Skills and Abilities needed for a hospital administrator

• Must have excellent communication skills both verbal and written, to interact with so many people at various levels.
• Must be able to make effective decisions, open to different perspectives and should be able to analyze contradictory information.
• To become an able administrator the person needs a lot of tact, be diplomatic and also be flexible to suggestions and ideas.
• Must have strong leadership qualities and be able to motivate and encourage people to give off their best.
• Must be able to understand and interpret financial and information technology data and reports.

Educational background for a hospital administrator

Education of a higher degree is required to become a hospital administrator. They have to be conversant with the medical management principles and practices.

• For some of the entry level positions in smaller hospitals a bachelor’s degree from accredited college or university in the field of health administration may suffice.
• Most hospital employers look for masters in health services administration, health sciences, long-term care administration, public administration, public health or business administration from an accredited college or university.
• To enter some of these programs undergraduate degrees in business or health administration is required by schools.

Duties and responsibilities of a hospital administrator

The duties and responsibilities of a hospital administrator are manifold.

They have to look after the business side of the hospital, look after the needs of doctors and other staff in the hospital, look after the patient’s medical care and well being and look after the upkeep and maintenance of the hospital.

Business Management:

• Form and put into practice policies to run the hospital.
• Manage the personnel and human resources by looking after the hiring and training of doctors, nurses, trainees, assistant hospital administrators and other necessary staff for the efficient and smooth running of the hospital.
• The federal government has recently come out with a regulation that all records of the hospital and healthcare are to be maintained electronically and that proper security measures have to be taken for their safety.
• In view of this it is imperative that hospital administrator maintain computer systems and hire personnel to operate and maintain these systems.
• Another important duty of a hospital administrator is to look after the finances by allocating budgets, checking the accounting, and see that all proper records are kept for internal and external as well as tax audit purposes.
• Maintains an open line with the staff and other members of the administration and professionals and assigns them their tasks and duties.

Medical Team Management:

• Interact, coordinate and take care of the needs of doctors, surgeons, nurses, hospital technicians, and other medical staff members.
• Resident doctors and other medical staff’s schedules and duties have to be drawn up, ensuring that they perform at their optimum levels of looking after patients professionally and ethically.
• Many a time an external surgeon, specialist or consultants are needed. A hospital administrator have to coordinate with these professional to see that the patients get timely and much needed help from them.

Patients Management

• Hospital administrators have to check on patients to see that they are being properly taken care of the medical and other staff and that their needs are being well looked after.
• They have to oversee that the patients are getting quality facilities and amenities which they are paying for.
• They have to motivate and encourage the medical team as well as other staff in taking care of the patients and looking after their comforts to the best of their abilities.
• They take rounds of the hospitals checking on patient as well as the staff and make quick and informed decisions wherever they feel that the patient’s comfort or needs are compromised so as to alleviate and improve the patient’s well being.

External Management:

• Coordinate and interact with vendors, suppliers, contractors, insurance firms and other government agencies and regulatory bodies on an ongoing basis.
• Keeping contact with these people to see that the hospital is well-stocked on medicines, food items, hospital and operation theatre equipment and any other equipment use in the hospital.
• Negotiate with vendors and suppliers on contracts to see that the hospital gets the best deal and follow up on the orders.

Other Responsibilities:

• Meet and interact with other board members, trustees, owners or other management professionals to undertake periodic reviews on policies and practices and make changes whenever needed.
• Depending upon the finances allocated to the hospital and its budget, hospital administrators takes charge of community welfare programs, establishes research programs and introduces camps on preventive medicine.
• Takes part in various healthcare camps, attends and even plans fundraising events, takes part in the local health council meetings and attends seminars and conferences pertaining to the healthcare industry.

Licensure and Certification needed by a hospital administrator

• Hospital administrators working in nursing care facility need to have a bachelor’s degree.
• They have to complete a State approved training exam, pass a licensing exam and carry on with continuing education.
• In assisted living facilities also a license is required in some states.
• For other areas of hospital administration a licenses is not required.

Hospital Administrator

To run a hospital efficiently and ably it requires the professionalism of an able administrator. These hospital administrators also go by the nomenclature medical and health services managers, healthcare executives or healthcare administrators. To run a hospital efficiently it requires good business acumen which can be learnt at schools, colleges or universities. They specialize in running a particular clinical department or in general they might be in charge of the whole hospital. Larger hospitals would have more than one hospital administrator who would be the assistants of the senior most administrator.

The role of the hospital administrator in the future will be more challenging as the rules and regulations for healthcare are getting more complex, technology is constantly getting upgraded and the healthcare delivery system is not only going to get integrated but also the focus is going to more on preventive than on curative medicine. There will be constant pressure on them to improve healthcare facilities and also on the quality of healthcare given.

Salary and potential earnings for a hospital administrator

A hospital administrator receives his pay packet based on a myriad of factors.

One of the most common reasons for salary to be different is due to the experience that is picked up by working in the profession for a period of time.

As the experience grows, so does the income.

The other typical reasons that effects salary is which part of the industry they work in, the type of employer they work for, the city, state or province they work in, the education and certificate they hold, the skills and specialty that they have, amongst others.

The average annual salary of a hospital administrator falls between the range of $ 39,604 and $ 156,083 which is inclusive of bonus that they would get.

• Years of Experience

§  A Hospital administrator who has a work experience lesser than one year the salary range is between $ 34,765 and $ 98,555 and the hourly wage range he would receive is between $ 9.45 and $ 50.17.

§  A Hospital administrator who has a work experience of one to four years the salary range is between $ 39,405 and $ 101,838 and the hourly wage range he would receive is between $ 7.79 and $ 26.55.

§  A Hospital administrator who has a work experience of five to nine years the salary range is between $ 41,203 and $ 123,276 and the hourly wage range he would receive is between $ 18.66 and $ 50.50.

§  A Hospital administrator who has a work experience of ten to nineteen years the salary range is between $ 68,597 and $ 180,000.

§  A Hospital administrator who has a work experience of more than twenty years the salary range is between $ 70,052 and $ 232,699.

• Industry

§  A hospital administrator working in healthcare gets an annual salary range between $ 48,854 and $ 155,218 and an hourly wage rate between $ 12.48 and $ 26.00.

§  A hospital administrator working in an hospital gets an annual salary range between $ 48,047 and $ 132,478 and an hourly wage rate between $ 20.35 and $ 49.13.

§  A hospital administrator working in hospital administration gets an annual salary range between $ 40,178 and $ 151,521.

§  A hospital administrator working in outpatient surgery gets an annual salary range between $ 31,864 and $ 132,703.

§  A hospital administrator working in acute care hospital gets an annual salary range between $ 71,446 and $ 224,683.

§  A hospital administrator working in orthopaedic surgery gets an annual salary range between $ 26,356 and $ 236,718.

§  A hospital administrator working in military or armed forces gets an annual salary range between $ 57,687 and $ 90,482.

• Employer Type

§  A hospital administrator working for a company gets an annual salary range between $ 30,410 and $ 118,588 and an hourly wage rate between $ 11.32 and $ 24.71.

§  A hospital administrator working for a hospital gets an annual salary range between $ 48,548 and $ 153,873 and an hourly wage rate between $ 12.16 and $ 49.32.

§  A hospital administrator working for a non profit organization gets an annual salary range between $ 58,175 and $ 216,889.

§  A hospital administrator working for a government – federal gets an annual salary range between $ 50,779 and $ 147,376.

§  A hospital administrator working for a government – state and local gets an annual salary range between $ 25,760 and $ 162,889.

§  A hospital administrator working for a private practice or firm gets an annual salary range between $ 26,356 and $ 98,633.

§  A hospital administrator working for a college or university gets an annual salary range between $ 69,255 and $ 102,769.

• City

§  A hospital administrator working in New York, New York gets an annual salary range between $ 50,000 and $ 155,502.

§  A hospital administrator working in Los Angeles, California gets an annual salary range between $ 50,335 and $ 224,683.

§  A hospital administrator working in Houston, Texas gets an annual salary range between $ 30,913 and $ 145,437.

§  A hospital administrator working in Chicago, Illinois gets an annual salary range between $ 67,752 and $ 79,700.

§  A hospital administrator working in Boston, Massachusetts gets an annual salary range between $ 47,000 and $ 84,000.

§  A hospital administrator working in Dallas, Texas gets an annual salary range between $ 35,000 and $ 80,000.

§  A hospital administrator working in Atlanta, Georgia gets an annual salary range between $ 35,000 and $ 85,000.

The male to female ratio in the profession of a hospital administrator is almost equal i.e. female percentage is 49% and male percentage is 51%.

The average annual salary range for females in this profession is between the range of $ 60,585 and $ 103,917 and the male average annual salary range is between $ 63,163 and $ 120,249.

They also get the usual benefits and perks prevalent in the industry such as 401(k), 403(b), paid holidays and vacations, paid sick leave, disability and life insurance, reimbursement towards education, training, tuition and certification etc.

They also get the common health benefits and 89% of them said that they receive medical benefits, 74% said that they got dental benefits, 60% said that they receive benefit towards vision while 9% said that they did not receive any common health benefits.