include: planning and coordination of services, understanding of the health industry laws and

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1 Healthcare Administrator Job Description Healthcare Administrators can be found all over the healthcare spectrum but all have one thing in common, ensuring that their department in running smoothly. Some of their duties may include: planning and coordination of services, understanding of the health industry laws and regulations, supervising administrative assistants and delegating work and working to improve the overall department. Because these positions can take place in a variety of locations like a hospital to a nursing home, job duties and the work load will vary. (Healthcare Administration Careers, 2015) Career Path The first step in making your way up to a Healthcare Administrator would probably be to start as a Patient Service Representative. This is an entry level positon in most healthcare settings and is similar to a receptionist. In this position you answer and direct patient phone calls, check patients in and answer questions. The next step would to become an Administrative Assistant. This position helps with more of the office work like creating data sheets, scheduling appointments and meetings and correspondence duties. A high school diploma is required to hold this position. A Medical Office Manager would be the next natural step forward on this career path. In this position, the manager would oversee the entire clinic s office support including

2 administrative assistants and the receptionist. This person works closely with doctors and physician assistants and usually requires an Associate s Degree at the minimum. The final step for most people would be a Healthcare Administrator. There are other advancements in this career path like becoming the Administrator and CEO of a hospital like David Grauer at Intermountain Medical Center. Education For this career, most people spend about 4-6 years in school resulting in a Bachelors Degree although there are opportunities for higher degrees such as a Masters or Doctorates degree. (Health Administrator) Weber State University offers a Bachelors Degree and the ability to minor in Health Services Administration. (Health Services Administration Emphasis) Salary In 2012 the median hourly wage for a Healthcare Administrator was $88,580 or an average of $42.59 an hour. (Medical and Health Services Managers) To give some perspective, starting out as a Patient Service Representative you would make about $13.00 an hour. When moving up at an Administrative Assistant the average you would make is $14.25 and a Medical Office Manager makes an average of $18.31 an hour or an median salary of $46,568 a year. (Bachelor of Science (BS/ BSc), Health Care Administration Degree Hourly Rate) The gross average median hourly wage for someone who has 1-5 yearswork experience in this field is

3 $15.12 with people who have been there between making $ (Bachelor of Science (BS/ BSc), Health Care Administration Degree Hourly Rate) Career Outlook Discuss how optimistic a future for this career is. Because the baby boomers are starting to age and people are living longer lives, this is causing a growth in all healthcare professions. The Bureua of Labor Statistics predicts that jobs for Healthcare Administrators, also known as medical and health service managers, will increase by 22% from 2012 to This is faster than the average for all other occupations. (Medical and Health Services Managers) Bio of someone in the profession This could be the result of a personal interview or research of someone famous. For this piece I interview Reese who is the Executive Administrative Assistant to the physicians in the clinic that I work at. Reese started out as a PBX operator which is the person that directs all the phone call that come in to the hospital to the location they need to go to. She then accepted a position with Transplant Service as a Patient Service Representative. She worked in this position for a little over a year, scheduling new and old patients, answering and directing the phone calls that came in the clinic as well as many other things to help around the office. She then became and Administrative Assistant for Pre-Kidney patients. In this position she had a group of patients, patients waiting for a kidney transplant, which she watched over. She was the front line of contact for these patients and answered any questions that she could

4 before transferring them to their nurse. She also made sure that all of their testing was completed on time and that they were informed about their results. Currently she is the Executive Administrative Assistant at the clinic. She helps manage the providers schedules and making sure that the other Administrative Assistants are scheduling appropriately. She arranges travel and hotel for Doctors that are wanting to travel to conferences worldwide and even helped one Doctor get his visa to go to India for a conference. Pros and Cons I think that one of the cons of choosing this career path is that it limits you to one industry. I would always have to work in the healthcare. If I held a business degree instead, I could hold many positions across many different industries. If I ever felt like I needed a change I could easily find a job where I could utilize a business degree. One of the pros of being a Healthcare Administrator is that there are so many different faucets of healthcare. You can chose to work in a clinic that specializes in a certain area, in a hospital or even in a nursing home. Healthcare Administrators are even needed at insurance companies and other non-clinical areas. This makes it easy to find something that fits your personality and managing type. A happy medium could be to major in business and minor in healthcare administration. My Fit I believe that this career path is a perfect fit for me. I started learning about healthcare when I volunteered as a hospice volunteer. I liked it so much and being able to help others that I

5 decided to become a phlebotomist and get my CNA training. After working as a phlebotomist for a little over a year I realized that I enjoyed to office work a lot more than doing clinical work. I then accepted a job as an Administrative Assistant. I have never held a job that I love so much and look forward to becoming a hospital or clinic Administrator one day.

6 Works Cited Bachelor of Science (BS/ BSc), Health Care Administration Degree Hourly Rate. (n.d.). Retreived August 4, 2015 Health Administrator. (n.d.). Retrieved August 4, Health Services Administration Emphasis. (n.d.). Retrieved August 4, Healthcare Administration Careers PublicHealthOnline.org (2015, March 30). Retrieved August 4, Medical and Health Services Managers. (n.d). Retrieved August 4, 2015.