What Does A Healthcare Administrator Do?

Key Takeaways:

Follow Laws: Healthcare administrators must stay updated on local, state, and federal healthcare laws.
Manage Staff: They handle hiring, scheduling, and managing hospital or clinic employees.
Budget Management: Administrators work to keep the facility within its financial budget by monitoring expenses and finding cost savings.
Record Keeping: A significant part of their job involves maintaining detailed records of finances and staff.

If you are interested in the different careers available in the medical field for administration, you might wonder what a healthcare administrator does. Healthcare Administrators are the lifeline for hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices. Though the majority of administrators work in hospitals, there is also a need for these workers in ambulatory systems, nursing homes and even the government. The jobs usually require that applicants have a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration or a similar field, and most employers look for those with have some experience in the form of an internship or a previous job in the healthcare field. To determine if healthcare administration is the right choice for you, find out what those workers do on a daily basis.

Follow the Laws

When searching for an answer to the question of what does a healthcare administrator do, you might find yourself surprised that the job entails following and staying updated on healthcare laws. Facilities today must follow laws at the state, local and federal government levels. Those laws include how they charge patients for the care they provide, how they bill government agencies for insured patients and who they can share information with about various patients. With the new health insurance laws coming into place, it’s more important than ever for administrators to remain updated about healthcare laws.

Schedule and Manage Employees

A healthcare administrator handles many of the same duties that someone with an MBA might handle, including hiring, managing and scheduling employees. Most hospitals today have a high turnover rate. Workers find that spending time around sick and dying patients takes its toll on them, and they find themselves leaving for other jobs. Healthcare administrators must handle all the tasks associated with hiring new workers, but they must also meet the needs of existing employees. They need to understand the importance of proper scheduling, following up with employees who expressed unhappiness in the past and ensure that everyone works well together.

Work with the Budget

The median annual salary for healthcare managers and administrators, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $88,580. While working in the field, you have the chance to earn bonuses and increase your wage when you keep the hospital or office running within its current budget. Hospitals need to pay wages, buy supplies and new equipment and pay other operating costs without going over its initial budget. You’ll spend a good portion of your time looking at how you can save money and keep the setting running within its budget.

Maintain Detailed Records

Some people who ask the question of what does a healthcare administrator do imagine that those men and women spend most of their day running back and forth between meetings and talking with workers. Most administrators actually spend more time looking over records and maintaining those records. They know where every cent in the budget goes, how much different works make every hour or every year and whether the hospital or office went over budget or under budget in recent years.

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Healthcare administrators perform a number of tasks every day. They might spend a few hours looking over records and attending meetings before going over the budget. Anyone who wants an answer to the question of what does a healthcare administrator do should know that these workers keep hospitals and other settings operational.

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