Where Can You Work with a Master's in Healthcare Administration?

A master’s degree in healthcare administration is mostly a blessing with a bit of a curse tossed in.

It’s a blessing in that you’ll be able to explore management-oriented careers in a wide range of healthcare-related organizations and settings once you’ve finished your program. You’ll also have the potential to oversee an assortment of essential activities: financial matters, regulatory and legal compliance, human resources functions, facilities and equipment, technology, public relations and policymaking, just to name a few.

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But for some students studying healthcare administration – also known as health administration, healthcare management or health services administration, depending on the school and program – the seemingly endless variety can be an unexpected curse: The career confusion that stems from having so many opportunities, known and unknown.

“Haziness is common,” says Susan Odegaard Turner, a nurse executive. “Folks just don’t know what to do with [this] degree.”

In fact, one of the more common questions on Monster’s Healthcare Careers message board is, “What can I do with a master’s degree in healthcare administration?”

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The short answer: All kinds of things. The longer, more helpful answer: You can get your hands around the various possibilities by thinking in terms of four employment sectors specified by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration: providers, suppliers, insurance organizations and policy organizations.
Healthcare Providers

Providers account for the most common and most obvious career paths for graduates of healthcare administration programs.

Leading the way are hospitals, which employ about 30 percent of all healthcare administrators, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But hospitals aren’t the only providers in town. Healthcare administration grads can also find jobs with:

1. Group physician practices.
2. Clinics.
3. Nursing homes and elder-care facilities.
4. Home healthcare organizations.
5. Outpatient care centers.
6. Mental health organizations.
7. Rehabilitation centers.

Among the many job titles you might investigate in this sector: administrator, director of business development, executive director, practice manager, vice president, chief nursing officer, director of risk management and director of patient safety.

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