Healthcare Management Skills for Leadership Roles

Healthcare management is a vast discipline encompassing everything related to the business side of medicine. In simpler times, doctors, nurses and other patient care providers worked independently and managed their own administrative affairs. However, provider consolidation, changing patient expectations and the increasing complexity of medical billing and compensation have complicated healthcare management, making it impossible to manage healthcare facilities while practicing medicine. Healthcare is the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, and healthcare management is the fastest-growing subfield of the industry.

Trained health administrators now handle billing, staffing, marketing, and operations management for small private practices, mid-size hospital networks and the largest healthcare systems and integrated care delivery networks. The strength of our healthcare systems relies on the administrative talent organizing change and supporting our frontline workers. It is clear that our healthcare administrators must be sharp, focused and readily prepared for the unique challenges of running an effective healthcare system.

The Most Important Healthcare Management Skills

The responsibilities of healthcare managers are both numerous and critical to the success of patient care. Effective healthcare leadership ensures there are enough providers to meet patient needs, resources (e.g., medicine and equipment) to treat those patients and the funds to finance it all. Career advancement requires not only business acumen but a broad understanding of how the healthcare sphere operates. In a marketplace seeking candidates with advanced qualifications, healthcare managers must stand out. A traditional MBA hones soft skills and technical skills. However, students graduate with the evidence-based management skills necessary to address challenges unique to medical environments, running the gamut from foundational baseline business skills and transferable technical skills to highly specialized distinguishing skills.

The following skills appear most often in job postings for healthcare management roles:

• Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
• Digital Innovation in Healthcare
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Law, Rules & Regulations
• Health Policy
• Population Health

Addressing the Skills Gap

There is always a skills gap in healthcare management because the healthcare industry is constantly changing, pushing yesterday’s skills toward obsolescence. Shifts in the regulatory landscape spur demand in new areas, and changing patient expectations move organizations to seek new types of talent. Take, for instance, the emergence of telemedicine as yet another healthcare option for patients with non-acute issues. Overseeing distributed teams, managing cutting-edge technological systems and ensuring patient satisfaction in a virtual world takes new and different skills than managing operations in a traditional walk-in clinic. Becoming a leader in healthcare is less about addressing deficits in yourself and more about developing the management skills you already possess.

Choosing the Right Educational Path

What does this mean for you, a prospective graduate student striving to excel in your career in healthcare administration? It means you need an education that gives you the skills to thrive in your leadership role. You may consider a few degree program options, such as a master of healthcare administration, a master of business administration with a focus on healthcare management, or a master of public health.

A master’s in healthcare administration curriculum keeps focus on business concepts and management techniques specifically related to the healthcare sector. This engagement is evident throughout courses in topics like healthcare information technology, organizational behavior in health systems, and statistics for health management decision-making. In an MHA program, you can learn how U.S. healthcare systems are organized and financed and strategies to market healthcare services and products.

Comparatively, an MBA in healthcare management curriculum is more generalized, supporting a wide range of business applications. While students learn about organizational operations and finance in healthcare practices, they also acquire more generalized business knowledge, exploring trends, methods and advances in various areas.

Comparison of Healthcare Management Degrees

This broader education supports careers within and outside of the healthcare industry. Students with an MBA in healthcare management may find themselves well prepared for leadership roles in fields as wide-ranging as tech, finance and engineering. If you’re considering a healthcare management MBA, take inventory of which skills you have, which skills you can develop and which skills you lack.