Health Care
“The preservation of health is a duty.”
– Herbert Spencer
Overview
Got an interest in health but don’t see yourself as a doctor or nurse? Maybe you should be a healthcare professional. More than ever, healthcare is a business and requires trained businesspeople with expertise in management, accounting and IT to provide the services needed for America’s aging population. Our accredited online bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in health care management and business administration/healthcare will put you on the right track towards a career as a healthcare facilities manager, patient care executive, medical billing administrator, and many other positions that will allow you to work in health care without necessarily having to be around sick people.
Healthcare: Career Insights
- The good news: high income potential. The not-so-good news: long hours and hard work in a sometimes difficult environment.
- A master’s degree is typically required for middle and senior level positions. A bachelor’s degree may be sufficient for lower level positions at smaller healthcare facilities.
- Healthcare is becoming more of a business every day, so business degrees are the right preparation.
Manager of Healthcare Facilities
The manager of healthcare facilities is responsible for operations of the entire facility or for specific practice areas such as nursing, surgery, therapy, medical records, or health information. A General Manager would need wide-ranging skills and at least superficial familiarity with many different types of care, whereas a Clinical Manager might have specific training in a clinical area such as physical therapy. The Medical Records Manager typically has a bachelor’s degree in health information or medical record administration and this is one of the many available degrees online.
Medical Assistants
Medical care requires a great deal of recordkeeping and data entry; in addition there are multiple forms to fill out and file. This means there is a great deal of administrative work done by individuals such as the Medical Assistant, Medical Biller, and Medical Coder. In smaller facilities, these employees may have both administrative and clinical duties (taking blood, for example) whereas in large care centers they will be dedicated to a purely administrative role. Duties include: answering telephones, greeting patients, updating and filing patient medical records, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence, scheduling appointments, arranging for hospital admission and laboratory services, and handling billing and bookkeeping.
Executive-Level Positions
Health care executives often have titles much like their counterparts in other businesses: for example, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. But there are other high-level executive titles too, such as Patient Care Executive, Medical Director, and Chief Medical Officer (the same title held by Dr. “Bones” McCoy on Star Trek).
Now that you have a healthy understanding of accredited online healthcare degrees, why not find out more about how earning a bachelor of science in health care services; bachelor of business administration in health care; MBA in health care management, master of science in Nursing/Health Care Management; or a Ph.D. in Health Services can help you begin a career as a Health Care Manager or a Medical Assistant.
Click here for a complete list of accredited online Healthcare degree programs
Walden University
Walden University, serving the higher education needs of professionals since 1970, is an accredited graduate institution offering advanced degrees online. Their degree programs include management, public administration, education, public health, human services, psychology, and more. Their faculty is experienced and the curriculum is rigorous. The Walden distance-learning approach optimizes relevance and depth of learning by encouraging students to share experiences with peers around the world.
Walden University Advantages: