Online Healthcare Administration & Management Master's Degree
Overview
Healthcare is one of the fastest growing industries, thanks in part to advances in medical technology and changes in federal regulations impacting patients, hospitals, and insurers alike.
Students with a bachelor’s degree in a health field such as nursing can advance through the ranks without leaving the workforce by earning an online master’s in healthcare administration. Those with undergraduate degrees in business and other subject areas can position themselves to enter this rapidly expanding industry at the management level.
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Coursework
| Example courses | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leadership in healthcare | |||||||||
| Healthcare financial management | |||||||||
| Healthcare quality, regulation, and risk management | |||||||||
| Emerging issues in health system management | |||||||||
| Managing emergency preparedness | |||||||||
An online master’s in healthcare administration aims to prepare graduates to eventually work as CEOs and CFOs of hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities. Students take courses in finance, law, marketing, human resources, and ethics—all delivered through the lens of the healthcare industry.
Healthcare administration students also learn how to deal with laws and regulations specific to the healthcare industry through courses such as health policy and regulation and healthcare policy analysis and development. Some online programs require students to complete on-campus residencies over the course of their program. During these residencies, students learn from healthcare executives, meet with faculty, and network with their virtual classmates.
Job Outlook
| Median salaries* | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical and health services manager | $84,300 | ||||||||
| Human resources manager | $99,200 | ||||||||
| Financial manager | $104,000 | ||||||||
| Chief executive officer | $165,000 | ||||||||
*per the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook
Rapid growth in the healthcare sector—the industry as a whole is expected to add nearly 5.6 million jobs by 2020—will translate into low unemployment rates and high starting salaries for graduates with a master’s degree, according to a report by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University.
While students can enter the field with solely a bachelor’s in healthcare administration, graduates with a master’s often go on to work in management positions in hospitals and other medical facilities, and the average median salary for that career path is $84,300, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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