MBA in healthcare administrationEarning a degree online could be an excellent and efficient way to leverage your time and financial resources. While holding down a job and possibly caring for a family, you could take classes online and advance your career. Unfortunately, not all online degree programs are created equal. If you are interested in earning an online MBA in Healthcare Administration, take these tips to heart. 

 

Working in Healthcare Management? Know Your Prospects.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks just about every profession in the United States and medical and health services managers are likely career paths for someone with an MBA in Healthcare Administration. Also called healthcare administrators, these executives plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services. They might be managing an entire facility or specializing in managing a specific clinical area or department.

healthcare administrator salaryHealthcare administrators, supported by the knowledge gained through their MBA program, must stay abreast of changes in healthcare laws, regulations, and technology. The BLS pegs the median annual income of medical and health services manager at $88,580 as of May 2012, with job growth at a staggering 23 percent through 2022. This is more than double the national job growth rate of 11%. 

An MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Administration could provide you a stepping stone into public or private services as well. Certainly many (39 percent, by the BLS’s reckoning) work in hospitals. Another 26 percent, says the BLS, work in ambulatory healthcare services, and 11 percent administer healthcare in nursing and residential care facilities. 

Enrolling in an MBA Program? Know Your Limits.

An online MBA is amazingly flexible, since you decide when to begin your new term, how often you visit the online site to participate in class, complete assignments and read up on your research.

Too many television commercials for postgraduate classes show superheroes squeezing in online minutes while commuting, after tucking in children, or while riding the elliptical at the gym. These are hardly realistic scenarios. An effective online program will provide you with genuine, in-depth activities: 

  • Case scenarios
  • Simulations
  • Video lectures
  • Webinars
  • Guest speakers
  • Collaborative decision-making with other students
  • Operational problems

These are not the sorts of activities you can leap into and out of in five minute-chunks all day long. You—and the online program—deserve to be taken seriously. You will have to find blocks of time to dedicate to concentrated study. 

Know Your Curriculum

When exploring online healthcare administration MBA programs, get to know the curricula. One program may be too heavy on “electives” that really just entertain you. Look for solid grounding in real issues relevant to you: 

  • Accounting for Managers
  • Business Research and Analysis
  • Ethics and Corporate Responsibility
  • Healthcare Delivery Systems
  • Healthcare Technology
  • Health Policy and Economics
  • Managerial Economics
  • Managerial Finance
  • Marketing and Analytics
  • Operations and Supply Chain Management
  • Organizational Behavior and Leadership

Know How to Keep Notes

The pace for earning an MBA online is self-regulated, but keeping a steady pace works well for most candidates. This means maintaining careful notes, because the skills you learn over the weeks and months of online learning will come into play as you move out into the professional world. Some skills will transfer immediately. Keeping organized notes as a future resource can help with all kinds of situations: 

  • You may be called upon to research new technology for cost-effectiveness and improved patient care
  • You may be asked to present organizational plans to take into account an upcoming acquisition of another healthcare provider
  • An ombudsman may approach you with concern about the ethics of a particular healthcare worker in your organization
  • Patients may come to you with a request for space and time for their religious observances that conflicts with other groups’ use of the same space at the same time
  • You may be asked to be on a committee developing a new mission statement, code of conduct, and organizational vision

Know When to Say No

If, when researching an online MBA program, you get the feeling that things are not adding up, do not be afraid to say “No” to false promises. Look for accreditation, ask for names of successful candidates, ask about possible career paths, and ask about graduation rates. Google online reviews, not for individual anecdotal complaints or compliments, but for the general tenor of the reviews. No school is going to be all good or all bad, so be suspicious if every review is glowing. 

Consider, too, the technology linking you and the school administering the online MBA program. If every class is simply a scrolling script, or conversely everything is a series of video clips, you may not find a lot of useful or attention-holding content. 

Begin your search for an online Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Healthcare Administration by contacting ECPI University today. We can answer your questions and help you get in the know. It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

Learn more about ECPI's College of Business TODAY!

DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.

Gainful Employment Information is pending for this program.

For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.