Duties of a Health Care Administrator

Health care administration itself is an extremely broad area. However, their duties depend on the type of facility they are working in, as well as the size of it. For large facilities like medical centers, there would be a few layers of administrators, whereby there will be one head of administrator to oversee the rest by setting the goals and directions as well as making the final decisions. This person would usually be the one who reports to the board of directors. However, in smaller facilities like a clinic, the health care administrator's duties would be general, whereby they would oversee the whole operation.

In large facilities, assistant administrators would usually oversee some specific areas of the health care operation, for example, someone may be in charge of the personnel and nursing activities, while others for finance and other areas. The administrators here would need to set procedures and policies for the organization so that the operations will run smoothly, and they are in charge of implementing them.

On the other hand, small facilities as usually run by doctors, whom would be the one who makes the decisions. Yet, they would need to hire administrators to take care of the daily operations of the facility. For these administrators, their duties are less specialized as compared to large facilities, but they are more hands-on with their approaches. They usually focus on business aspects of the facility like personnel, staffing, and finance.

The salary of an administrator is rather lucrative; however, unusual work schedules are part of the package. They are usually on-call especially when there are problems because most health care services have the responsibility to provide their services around the clock. Apart from that, they will need to attend many meetings, depending on the size of the organization, and attend conventions. They also need to take care of budget and staffing matters.

The position you get depends on your qualifications and experiences. If you are aiming for a higher level position, you should opt to pursue for a Master's degree in Health Care Administration. One of the best ways to climb the ladder faster is to gain experience by working in a health care setting, while completing your Master's degree. This way, you can eye for a higher position when you have completed the degree.