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Whether you’re considering a career in healthcare administration, looking to change careers to healthcare administration, or building on an existing degree in healthcare administration, the University of Providence can help shape your future career prospects in one of healthcare’s fastest-growing careers.

The University of Providence’s healthcare administration programs offers degrees at the associate (ASHA), bachelor’s (BSHA), and master’s levels (MHA). Our degree programs provide students with varying levels of education – helping them to start a healthcare administration career, transfer into a healthcare administration career, or build upon an existing healthcare administration career.

Our industry-experienced faculty teach students core competencies in the fundamentals of healthcare administration, health systems leadership, and ethical management styles. Graduates of our programs enter the workforce with a strong foundation in understanding how health systems operate.

Before we start, you may be asking yourself…

What Is Healthcare Administration?

Working in healthcare administration means you’ll play a vital role in the day-to-day, unseen work that makes our nation’s healthcare facilities operate. While healthcare administration is a broad term that includes various job titles, industry roles, operational responsibilities, and employment locations, your core function as a healthcare administrator is to ensure that frontline caregivers provide smooth, efficient, patient-facing care wherever they serve.

What Do Healthcare Administrators Do?

Your job can vary depending on your title, location, and years of experience. As a newly established healthcare administrator, you may work with an organization’s finance or human resources department, internal communications division, customer support network, employee relations teams, or a combination. As you gain more experience, your job may shift to leadership or management in a particular area before transitioning to broader, senior-level leadership.

How To Become A Healthcare Administrator?

If you are entering the field today, it’s imperative to hold a degree in higher education. Not only will this help teach you about the industry, but it will also provide you with a competitive edge over fellow candidates. While entry to mid-level careers in healthcare administration may require an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, most high-level leadership positions within an organization encourage you to get a master’s degree.

What Does the Job Market Look Like?

Healthcare administrators are in high demand. Like many healthcare-related industries, such as nursing and mental health counseling, jobs in healthcare administration will continue to grow at an above-average rate over the next ten years. Between 2021 and 2031, employment in the health services and health management (healthcare administration) sector is projected to increase by 28% – adding a projected 136,200 jobs. That’s on top of the over 480,000 currently employed.

What about Salary?

Three factors weigh your potential salary – job experience, education, and employment sector. In 2021, the average yearly wage of someone working as a health service manager was $101,340. When starting in the industry, you can expect a salary of around $50,000 to $60,000 per year, while those in higher-level positions may see pay as high as $190,000 to $200,000 per year.

Now that you have a good idea of what a career in healthcare administration could look like let’s explore how you get there through UPs healthcare administration programs.

Associate of Science in Healthcare Administration

To be successful in a healthcare administration role, you must have a firm grasp of health system operations. As a healthcare administrator, you must work across many disciplines and engage with various healthcare professionals. To be accurate in your job, you must understand the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the healthcare system. This is where an associate’s level education comes in.

Why Does An Associate Degree Matter?

With an associate’s degree in healthcare administration, you will be prepared to perform various administrative tasks where you work. Our associate’s degree will help set a strong foundation of industry knowledge – providing you with a dynamic understanding of the U.S. healthcare system. In addition, you’ll learn tangible skills in health informatics, finances, communication, and technology management. An associate’s degree also sets a path for future leadership by teaching the value of sociocultural awareness when interacting with patients, families, and the workforce.

What Skills Will I Learn?

Our associate’s degree will prepare you to meet the growing needs of healthcare administrators. You can expect to graduate from our program with solid industry knowledge, foundational skills in healthcare leadership, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, relationship management for employees and patients, enhanced ethical judgment, and foundational communication skills. These in-demand skills will help to establish you in your burgeoning career.

Will I Be Able To Compete In The Job Market?

Since jobs in healthcare administration are growing at such a rapid rate, an associate’s degree helps you enter the workforce faster. An associate’s degree is a perfect step toward exploring the healthcare field or building work experience as you prepare to continue your education with a bachelor’s or master’s degree. After graduating from our program, you could find employment in office finance or medical accounting, medical records or health information technology, health informatics, cardiovascular technician, healthcare customer support, and more.

Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration

A bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration builds off the foundational concepts of an associate’s degree by preparing you to take on mid to upper-level management roles within healthcare.

Why Does A Bachelor’s Degree Matter?

If you want to work in healthcare administration, you’ll probably pursue a management or leadership position at some point in your career. While part of being a leader comes naturally, many of today’s skills in leadership and management are taught. With a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, you will learn the skills needed to become a leader in healthcare – cultivating structural and ethical insight into effective management styles.

What Skills Will I Learn?

A bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration builds off the foundations of an associate’s degree while infusing valuable lessons and core competencies in healthcare leadership. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree will prepare you to take on leadership roles in human resources, departmental management positions, leadership in medical accounting and billing, and health information management. A bachelor’s degree also opens the door to case management, perfect if you enjoy working with patients through a non-clinical perspective.

Post-Bachelor Certificate Opportunities.

Outlined in the university’s mission is that students should work towards better serving their communities. It is the reason why so many people decide to work in healthcare. If you receive your bachelors in healthcare administration or a related field, you are eligible to enroll in additional opportunities through the health justice and community health investment certificate.

Health Justice Certificate

Our health justice certificate program builds off a bachelor’s degree skills by preparing you to identify, investigate and address medical issues with a legal cause. A health justice certificate addresses income inequality, housing concerns, educational and employment hurdles, and problems involving immigrant, guardianship, and veteran status.

Community Health Investment

Through our community health investment certificate, you’ll build on the skills you’ve learned in healthcare administration to promote health equity across the communities you serve. Community health investment examines the social determinants of health, community, health-based partnerships, and community collaboration to better serve the community and provide better health opportunities to all.

Masters in Healthcare Administration

A master’s in healthcare administration provides advanced skills in leadership for entry to mid-level healthcare administration. If you want to take your leadership skills to the next level, applying them at the systems and operations level – then an MHA degree is right for you.

Why Does A Master’s Degree Matter?

Our master’s in healthcare administration adds a level of education to your resume. It shows employers that you understand advanced knowledge in the subject matter required to function in higher-level leadership roles. Earned after a bachelor’s degree, an MHA will position you to serve at the highest levels within healthcare – managing systems with a transformative, innovative, and inspirational leadership style designed to produce the best patient and employee outcomes.

What Skills Will I Learn?

With a master’s in healthcare administration, you’ll build additional skill levels in the core competencies of healthcare administration by learning how to assess and implement new and transformative leadership to existing functionalities and core administrative responsibilities. Our MHA program focuses on developing leadership skills around communication, informatics, information technology, strategic planning, financial proficiency, and practice competencies. We prepare you to be a leader and give you the tools to evolve as one within your job.

Healthcare administration at the University of Providence provides students with skills from start to finish of the healthcare administration educational journey. Learn core competencies in the foundations, application, and leadership of today’s healthcare administrators.

Explore all our healthcare administration program offerings on our healthcare administration program page or visit our admissions page to learn about application deadlines and how to apply.

**INFORMATION SOURCED FROM: The Bureau of Labor Statistics**