Activities	Plan, direct, or coordinate medical and health services in hospitals, clinics, managed-care organizations, public health agencies, or similar organizations.
Outlook	Faster-than-average-job growth
Median Income	$80,200 per year in 2008
Work Context & Conditions	Most medical and health services managers work long hours. Facilities such as hospitals operate around the clock, and administrators and managers may be called at all hours to deal with problems.
Minimum Education Requirements	Bachelor's Degree
Skills	Persuasion, Social Perceptiveness, Learning Strategies, Monitoring, Management of Personnel Resources, Critical Thinking, Instructing, Active Listening, Writing, Service Orientation, Time Management, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking
Abilities	Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Deductive Reasoning, Problem Sensitivity, Written Comprehension, Information Ordering, Inductive Reasoning, Written Expression, Oral Comprehension
Interviews	Wade Atkins Ron DeClerck

Job Category		Management
Job Description		The occupation, medical and health services manager, encompasses all individuals who plan, direct, coordinate, and supervise the delivery of healthcare. Medical and health services managers include specialists and generalists. Specialists are in charge of specific clinical departments or services, while generalists manage or help to manage an entire facility or system. Increasingly, medical and health services managers will work in organizations in which they must optimize efficiency of a variety of interrelated services, for example, those ranging from inpatient care to outpatient follow-up care. Clinical managers have more specific responsibilities than generalists, and have training or experience in a specific clinical area. These managers establish and implement policies, objectives, and procedures for their departments; evaluate personnel and work; develop reports and budgets; and coordinate activities with other managers. Some medical and health services managers oversee the activities of a number of facilities in health systems. Such systems may contain both inpatient and outpatient facilities and offer a wide range of patient services.
Working Conditions		Some managers work in comfortable, private offices, while others share space with other managers or staff. They may spend considerable time walking, to consult with coworkers. They also may travel to attend meetings or inspect satellite facilities.
Salary Range		Median annual earnings of medical and health services managers were $73,340 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $62,200 and $104,100. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $48,300, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $110,900. According to a survey by the Professional Association of Health Care Office Management, 2009 average total compensation for office managers in specialty physicians’ practices was $54,300 in gastroenterology, $54,201 in dermatology, $58,899 in cardiology, $48,793 in ophthalmology, $44,910 in obstetrics and gynecology, $51,263 in orthopedics, $51,466 in pediatrics, $48,814 in internal medicine, and $47,152 in family practice.

Education Required		Medical and health services managers must be familiar with management principles and practices. A master’s degree in health services administration, long-term care administration, health sciences, public health, public administration, or business administration is the standard credential for most generalist positions in this field. However, a bachelor’s degree is adequate for some entry-level positions in smaller facilities, at the departmental level within health care organizations, and in health information management. Physicians’ offices and some other facilities may substitute on-the-job experience for formal education. Bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in health administration are offered by colleges; universities; and schools of public health, medicine, allied health, public administration, and business administration. In 2008, 72 schools had accredited programs leading to the master’s degree in health services administration, according to the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education. Health information managers require a bachelor’s degree from an accredited program. In 2008, there were 48 accredited bachelor’s degree programs and 5 master’s degree programs in health information management according to the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. New graduates with master's degrees in health services administration may start as department managers or as staff employees. Graduates from master's degree programs also take jobs in large group medical practices, clinics, mental health facilities, multifacility nursing home corporations, and consulting firms. Graduates with bachelor's degrees in health administration usually begin as administrative assistants or assistant department heads in larger hospitals. They also may begin as department heads or assistant administrators in small hospitals or nursing homes. Tact, diplomacy, flexibility, and communication skills are essential because medical and health services managers spend most of their time interacting with others. Medical and health services managers advance by moving into more responsible and higher-paying positions, such as assistant or associate administrator, or by moving to larger facilities.
Recommended High School Courses		Computers and Electronics, Economics and Accounting, Biology, English
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Psychology, Personnel and Human Resources, Administration and Management, Public Safety and Security, Education and Training, Mathematics, Economics and Accounting, Customer and Personal Service, Computers and Electronics, Medicine and Dentistry, Education and Training
Certification and Licensing		All states and the District of Columbia require nursing home administrators to have a bachelor's degree, pass a licensing examination, complete a state-approved training program, and pursue continuing education. A license is not required in other areas of medical and health services management.

Interest Area		Enterprising Involves starting up and carrying out projects, leading people, making many decisions, and dealing with businesses, and it sometimes requires risk taking. Social Involves working and communicating with, helping, and teaching people.
Work Values		Security Have steady employment. Working Conditions Good working conditions. Autonomy Plan work with little supervision. Authority Give directions and instructions to others. Responsibility Make decisions on your own.
Skills		Persuasion Persuade others to approach things differently. Social Perceptiveness Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. Learning Strategies Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. Monitoring Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. Management of Personnel Resources Motivate, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Instructing Teach others how to do something. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Service Orientation Actively look for ways to help people. Time Management Manage one's own time and the time of others. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Complex Problem Solving Solving novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings. Judgment and Decision Making Be able to weigh the relative costs and benefits of a potential action. Coordination Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Speech Recognition Identify and understand the speech of another person Deductive Reasoning Able to apply general rules to specific problems to come up with logical answers, including deciding whether an answer makes sense. Problem Sensitivity Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. Written Comprehension Able to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Information Ordering Able to correctly follow rules for arranging things or actions in a certain order, including numbers, words, pictures, procedures, and logical operations. Inductive Reasoning Able to combine separate pieces of information, or specific answers to problems, to form general rules or conclusions. This includes coming up with a logical explanation for why seemingly unrelated events occur together. Written Expression Able to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. Oral Comprehension Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Related Jobs		Technician, Medical Records and Health Information
Job Outlook		Medical and health services managers held about 283,500 jobs in 2008. About 38 percent worked in hospitals, and another 19 percent worked in offices of physicians or in nursing and residential care facilities. Most of the remainder worked in home health care services, Federal Government health care facilities, outpatient care centers, insurance carriers, and community care facilities for the elderly. Employment of medical and health services managers is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2018, as the health services industry continues to expand and diversify. Opportunities for managers will be closely related to growth in the industry in which they are employed. Opportunities will be especially good in home health care, long-term care, and nontraditional health organizations, such as managed-care operations and consulting firms. Managers with work experience in the health-care field and strong business and management skills should have the best opportunities. Hospitals will continue to employ the most managers, although the number of jobs will grow slowly compared with other areas. As hospitals continue to consolidate, centralize, and diversify functions, competition will increase at all job levels. Medical and health services managers with experience in large facilities will enjoy the best job opportunities as hospitals become larger and more complex. Employment will grow the fastest in residential-care facilities and practitioners' offices and clinics. Many services previously provided in hospitals will continue to shift to these sectors, especially as medical technologies improve. Demand for medical-group-practice managers will grow as medical group practices become larger and more complex. Medical and health services managers will need to deal with the pressures of cost containment and financial accountability, as well as with the increased focus on preventive care. They also will become more involved in trying to improve the health of their communities. Managers with specialized experience in a particular field, such as reimbursement, should have good opportunities. Medical and health services managers will also be employed by healthcare management companies that provide management services to hospitals and other organizations, as well as specific departments such as emergency, information management systems, managed-care contract negotiations, and physician recruiting.
More Information		American College of Health Care Administrators, Professional Association of Health Care Office Management, , Medical Group Management Association, Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Accrediting Commission on Education for Health Services Administration
References		Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Medical and Health Services , on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos014.htm O*Net Online, on the Internet at: http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/11-9111.00