If You Want the Career, Get a Master’s Degree
A master’s degree is required for almost every position in the healthcare management field. The Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education provides a list of accredited graduate health administration programs. In the past, most students chose the traditional route of a master’s degree in health administration or public health. Today, however, students are investigating other options, including graduate degrees in business and public administration, with course concentration in health services management. Some schools offer a joint degree—a master’s degree in both business administration and public health, or in both healthcare management and law, for example.Graduate programs generally last two years and lead to a master’s degree. They include course work in healthcare policy and law, marketing, organizational behavior, healthcare financing, human resources, and other healthcare management topics. This program may also include a supervised internship, residency, or fellowship.
Associate with a Professional Association
As with any professional career, joining a professional association can help give you a head start in the field and provide you with resources to help you throughout your career. If you decide on a career in healthcare management, you may want to consider joining the American College of Healthcare Executives as a Student Associate. ACHE is an international professional society of 30,000 healthcare executives. By joining ACHE as a Student Associate, you will experience the excitement of discovering, exploring, and understanding the real world of healthcare management. ACHE offers:
• Resume review services
• An online job bank and resume-posting service
• Continuing education programs
• Subscriptions to ACHE’s top-notch publications, Healthcare Executive magazine and Journal of Healthcare Management, which cover current issues affecting healthcare management
• Cutting-edge research studies
…and more!
Become a Fellow
As a Student Associate, you are also eligible to apply for the Stuart A. Wesbury, Jr., Postgraduate Fellowship and ACHE’s Minority Internship, two programs created for graduate students to complement their studies in healthcare management.To be eligible for Student Associate status, you must:
• Be enrolled full-time or part-time in a four-year program in health services management or a related field that leads to a baccalaureate degree, or be enrolled as a graduate student in such a program
• Not be employed in a full-time healthcare management position
Career Planning Checklist
Make sure healthcare management is the right career choice for you.
• Learn more about healthcare management careers. Talk to professionals in the field, visit career planning Web sites, tour a nearby hospital or other healthcare facility, or participate in a healthcare-focused volunteer program.
• Read about healthcare. You can find interesting articles in local newspapers, national magazines such as Newsweek and Time, and trade publications such as Healthcare Executive, Frontiers of Health Service Management, Journal of Healthcare Management, or Modern Healthcare. Also, visit university and college libraries.