Have you ever wondered how hospitals and healthcare facilities function so effortlessly? How do senior doctors care for their patients, train their juniors, and still make time to attend conferences regarding new medical advancements? Or perhaps how the nurses and hospital staff work in exact coordination to ensure all patients, their reports, and insurance policies are up to date? By the end of this article, you should be able to answer these questions and many more. From what is healthcare administration to what does a healthcare administration do?
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Organize and schedule patient appointments
Creating complex appointment schedules for multiple doctors and specialties is one of the most critical tasks that the healthcare administration performs. This may seem like a simple task; however, the ability to understand the medical complexities of a case and assign the right doctor requires an administrator who is thorough in their research, medical understanding and decision making.
To create schedules, an administrator needs to understand what medical tests and examinations need to be kept in check when a patient is going through a particular disease. For example, diabetic patients need to frequently get their kidneys, eyes, and other vital organs tested.
Make Sure the Facility is Abiding by the Latest Rules and Regulations
Healthcare facilities are governed by rules and regulations at the federal, state, and local levels of government as well as private organizations. These regulations and standards are necessary to ensure that all individuals have access to safe health care. Part of the healthcare administration job description is ensuring the facility follows these rules and updates their practices when necessary. When it comes to abiding by rules and regulations, a healthcare administrator is a role that calls for serious accountability.
Keep a Record of Facility Services Billed and Vacant
Healthcare appointments need to be well documented so the necessary facilities and medical equipment is available and set up before an appointment. It is also the healthcare administrator's responsibility to assign the correct codes for diagnoses and procedures to the patient records.
Healthcare administrators need to know the most current Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) manuals which are used by most health care providers. Knowledge of these codes should always be covered under any healthcare administration degree.
Become a Part of the Management
Although a healthcare administrator is responsible for billing, creating schedules, and ensuring all precautions and health regulations are being followed, their roles may differ from facility to facility.
Nursing home administrators:
Since nursing homes are usually smaller facilities, these administrators tend to be jacks-of-all-trades. The duties they cover a range from managing hospital staff to taking patient admissions and managing facility finances to even building maintenance. All states have varied licensing requirements to become a nursing home administrator.
Health information managers:
These managers are responsible for creating and maintaining patient records. Health information managers need to stay up to date on the latest health information systems and laws. Prior training through a healthcare administration degree ensures you have a solid understanding of the required software.
Clinical Managers:
In larger facilities, there may be a separate healthcare administrator responsible for each department. These departments include nursing, surgery, physical therapy, emergency, and intensive care, each one having different duties pertaining to that specialty. Clinical managers are responsible for setting goals and policies for their department and preparing regular reports and budgets on the department's overall performance as well as staff members.
Become an Indispensable Healthcare Administrator with National Career College
According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of medical and health service managers is projected to grow a massive 32 percent from 2020 to 2030. But before you search for 'healthcare administration jobs near me,’ check out National Career College’s healthcare administration program here in Los Angeles. This healthcare administration online or classroom-based AOS program takes approximately 14-months to complete. For this course, you will take classes in medical terminology, anatomy, medical coding and billing, insurance, and operating systems that will have you scoring one of the many entry-level healthcare administration jobs in no time!
And that's not it. National Career College also provides its students with an externship that provides job experience and an opportunity to develop professional relationships. National Career College will provide students externship and employment support in various clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, and family clinics.
Learn more about Healthcare Administration at National Career College
Sources:
1. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm#tab-1
