Healthcare Management Careers Guide: Duties, Job Outlook, Education, and More

Key Insights:

• Healthcare management involves careers focused on the business side of healthcare, and sometimes includes performing supervisory duties as well.
• ealth services manager positions are expected to grow over the next decade, providing interested individuals with the opportunity to join an in-demand field.
• Healthcare management careers generally require both education and experience. When you earn your degree at UMA, you gain access to a variety of student support and career services, all designed to help you as you pursue progress on your career path.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a “strong demand” for healthcare and social service jobs between 2022 - 2032.¹ If you’re more interested in healthcare business management than patient-facing clinical work, you may want to consider healthcare management careers.

What is healthcare management, what career options exist, and do you need a healthcare management degree to enter this field? This guide delves into these questions and more, providing answers to help you decide whether this could be the right field for you.

What Is Healthcare Management?

Healthcare management encompasses tasks related to business management and, in some cases, supervisory duties within healthcare organizations. Individuals in these behind-the-scenes positions play an important part in managing the policies, processes, and procedures that help healthcare organizations run efficiently.

To learn more, watch our short video: What Is Healthcare Management?

Healthcare management vs. healthcare administration: What’s the difference?

Though the terms “healthcare management” and “healthcare administration” are sometimes used interchangeably, they can refer to different types of positions. For our purposes, we use “healthcare management” in a broad perspective to include professionals in the field who perform business tasks and may or may not oversee staff.

Many healthcare managers get their start working in business management roles before advancing into supervisory positions. This guide provides a broad overview of many different types of healthcare management careers — from entry-level clerical roles to higher-level manager and director positions.

Healthcare Management Job Duties and Responsibilities

A healthcare manager’s responsibilities can vary depending on their exact role. For example, someone working as a supervisor in medical billing or health information management may spend the majority of their time working on a computer. A front desk supervisor or patient experience manager, on the other hand, is likely to have more interaction with patients.

Healthcare managers with supervisory duties can also have several employees working under them. They may hold frequent meetings to stay current with the people or departments that report to them.

What does a healthcare manager do?

Some of the duties a healthcare management professional may be assigned include:

• Manage department workflows: Design, implement, and update departmental policies and procedures
• Handle staffing issues: Create work schedules, monitor employee performance, provide healthcare training and professional development, and resolve workplace conflicts
• Promote positive patient relations: Coordinate the authorization or delivery of patient care services; ensure patients are treated in a compassionate and professional manner
• Monitor inventory: Track and reorder office supplies, vaccines, sample collection tools, and other medical supplies
• Maintain medical equipment: Ensure medical equipment is routinely inspected and properly maintained
• Oversee efficient revenue cycle operations: Confirm that insurance claims are properly coded and processed, resubmit claims as required, and ensure collection of outstanding balances; forecast expenses and create or manage budgets; prepare statistical reports
• Reinforce compliance: Ensure regulatory compliance and patient confidentiality
• Support organizational growth: Propose, plan, and direct facility expansion and enhancement projects

Bear in mind that the duties listed above can come from job postings spanning multiple healthcare management careers. As a healthcare manager, you may be responsible for a few of these tasks, but may not necessarily be expected to perform all of them.

What does a healthcare management job description look like?

Healthcare management job descriptions will often list the position’s duties and responsibilities, as well as the required qualifications in terms of education, skills, and experience. Some may also include pay information and benefits.

To see a few job posts, search online for “healthcare management jobs.” You can also narrow your focus to a specific job title, such as “medical office manager,” or job function, like “health information manager.” Click to view the full job description for any positions that interest you.

Healthcare Management Work Environments

Healthcare managers can work in a variety of settings, from hospitals, doctors’ offices, nursing homes, and outpatient clinics to health insurance companies and public health agencies.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that hospitals employ the most medical and health services managers at 29%.² This is followed by physicians’ offices (14%), nursing and residential care facilities (9%), government (7%), and outpatient care centers (7%).

Healthcare Management Careers (With Job Titles)

Healthcare management professionals with a variety of job titles contribute to this profession. Below are just some of the healthcare management careers and job titles you could decide to pursue. This is not an exhaustive list, but is intended to give you a general overview of the types of jobs that exist within a healthcare management career path.

Examples of healthcare management job titles include:

• Medical office manager
• Medical billing supervisor
• Accounting manager
• Front desk supervisor
• Payroll manager
• Health information manager
• Regulatory compliance manager
• Patient experience manager

Are there entry-level healthcare management jobs?

The idea of entry-level healthcare management jobs may seem strange since “entry-level” implies minimal experience is necessary, while management positions generally require a level of expertise. However, job seekers can embark on a healthcare management career path with an entry-level position in one of the functional areas within the broader field.

For example, you might start in an administrative, clerical, or analytical job in a medical office. Your work experience in these roles can help prepare you for healthcare management positions.

Healthcare Management Careers Job Outlook

The BLS projects that healthcare management occupations will grow 23% from 2024 to 2034, creating roughly 61,200 openings each year, on average, over this decade.³

One reason cited for this “much faster than average” growth is that an aging population is likely to increase healthcare service demands. This would result in a greater need for more healthcare management professionals to help run these facilities and organizations.

Healthcare Management Pay Information

If you’re researching healthcare management careers, you may have questions related to earning potential. You may be wondering:

• How much do healthcare managers make?
• What does pay look like for healthcare administrators?
• How much do hospital managers earn?

These are all good questions — but answering them isn’t always simple. That’s because wages can vary significantly depending on a manager’s job function, experience, and education, in addition to other factors such as geographic location and employment setting.

So, how much can you make working in healthcare management?

To set realistic pay expectations, you may first want to look at pay ranges for the administrative and clerical roles that often serve as a starting point for healthcare management careers. This could include positions such as medical administrative assistant, medical secretary, or medical billing specialist. Then you could research pay for more advanced healthcare roles, giving you an idea of what you may be able to earn later in your career.

If you look at websites that provide healthcare management wages, keep in mind that the higher end of the pay range is likely to reflect healthcare management or administration roles that require years of experience and/or an advanced degree. Conversely, functional managers such as medical office managers, billing supervisors, or medical records directors may fall toward the lower to middle end of the scale.

BLS pay data for medical and health services managers is one potential resource. However, several other websites exist that also provide wage information, some of which you can personalize based on your level of education and/or experience in this field.

Healthcare Management Career Education Requirements

A bachelor’s degree is typically required to work in a health manager role, though an associate degree could be sufficient for functional managers and mid-level management positions, depending on the employer.⁴ At the other end of the spectrum, healthcare administration executives may be expected to hold a graduate degree.

A healthcare management degree program provides the knowledge and skills needed to work in these roles, covering important topics in both healthcare and business, in addition to including general education classes.

What is an associate degree in healthcare management?

An associate degree can usually be completed in less than two years. For instance, Ultimate Medical Academy’s (UMA’s) Healthcare Management Associate of Science / Associate of Applied Science Degree program can be completed in 18 months or more.⁵

In this program, you learn about:

• Medical terminology
• Healthcare computer information systems
• Medical practice management systems
• The healthcare claim cycle
• Healthcare accounting systems
• Healthcare law and compliance
• Business office operations
• Human resources
• Leadership and management

General education courses cover important topics like English composition, math, sociology, critical thinking, and problem-solving. problem-solving.

Learn more about our online healthcare management program.

What can you do with a healthcare management degree?

After earning an associate degree in healthcare management, you may start your career by working in bookkeeping, billing, medical records management, human resources or other business areas. With experience, you could be promoted to a manager role.to a manager role.

Others might earn an associate degree in a specific functional area — such as medical billing and coding or health information management — and work their way into a supervisory position within those departments.

What kind of jobs can you get with an associate degree in healthcare management?

Entry-level healthcare management roles may include:

• Customer Service Representative
• Certified Nursing Assistant
• Medical Assistant
• Customer Care Coordinator
• Caregiver
• Program Coordinator

Job candidates typically need both healthcare education and relevant work experience to qualify for health services manager positions.⁴ However, aspiring managers may get their start in any one of these roles and then leverage their experience to advance into a higher-level position.

Is it possible to earn a healthcare management associate degree online?

Yes! While clinical healthcare jobs generally require hands-on training, administrative, clerical, and healthcare management positions often involve computer-based work. This makes an online healthcare management course an option for these types of occupations.

Online healthcare management programs can be a good fit for adult learners who plan to work full- or part-time while earning their degree because it enables them to complete coursework when it’s most convenient for them.⁶ It also allows you to choose an educational institution based on the quality of the academic program rather than the location of the school.

Ready to Pursue a Healthcare Management Career Path?

If you’re ready to start working in one of the many health management careers that exist, earning an associate degree can prepare you for entry-level roles. When you earn this degree at UMA, you get more than just a healthcare management education. You also gain access to several dedicated team members here to support you throughout your career journey.

UMA’s Student Services can help you navigate financial aid, if you qualify, and provide academic assistance in individual courses. Career Services is here to assist you with your job search, whether this involves creating a strong resume, giving you mock job interviews to build your confidence, or connecting you with one of our employer partners who prefer to hire UMA grads.

Contact us to learn more or to discuss how we can help you reach your healthcare career goals.