study for you:
- You’re a very organized person. Being organized will be an important skill for you as a healthcare administrator, where you’ll be responsible for organizing and sorting through important information, as well as delivering insights about it.
- You like solving problems. Healthcare administrators must be able to evaluate processes and find ways to improve them; natural problem solvers who are interested in optimization and efficiency tend to perform extremely well in this field.
- You’re a team player. You’ll do some work alone as a healthcare administrator, but a large part of your job is to collaborate with others from various departments. Nearly every healthcare administrator works in some kind of team, either with other healthcare staff or with organizational leaders who count on you to reach strategic goals.
- You’re comfortable being a leader. In this role, you'll need to delegate authority and provide instructions to the people you work with. Those who are natural leaders or if you've developed leadership and management skills, then you'll have a great chance of being very successful in this industry.
- You enjoy planning things in advance. Healthcare administrators need to be well-organized and good at planning to succeed in this role, which requires blending business knowledge with that of the healthcare industry.
There are many other traits that would indicate whether you would be a great candidate for becoming a healthcare administrator, and none of these are absolutely necessary to succeed in the field, but if you match with several of them then you might find healthcare administration to be far easier than you originally thought.
Do You Need a Degree to Break Into the Field?
While it’s definitely possible to get into healthcare administration without a degree, that’s become more difficult in modern times where professional healthcare administrators are expected to join organizations ready to deliver value from day one.
Healthcare administration work grows more technical, specific, and more critical to organizational success each year, and if you want to launch a successful career in the industry then you should certainly consider enrolling in a degree program to develop the knowledge and skills needed to operate as an effective healthcare administrator before you go job-hunting.
Getting your degree increases the odds that you’ll be able to complete assigned healthcare administration work, and it’s also an excellent way to send a signal to potential hiring managers that you’ve got what it takes to fill their open positions.
When it comes time to choose which degree program to enroll in, CSU Global offers an excellent option.
Which Type of Degree Should You Get? Bachelor’s vs. Master’s Programs
You should enroll in the type of degree program that is best aligned with your professional needs and career aspirations.
For most aspiring professional healthcare administrators, that will mean choosing between a bachelor’s or a master’s program, and the most effective way to decide which program would be best for you is to think about your:
- Current academic credentials.
- Experience in healthcare administration.
- Long-term career goals.
If you don’t already have a bachelor’s degree, or you’re brand new to healthcare administration and just trying to break into the field, then you will want to look into getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration and Management.
However, if you already have a bachelor’s degree (in any field), and you want to develop the skills and abilities that will allow you to pursue roles in leadership or management, then our Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration may be a better fit for you.
If you’re having a difficult time choosing between a B.S. or an M.S. program, contact our Enrollment Counselors by calling 1-800-462-7845, or by emailing enroll [at] csuglobal.edu.
They can review your educational background, industry experience, and your goals to provide advice on which program would be best suited for you.
Whichever program you choose, you can rest assured that it’s going to help set you up for becoming a successful healthcare administrator.
Should You Get Your Degree in Healthcare Administration Online?
If you’ve got work or family responsibilities that will need attention while you’re studying healthcare administration, then you should think about getting your degree online.
Choosing to study online will provide you with much more flexibility than a traditional in-person program since it’ll allow you to study in your own time and on your own schedule.
CSU Global’s 100% online healthcare administration programs were designed to be completed entirely online, and they offer several important benefits, including:
- No set class times or physical locations.
- Monthly class starts.
- Accelerated eight-week courses.
If you’ve already got a relatively busy schedule, but you’re serious about developing the skills needed to become a professional healthcare administrator, then you should think about studying online with us.
Why Should You Choose to Study at CSU Global?
You should choose CSU Global because our B.S. and M.S. programs are regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, which is the most respected accreditation organization in the country.
In terms of awards, our Bachelor’s Program in Healthcare Administration and Management was recently ranked the #5 Most Affordable Online Bachelor Degree in Healthcare Management by Best Medical Degrees, while our Master’s Program in Healthcare Administration was ranked #2 Best Online Master’s program in Healthcare Administration by Best Health Degrees.
CSU Global itself is also widely regarded as an industry leader in higher education, having recently won several significant rankings, including:
- A #10 ranking for Best Online Colleges for ROI from OnlineU.
- A #1 ranking for Best Online Colleges & Schools in Colorado from Best Accredited Colleges.
- A #1 ranking for Best Online Colleges in Colorado from Best Colleges.
Finally, we offer affordable tuition rates and a Tuition Guarantee which ensures your rate won’t increase for as long as you remain enrolled as a student.
To get additional details about our fully-accredited online Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration & Management and our online Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration, please give us a call at (800) 462-7845, or fill out our Information Request Form.
Ready to get started today? Apply now!