Overview

Most Health Administration curriculums combine a liberal arts background with management theory and the practical skills involved in planning and delivering health services. If you major in Health Administration, you'll take courses in management, health care administration, epidemiology, health law, and health finance and economics. You'll learn how to manage the finances of huge organizations, how to deal with personnel, and how to interpret and comply with the maze of laws that effect health care providers, administrators, and organizations. It's a good bet that you'll participate in an internship or some other kind of professional field experience as well, so as to build your professional credentials.

Upon graduation, you'll be prepared for entry-level management positions in hospitals, clinics nursing homes, mental health organizations, insurance companies, public agencies, and many other types of health care organizations.

A lot of schools offer health administration as a master's or doctoral program only, which means that you must get an undergraduate degree first before you can actually specialize in the field. It's a pretty good idea to plan on ultimately obtaining a graduate degree, anyway, though, because you'll make a lot more money and you'll probably find significantly more employment opportunities.

SAMPLE CURRICULUM

  • Accounting

  • Administration of Health Care Organizations

  • Biology

  • Business Law

  • Business Math

  • Economics

  • Ethics and the Health Sciences

  • Financial Management of Health Institutions

  • Health Care Economics

  • Health Care of the Aged

  • Health Planning

  • Health Policy

  • Health Regulation

  • Internship in Health Administration

  • Principles of Management

  • Public Health Administration


HIGH SCHOOl PREPARATION

What you want to do is develop a strong background in mathematics and written and oral communication. If you are thinking about majoring in Health Administration, take courses in English, math, and science, as well as a business law course or two.