While the future of healthcare policy in America is uncertain, the technologies and practices being developed at a high pace, paired with the need for healthcare practitioners and services, continue to drive an industry that will benefit from experienced and well-trained Healthcare Managers. Many professionals within this field begin their careers after receiving a bachelor's degree in business, management, or healthcare. While an undergraduate degree may open the door to an entry-level management or assistant-management position in a hospital, nursing home, or private practice, the ability to move forward in a Healthcare Management career can often depend on a professional's ability to receive more training in leadership with a graduate degree like a top on-campus or top Online Master's of Business Administration degree with a focus in Healthcare Management. The benefits to a degree like an MBA include being more marketable to a larger number of organizations in the medical field, a higher salary potential, and the ability to oversee larger facilities and staffs, including leadership at the executive level.
The cost to benefit ratio of making the decision of pursuing a higher education is not one to be taken lightly. Many professionals in Healthcare Management are simply unwilling to sacrifice a solid position they have established themselves in and may be unable to incur the six-figure debt some of the nation's best master's degrees feature. For these managers, a program with a rigorous curriculum and relevant principles that does not require the need for them to sacrifice their current work positions would be optimal. Currently, many of the nation's top universities offer 100% online MBAs with concentrations in Healthcare Management that not only offer attractive tuition rates but also allow students to complete all coursework for a master's degree in as few as 12 months.
One of the country's highest rated Online Master's of Business Administration degrees with a specialization in Healthcare Leadership is featured at the Graduate School at Friends University based in Wichita, Kansas. One of the benefits of this 100% online program is that it requires no GRE/GMAT for acceptance and features just 10 courses to complete. Of the ten core courses, six are for core requirements and four are concentration courses of Quality Management in Healthcare Organizations, Risk Management & Decision Making, Healthcare Finance, and Managing Complex Healthcare Systems. The business school stresses that while careers in healthcare continue to evolve, "the Healthcare Leadership concentration provides you with a solid foundation of knowledge in insurance coverage, workforce compensation trends, prescription drug administration and risk management. The concentration is designed to enhance your leadership skills and enables you to create innovative solutions to adapt in an ever-changing health care system." This 30-credit hour program, which is priced at $631 per credit hour making the total cost of tuition an accessible $18,930, allows students to create a personalized course schedule that best fits an active work schedule. Most students within this program will graduate in just two years while still being able to meet the demands of a full-time job.
Students seeking an expedited graduate degree experience will want to consider the online Master's of Business Administration with a concentration in Health Care Management offered at the School of Business at Saint Leo University. This 36-credit hour program features a $695 per credit hour rate making the total cost of tuition an attractive $25,020. The relevant healthcare-specific courses included in this program are Health Policy Evaluation, Health Care Management, Critical Issues in Health Care, Community Health Evaluation/Epidemiology, and Health Care Organization/Managed Care. Perhaps the greatest component of this degree is the option for online students to double up on courses within the eight-week term and complete all requirements for the degree in just 12 months.
