The Role of the Health Care Administrator

Written by Jeanette R. Harrison, MPH

When people think of their experiences in a hospital, they often think of doctors and nurses, because doctors and nurses are the individuals they encounter most often.  However, there are also those they may not see that are providing a service to patients indirectly. These individuals are health care administrators.

Health care administrators may be managers, directors, vice presidents, department heads, physician leaders, executives and administrators.  They often fulfill a leadership role in a line management position.  This means they are responsible for the work flow of a department and the performance of others in that department.  A health care administrator may manage one person or several hundred people.

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Health care administrators perform a variety of duties within a health care organization.  Their position responsibilities may include strategic planning, managing budgets, supervising employees, organizing and preparing meetings, reviewing data, creating business plans, addressing physician and nursing concerns, fundraising, integrating delivery systems, marketing and public relations. These are only a few of the activities conducted by a health care administrator.  

Health care administrators typically have a bachelor's degree at a minimum.  Some have a masters degree, such as MBA (Master of Business Administration), MHA (Master of Health Administration), MPH (Master of Public Health), MPA (Master of Public Administration), or MSN (Master of Science in Nursing), to name a few.  Some health care administrators also complete internships specific to healthcare administration.  This is typically a training program designed to prepare them to be administrators.  In addition, some health care administrators who have graduate degrees may also complete an administrative fellowship.  In this role, future health care administrators work directly with executives in a training program.  In this training, they learn how to become executives and how to address the many roles of a health care administrator.  This can be likened to a residency program for a physician.