The Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that employment for Medical and Health Services Managers will increase by 23 percent from 2012 to 2022. This increase can be attributed to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, as well as new mandates by the Supreme Court for affordable healthcare. The new standards set by these government acts, will change how the health care industry, insurance companies and private practices will deal with healthcare.
With the increase in employment opportunities, the need for qualified healthcare managers will also increase. An MBA in healthcare management can help you to learn the skills necessary to be a successful manager in the healthcare industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare managers work to improve efficiency and quality in delivering healthcare service, supervise assistant administrators, manage finances of the facility, schedule employees, serve as representatives at meetings and on governing boards and work with members of medical staff and different heads of departments.
The Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University offers a MBA in Healthcare Administration, an Executive Healthcare MBA and a JD/MBA in Healthcare Administration programs. The programs are offered as part of the Robbins Institute for health Policy and Leadership. The program at Baylor focuses on building business sense and the necessary healthcare knowledge for students to be successful in the healthcare field. The MBA in Healthcare Management program requires students to complete a seven month paid executive residency. This gives students the opportunity to practice the skills and apply the knowledge they learn in the program to real work situations.
The Baylor program is one of 72 programs that is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). CAHME works on promoting, evaluating and improving the quality of graduate healthcare management education in the United States and Canada. The organization is the only organization that is recognized to grant accreditation to individual academic programs that offer master’s degrees in healthcare management.
In CAHME‘s 2015 update, the organization found that in 2010, there were more than five thousand students enrolled in healthcare management programs and that the total amount of students enrolled in programs increased to more than six thousand by 2015. The organization also found that students who complete programs that are accredited by their organization, have an overall employment placement rate of 93 percent.
Another CAHME accredited program is the MBA in Health Sector Management at the Fox School of Business at Temple University. The MBA-HSM program at Fox is the oldest health administration program in the Philadelphia region. In addition to being CAHME accredited, the Fox program is also a member of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. The MBA-HSM program at Fox is designed for current healthcare professionals, as well as for those who are transitioning in to a new career field. The Health Sector Management specialization is available for Fox students who are completing either the Part-Time or Full-Time MBA programs.
For professionals who are currently in the healthcare field, the Simmons School of Management Health Care MBA offers a more in depth healthcare curriculum than a traditional MBA concentration or specialization. The program was specifically designed for healthcare management and is a separate program from the regular MBA at Simmons. The Simmons Health Care MBA is 54-credit part-time program. Students in this program must have at least two years of work experience to be qualified for program admission, most of which should be in a health-related field.
According to George Washington University, completing a Healthcare MBA is a better option than is a a Masters in Health Administration for a few reasons. The first, is that a MBA degree opens doors in other fields. The second reason is that the MBA degree has a business-focused curriculum. According to GWU, the healthcare MBA, “gives you an advantage when dealing with business and financial duties, since much of your training covers these areas.” The MHA degree is more focused on the healthcare system and requires fewer courses in business, which may not prepare you for the business side of healthcare management.
Whether you are looking to advance your healthcare career or if you are planning to begin a new career in the healthcare sector, a healthcare MBA can help you get there. The demand for qualified managers in the healthcare field will increase as the structure of the healthcare industry changes. Completing the MBA in the healthcare field can increase your chances of having a successful advanced management career in the industry.