Health care workers are the need of the hour because of the dangers posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The health care sector is expected to grow in the next few years more than any other sector. Professionals like physicians, pharmacists, registered nurses, and health services managers are sought by every health care facility in the world.

While other professions are important parts of health sciences, Health Services Manager is the profession that we are going to discuss in this context. 

Both the government and private sectors have vacancies for health services managers. While working as a health services manager, you will have to deal with different people from your own organization and others. You will come in direct contact with patients, nursing staff, physicians, and policymakers.

Job description of a health services manager

As a health services manager, you will have many responsibilities across different departments of the health care facility. Your job description varies with the size of the facility. Usually, health services managers handle a specific department of a hospital, a physician’s office, and occasionally, an entire facility. With that in mind, the job description of a health services manager entails the following responsibilities.

• Provision of quality health services across the facility
• Counseling the patients and management of the people
• Managing, training, and assigning duties to the staff
• Handle in-patient and out-patient matters
• Ensuring that the requirements of the government are being fulfilled
• Handling work schedules for physicians, nurses, and other staff
• Managing Budgets and forming new policies to meet yearly financial goals
• Attend different meetings to come up with new managerial ideas
• Interacting with other departments and organizations
• Ensuring that the patients are satisfied with the services being provided in the facility

Skills needed for a health services manager

The job description and responsibilities of health services managers clearly indicate their interaction with everyone in the facility. In addition to that, they are the face of the facility when it comes to external matters. Handling all those duties requires a flexible set of skills. Here are some fundamental skills that every health services manager should have.

Communication skills – excellent listening, understanding, and speaking skills are required for a health services manager. This is because they have to communicate with patients, staff, superiors, and officials.

Decision-making skills – a health services manager must be able to make the right decisions and seize an opportunity when they are presented with one. Managing staff, patients, and people also requires extensive decision-making skills.

Problem-solving skills – during the everyday routine, you will be presented with many tough situations on many fronts. No matter the origin of the problem, you should be able to find a solution for it right away. 

Administrative skills – as a manager, you must have the skills to supervise all the matters related to the administration. You should be able to manage budgets and be a leader for your team.

How to become a medical and health services manager

You have to go through a few steps to be eligible and apply for a job as a health services manager. Otherwise known as medical and health services manager, this job requires you to have a specified skill set, a bachelor’s degree at the least, and work experience in the concerning fields.

By complying with the following educational requirements, you will be eligible to become a medical and health services manager. 

Educational requirements

The applicant must have a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in the relevant fields to become a health services manager.

Bachelor’s degree

To apply for this job anywhere, a bachelor’s degree is the least requirement. There are a few fields that a person can pursue to avail this job. Bachelor of nursing science, bachelor’s degree in health administration, business administration, public health administration, health analyses, and finance are the relevant fields that you can study to become a health services manager.

Master’s degree

Although a bachelor’s degree is enough, some employers ask for more. A master’s degree at this stage will come in handy. It requires more time and effort, but once you get this job on the basis of a master’s program, you will be able to enjoy much better benefits. M.Sc Nursing Studies along with other fields is an example of such a degree.

Gain field experience 

The purpose of having experience in the relevant field is to build a strong personality and a skill set to deal with the challenges of this job professionally. You can gain this experience either in a classroom or in a healthcare facility setting. Although much experience is not needed for this job, it will only be beneficial if you have more than needed.

Health services manager’s salary

All said and done, it boils down to how many benefits can you enjoy from this job. Is it worth all the hard work? Will it pay off in the end?

The answer is yes. According to the official reports from 2019, the average salary of a health services manager was $100,980. As it is an emerging professional career in healthcare administration, it only seems fair. Although this figure may change with geography, it still will be a job that pays well.

Evidently, private sectors also offer salaries that match the numbers offered by government institutes. This number is greatly influenced by education as well as experience in the field.