How do I pursue a career in healthcare administration?

Change of career: Going into the health care administration field ??

• I might need to go back to work and I am thinking about a career change. I have held business analysts/planner positions in retail but while I enjoy the actual work, i don't enjoy the purpose/ field. Working retail is starting to feel a bit pointless, trying to sell more stuff to people all the time.I am interested in taking my skills to a different field. Maybe a similar job but with a different goal. Namely healthcare administration could be what I am looking for. I'd would want to work for patient advocacy groups or in the government (ie: not trying to make an extra buck to private insurance). But to do that I figure I need to understand how the private system works too. I might need to go back to work and I am thinking about this time to do a career change. I have held business analysts/planner positionl in retail but while I enjoy the work, i don't like the field I am working in. Working retail is starting to feel a bit pointless, trying to sell more stuff to people all the time. I am interested in taking my skills to a different field. Maybe a similar job but with a different goal. Namely healthcare administration could be what I am looking for. I'd would want to work for patient advocacy groups or in the government (ie: not trying to make an extra buck to private insurance). But to do that I figure I need to understand how the private system works too and make my self marketable. I have 2 good degrees from good schools but useless in this case: they are in the design/art field. I have work experience as planner/ business analyst. I have also run my own business before. I have also experienced 3 different healthcare systems as a patient (not that it matter that much, but it gives a different perspective) I was thinking about starting with a basics coding certification from AHIMA... I also started a job alert to see what the position I like require.. Sounds like some of them require a Bachelor health administration or equivalent, AND experience in hospital billing systems.. So BA ok, i get how to do that, but hospital billing systems? Most job have these requirement, even what looks like entry level. Question, what would be a good starting point..? I feel like I am not looking at it right, or maybe not looking at the right jobs. If someone is working this field, I would welcome some advice on position to start with to learn the basics, Or maybe advice on what training/certification to get. I don't think I can go back to school for a bachelor. I was hoping there was a bridge with a shorter course I could take. I cannot get transfer credit since my degrees are from Art colleges in England and France so going back to school for 4 years when I have already 6 behind me is not an option.

• Answer:

  all signs point to anything surrounding healthcare being very stable for the next few years Well, maybe if you work for an insurer. The provider side (physicians and hospitals) are going through an intense period of mergers and acquisitions, and in 5 years there will be very few independent hospitals or physician practices. There is a lot of pressure from many quarters to improve quality and hold down prices, and many smaller organizations just can't stay solvent in the current environment. Like citygirl, I currently work for a big university hospital and medical school. We're in good shape, but we're battening down the hatches and lots of places in our area are not in good shape. With all those mergers, health care systems are looking to get efficiencies of scale and purchasing is usually one of the first places they look. While the business analyst positions are going to be more like those in the financial industry (e.g., assessing whether the organization should buy x practice or offer y service), there are positions focused on planning purchasing and optimizing supply inventory. You might look for materials management or purchasing positions. There are also sometimes specialized people that do this for operating rooms, but they typically want OR experience. Many health care orgs are looking to Lean manufacturing processes and Six Sigma as a template for how to do more with less. Any expertise in that area can be very valuable. Health informatics is also a big growth area, if you are interested in data and computers. One good place to start learning about what is wrong (and right) in healthcare is http://www.ihi.org/Pages/default.aspx. There's also a recent documentary from some of the folks involved with this group called Escape Fire. I haven't seen it (hello, grad school!), but I have heard good things. There are some good interesting healthcare-related courses on . These don't count for college credit, but they are free and in my experience generally quite good. https://www.coursera.org/course/healthcareinnovation (from Duke) https://www.coursera.org/course/healthpolicy (from U Penn) https://www.coursera.org/course/rationing (from U Penn) You may also find some interesting information from professional groups. The http://www.mgma.com/ focuses on physician practice administration. http://ache.org/ is more focused on hospital administration (and they have a hilariously appropriate acronym). http://www.himss.org/ is the premier informatics/IT group. Despite the very real and daunting challenges facing health care providers in the next decade, I think it is a great industry to work in. I like that my work makes a difference, and things are definitely interesting.