What Medical and Health Services Managers Do

Medical and health services managers, also called healthcare executives or healthcare administrators, plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services. They might manage an entire facility or specialize in managing a specific clinical area or department, or manage a medical practice for a group of physicians. As healthcare changes, medical and health services managers must be able to adapt to changes in laws, regulations, and technology.

Duties

Medical and health services managers typically do the following:

• Work to improve efficiency and quality in delivering healthcare services
• Keep up to date on new laws and regulations so the facility complies with them
• Supervise assistant administrators in facilities that are large enough to need them
• Manage finances of the facility, such as patient fees and billing
• Create work schedules
• Represent the facility at investor meetings or on governing boards
• Keep and organize records of the facility’s services, such as the number of inpatient beds used
• Communicate with members of the medical staff and department heads

In group medical practices, managers work closely with physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians, and other healthcare employees. For more information, see the profiles on physicians and surgeons, registered nurses, and medical and clinical laboratory technologists and technicians.

Medical and health services managers’ titles depend on the facility or area of expertise in which they work. The following are some examples of types of medical and health services managers:

Nursing home administrators manage staff, admissions, finances, and care of the building, as well as care of the residents in nursing homes. All states require them to be licensed; licensing requirements vary by state.

Clinical managers manage a specific department, such as nursing, surgery, or physical therapy and have responsibilities based on that specialty. Clinical managers set and carry out policies, goals, and procedures for their departments; evaluate the quality of the staff’s work; and develop reports and budgets.

Health information managers are responsible for the maintenance and security of all patient records. They must stay up to date with evolving information technology and current or proposed laws about health information systems. Health information managers must ensure that databases are complete, accurate, and accessible only to authorized personnel.

Assistant administrators work under the top administrator in larger facilities and often handle daily decisions. Assistants might direct activities in clinical areas, such as nursing, surgery, therapy, medical records, or health information.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition