by Imed Bouchrika
Healthcare administrators ensure that quality care is consistently provided to patients. Their work typically entails managing the operations of medical offices, hospitals, healthcare establishments, insurance companies, and regulatory boards. The online bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration prepares students for these types of administrative roles.
Based on projections by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2019 anf 20029, careers in medical and health service management will reach 32% job growth (Best Colleges, 2021). Greater attention on preventative health services plus the aging populace will drive this growth.
If your lifestyle cannot afford another schooling in a traditional sense, an online bachelor's degree in healthcare administration might enable you to go for higher positions. Let this article guide you on the best online degrees in healthcare administration, as well as this field's possible job outlook, salary potential, and admission prerequisites.
Yes. In fact, online degree programs in healthcare administration are widely offered at most colleges and universities all throughout the U.S. This is the complete opposite of nursing programs that are only offered in less than 3,000 schools in the country. This, however, can make it less overwhelming for aspiring nursing students or nursing professionals looking for specific programs. For example, if you are planning to pursue an advanced clinical education and training in nursing, you can easily narrow down the the best colleges for nurse practitioner that offer online programs.
Aside from full-time online degrees, hybrid ones are also becoming common nowadays.
Employers take online degrees seriously, but only if these degrees meet their standards. What they often look for are degrees obtained from reputable and accredited schools, supplemented with exemplary internships/fellowship programs, taught by on-campus professors, and accompanied by support services (College Affordability Guide, n.d.).
Source: University of West Florida
Yes, and this is because of the apparent improvement in the quality of online degrees, which, in turn, is making online diplomas more credible all over the world.
Concurrently, a bigger demand for graduate workers has resulted in an increase in online degree enrollment (Elliott, n.d.).
A bachelor's degree in healthcare administration is a combination of business and healthcare fundamentals--it is like taking a business management online program that focuses on the business and administrative aspects of healthcare operations. Most of these degrees require 120 to 140 credits and span four years to complete. Basic education requirements are science, history, and communication. Aside from microeconomics and managerial accounting, students will take courses on medical terminology and healthcare policy. Supplementing healthcare administration coursework are minors and electives.
Some schools offer this degree as an independent program, while other business programs offer healthcare administration as a specialization (Best Colleges, 2021).
Unlike traditional degrees that require you to come personally to classes at specified schedules, online classes may only be attended during your free time. However, online degrees are not that easy to accomplish.
Kechinyere C. Iheduru-Anderson probes the components causing delayed completion or withdrawal from online RN-BSN nursing programs from the perspectives of the students in her article, "Students' Perspective of Factors Related to Delayed Completion of Online RN-BSN Programs." Published on BMC Nursing, the 2021 study expounds on the students' learning approaches and how they fulfilled the required tasks. "Students whose motivation for returning to school are extrinsic are more likely to delay completion than those whose intentions are more intrinsic. The students in the current study who reported returning to school because their jobs required it dropped registered courses as soon as they faced difficulties. Some reported not fully understanding the time commitment and the discipline requirement for online learning before they signed up."
In an on-campus degree, you will have the chance to meet your classmates and professors face-to-face. In an online degree, you need to be used to studying independently. Encountering difficult lessons may be hard for those who need assistance at these times.
Online degrees are more likely to cost less than traditional degrees. Room, board, meal, and gas expenses are not a cause of concern for students enrolled online (Discover Health Admin, n.d.).
Many schools offer online degree pathways that are almost the same as their traditional counterparts.
As long as you can fulfill the descriptions being asked of you in your new job, you have the skills to perform efficiently, and you have the right attitude as an individual and a professional, where you obtained your degree will not matter anymore.
Bear in mind that the most affordable online colleges will not check every box on your list, and not all expensive ones should be disregarded as well. Suffice to say, consider college costs in connection with the program as a whole and do not decide based on expenses alone.
A traditional bachelor's degree in healthcare administration can cost $30,000 for in-state students and $100,000 for private schools (Gaines, 2021). Students opting to take this degree online should expect to pay $9,139 annually for in-state, public college tuition or $23,000 for out-of-state tuition (University HQ, n.d.).
What makes a bachelor's in healthcare administration a worthy investment is that aside from getting a good job, professionals in this field can earn an average yearly salary of $90,000 to $100,980 (Accredited Colleges Online, 2021). The range is even higher for healthcare administrators with a master's degree regardless if they got their master's traditionally or if they took the best online masters in healthcare administration.
Before you do a Google search for "what can u do with a public health degree," you should know that the degree qualifies you for a wide range of administration positions in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities. The healthcare industry also continues to boom as new health regulations are being set, technology continues to advance, lifespans are improving, and all healthcare roles are deemed in demand.
Students of online degree courses in healthcare administration must have consistent access to a computer with a stable internet connection. Students must be also knowledgeable about Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, and other basic internet tools.
School and program accreditation status, the technology used to deliver the classes, opportunities for future employment, and availability of financial aid are paramount to a student's college journey (The Best Schools, 2021). These items also make up the best online degrees, including the best online master's degree in healthcare administration.
The leading programmatic accrediting bodies for healthcare administration-related programs are the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES), and the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). Programs that have gained programmatic accreditation from one of these agencies have fulfilled certain standards for education. Among them, you can find the best online healthcare degrees.
Find a school with excellent technology, the one that will not let you worry about crashing servers upon important submissions.
It is also pivotal to find a school that can provide you with internship programs. These programs can help you grow your network and find your specialty in the market.
To provide economic relief to students, most schools have aid packages that also include federal loans. Grants and scholarships can also be found at every college level, both on-campus and online.
Source: Data USA
We owe healthcare services not just from doctors and nurses working hard to provide quality health services at hospitals and healthcare facilities, but also from healthcare administrators. Healthcare administration is a respectable field as it is where many lives are on the line, and it takes dedication, determination, and compassion to carry such a heavy responsibility.
In the age of pandemics and resistant bacteria, healthcare has assumed a key role in maintaining societies, nations, and civilizations. Consequently, the demand for these services has seen a notable increase in the last few years. But with increasing demand and not much positions filled, their payscale has also boomed. Thus, it is in your best interest to further your career with higher qualifications across relevant field. The digitization of the medical and healthcare industry, for example, means that information and data will assume a more crucial role in these industries for years to come. Branching out to the closest fields then, like data science and health informatics, will serve you well. You can, in particular, embark on an online master's degree in health informatics to get you in the best position for these developments.
Should you decide to earn a healthcare administration degree, expect that many people will be relying on you for important decisions. Do your job well when you make it—this is the best thing that you can do to show how grateful you are to be trusted by them and belong in the industry tasked to save lives (Top Masters in Healthcare, n.d.).
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by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
