ne of the unique aspects of healthcare administration is that professionals in the field come from a wide variety of backgrounds. For example, it is common for healthcare administrators to be physicians, nurses, human resources specialists, or business professionals, among others.
For some, the first step to becoming a healthcare administrator involves completing a nursing degree or other medical professional education, while for others it involves pursuing undergraduate studies in healthcare administration, business administration, marketing, human resources, accounting, public health, or public policy.
If you have your sights set on pursuing an education in healthcare administration, a number of bachelor’s degrees in health administration exist to accommodate your career goal. These programs prepare students to enter the field by providing them with a solid framework in the core disciplines of the profession.
As a graduate of a healthcare administration bachelor’s degree program, you will be prepared to enter the field as an entry-level administrator or mid-level manager. You will also be prepared to enter a master’s degree program in healthcare administration, by and large considered the minimum education level required for achieving executive-level positions in hospital administration.
Bachelor degree programs may be structured as Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) programs, and their titles may include healthcare administration, health services administration, and hospital administration, to name a few.
Many programs also allow students to focus their education on a specific area of healthcare administration, such as public administration, public policy, long-term care management, and healthcare informatics systems.