What Does a Healthcare Administrator Do?

Introduction

Healthcare administrators, also known as health services managers or healthcare executives, are responsible for planning, directing and coordinating medical and health services. While a healthcare administrator’s job duties and even job title will vary by facility or area of expertise, one common characteristic is that they typically do not practice hands-on patient care.¹

Pursuing a healthcare administration career path could be a good option for someone who is interested in working on the business side of the healthcare industry (as opposed to the clinical side). The work that healthcare administrators do helps to ensure that others—physicians, nurses, technicians, managers, etc.—have what they need to provide quality patient care and that that the healthcare facility runs smoothly.

If the business side of healthcare interests you, then this article is for you. Below we take a brief look at the healthcare administration employment landscape, explore some typical healthcare administration job duties and discuss how to prepare to pursue a role in healthcare administration.

What Is the Healthcare Administration Job Outlook?

As the U.S. population, particularly the baby boom generation, continues to grow older, the need for healthcare administrators—those who can organize and oversee electronic medical information and healthcare staff and who can coordinate patient care—is expected to grow along with it. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of medical and health services managers is projected to increase 29 percent from 2023 to 2033.¹

What Is Healthcare Administration? The Multifaceted Role of a Healthcare Administrator

Day-to-Day Healthcare Operations Management

Healthcare administration is a broad field encompassing many different roles that support the efficient functioning of a medical or healthcare facility, that is, the facility’s day-to-day operations. Healthcare administrators may manage an entire facility, a specific clinical area or department, or a medical practice for a group of physicians. They may perform human resources functions such as recruiting, training, evaluating and supervising staff members. They may perform fiscal functions, such as generating reports and budgets, or team leadership functions, such as creating work schedules. They must also keep up with and adapt to changes in healthcare laws, regulations and technology.¹

What a healthcare administrator’s job duties are and what their job title is will largely depend on the facility they work in or their area of expertise.¹ Some examples of relevant job titles include:

• Nursing Home Administrator¹
• Clinical Manager¹
• Health Information Manager¹
• Cancer Center Director²
• Clinical Director²
• Health Information Management Director (HIM Director)²
• Health Information Manager (HIM Manager)²
• Healthcare System Director²
• Medical Records Director²
• Medical Records Manager Mental Health Program Manager²
• Nurse Manager, Nursing Director²

Healthcare Regulations and Compliance

Healthcare administrators must ensure that their department or facility complies with relevant federal, state and local laws and regulations. Some examples of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations that protect patient privacy or ensure fair billing practices are HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) and the False Claims Act. Additionally, healthcare administrators may have to ensure compliance with protocols set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that aim to protect healthcare workers and the public at large.

Ensuring healthcare regulatory compliance can be a complex undertaking because a number of different agencies at all levels of government (federal, state and local) issue healthcare regulations and standards—some of these regulations or standards may conflict, some may duplicate others and some may not even apply to exempt facilities. What does a healthcare administrator do to help them stay on top of compliance issues? The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), a department of the HHS, is one major resource in the healthcare administrator’s toolkit. The OIG issues advisory opinions and offers various compliance resources (special fraud alerts, advisory bulletins, podcasts, etc.) designed to help health care providers comply with federal laws and regulations.

Financial Management and Budgeting

Healthcare administrators prepare and monitor budgets and manage finances, which includes patient fees and billing.1 They may conduct and administer various fiscal operations, including accounting, authorizing expenditures, establishing rates for services and coordinating financial reporting.² To help them optimize the use of existing resources and assess the need for additional ones (such as staff, equipment or services—all of which cost money), healthcare administrators may monitor the use of diagnostic services, inpatient beds, facilities and staff.²

Depending on their specific role, a healthcare administrator could be responsible for ensuring accurate medical billing and coding (to prevent overbilling or underbilling); implementing anti-fraud measures designed to prevent and detect overbilling and ensure proper reporting of fraud; conducting financial audits; or ensuring compliance with laws such as the Anti-Kickback statute or the False Claims Act.

Healthcare Policy and Advocacy

Some healthcare administrators may engage in developing healthcare policy and advocating for programs that benefit patients or healthcare workers. They may consult with medical, business and community groups to discuss service problems, respond to community needs, enhance public relations, coordinate activities and plans and promote health programs.²

The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) provides resources to help its members define and communicate their public policy views, educates members on critical policy issues and the advocacy process to help them advocate effectively for the profession, and aims to improve the image of healthcare executives.³ The American Public Health Association (APHA) offers its member healthcare administration professionals the opportunity to organize and pursue common goals and interests, and one of its primary activities is identifying, prioritizing and advocating for public and health-related policy issues.⁴

Strategic Planning and Decision-Making

Healthcare administrators set policies, goals, and procedures and map out strategies for implementing them. Their decisions can impact a wide range of areas, for example, the quality and efficiency of healthcare operations or the adoption and use of healthcare information technology. What these goals and objectives are and the plan for achieving them will be informed by what the healthcare administrator knows about the organization’s operations, finances, the regulatory landscape, staffing needs/issues and so on.

While strategic planning is something that some people might associate with high-level executives or large hospital systems, the fact is that strategic planning can be carried out at a number of different levels in all different types of facilities. One example could be an office manager at a small community healthcare clinic who is trying to figure out how to reduce patient wait times by a certain percentage within a certain timeframe. Another example could be a medical or health services manager who is trying to find ways to streamline their medical billing and coding procedures so that they can handle more patient files without having to hire additional staff.

Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

A healthcare administrator’s job duties typically include developing goals and objectives regarding the efficiency and quality of healthcare services.¹ To do this, they use healthcare administration quality improvement (QI). Healthcare QI refers to the framework that is used to systematically improve care; its purpose is to standardize processes and structure to reduce variation, achieve predictable results, and improve outcomes for patients, healthcare systems and organizations.⁵ The framework comprises a set of processes allow administrators to manage risk and to measure, analyze and improve healthcare outcomes such as patient safety, wait times, satisfaction or equity.

Health Information Technology (HIT)

Some healthcare administrators may be involved in selecting and implementing health information technology (HIT) systems and in ensuring that the sensitive information being stored and transmitted in these systems is being managed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations (i.e., ensuring compliance, discussed above). According to HHS, health information technology refers to “the processing, storage and exchange of health information in an electronic environment. Widespread use of health IT within the health care industry will improve the quality of health care, prevent medical errors, reduce health care costs, increase administrative efficiencies, decrease paperwork and expand access to affordable health care.”⁶ In other words, healthcare administrators can use HIT systems to achieve the goals and objectives discussed thus far: improved quality of patient services, improved safety, increased efficiency, greater access to healthcare services, and resource optimization.

Risk Management and Legal Issues

HHS summarizes risk as “a function of the likelihood of a given threat triggering or exploiting a particular vulnerability, and … the resulting impact on the organization.”⁷ Put another way, risk is the likelihood that a negative event will occur and what the potential consequences of that negative event will be. Through risk management, healthcare administrators are better able to promote patient safety, promote healthcare worker safety, ensure the organization’s financial health, maintain the healthcare facility’s reputation and potentially avoid or mitigate legal issues.

The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) has created a model for healthcare enterprise risk management (ERM) that encompasses eight risk domains: operational, clinical/patient safety, strategic, financial, human capital, legal/regulatory, technology and hazard.⁸ Healthcare ERM is a more holistic approach to risk management, one that goes beyond the traditional “reactive” risk management approach focused primarily on promoting patient safety and avoiding legal exposure.⁹

Healthcare Administrator Education, Experience and Licensing Requirements

To pursue a healthcare administrator career path, a bachelor’s degree is typically required—health administration, nursing or business are common fields of study. However, a master’s degree may be needed for certain roles or for career advancement. Additionally, some roles may also require administrative or clinical work experience in a healthcare facility, and still others may require state licensure. For example, nursing home administrators typically need years of work experience as a registered nurse (which requires an RN license) in addition to nursing home administrator licensure. Certification is not generally required for healthcare administrator roles, although some healthcare managers choose to obtain it.¹

Explore Trident’s Healthcare Administration Degree Programs

Trident University International’s Bachelor of Science in Health Administration (BSHA) online degree program, offered through the College of Health and Human Services, is designed to help students prepare to pursue entry- and mid-level functional positions in healthcare administration or a graduate-level healthcare administration degree program.

Core courses for BSHA students may include Introduction to Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare, Cross-Cultural Health Perspectives, Healthcare Delivery Systems, Healthcare Finance, Healthcare Quality Assessment and Improvement, and Health Information Systems.

For those who already hold a bachelor’s degree and would like to advance their education, Trident also offers a Master of Health Administration (MSHA) online degree program. Students who wish to pursue a concentration can choose either the Conflict Resolution Management concentration or the Human Resource Management concentration.

Learn about various financial aid options—including federal financial aid and other tuition assistance, payment plans, scholarships, veterans benefits and more—by visiting the Trident Financial Aid page.

Explore Trident’s full range of undergraduate and graduate Health Sciences degree programs.

¹ Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Medical and Health Services Managers,” https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm (last visited March 14, 2025). This data represents national figures and is not based on school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary.
² National Center for O*NET Development, O*NET Online, “11-9111.00—Medical and Health Services Managers,” https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-9111.00 (last visited March 14, 2025).
³ American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), “Responsible Advocacy,” https://www.ache.org/about-ache/our-story/our-commitments/social-responsibility/responsible-advocacy (last visited March 14, 2025).
⁴ American Public Health Association (APHA), “Health Administration,” https://www.apha.org/apha-communities/member-sections/health-administration (last visited March 14, 2025).
⁵ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), “Quality Measurement and Quality Improvement,” https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-initiatives-patient-assessment-instruments/mms/quality-measure-and-quality-improvement- (last visited March 14, 2025).
⁶ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “Health Information Technology,” https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/health-information-technology/index.html (last visited March 14, 2025).
⁷ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “Guidance on Risk Analysis,” https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/security/guidance/guidance-risk-analysis/index.html (last visited March 14, 2025).
⁸ HIPAA Journal, “What Is Risk Management in Healthcare?,” https://www.hipaajournal.com/risk-management-in-healthcare/ (last visited March 14, 2025). ⁹ NEJM Catalyst, “What Is Risk Management in Healthcare?” (Apr. 25, 2018), https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.18.0197.

Trident cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement. The list of career paths related to this program is based on a subset from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to SOC Crosswalk. Some career paths listed above may require further education or job experience. REQ2106899 3/2025