What Can You Do With a Healthcare Management Degree?
07/23/2026
If you're interested in pursuing a leadership role on the business side of healthcare, a degree in healthcare management may be worth exploring. Healthcare management professionals may help plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services across a wide range of private and public healthcare settings. Earning a Bachelor of Healthcare Management degree may help build the skills and knowledge relevant to pursuing a career in this field.1,2
Rasmussen University offers an online Bachelor of Healthcare Management degree where students may choose to not select the specialization or they may choose the Public Health specialization, each designed to help build the knowledge and skills relevant to management in the healthcare industry.1
Typical Career Paths in Healthcare Management
A Healthcare Management degree may help you build foundational knowledge relevant to a variety of roles across healthcare settings. The following are examples of career paths students may explore:1
Healthcare Management
- Healthcare manager
- Healthcare administrator
- Hospital director of admitting
- Clinic manager
- Assistant administrator
- Nursing home administrator
Healthcare Management — Public Health Specialization
- Healthcare and social assistance
- Finance and insurance
- Educational services
- Public administration
What Does a Healthcare Manager Do?
Medical and health services managers, sometimes referred to as healthcare administrators, may plan, direct or coordinate medical and health services. They may oversee an entire facility, a specific clinical area or department, or a medical practice for a group of physicians. Professionals in this field may need to adapt to changes in healthcare laws, regulations, and technology as the industry continues to evolve.2
Healthcare managers may typically set and carry out policies, goals, and procedures for their departments or facilities. Their responsibilities may vary by employer and facility size; for example, managers of large facilities may focus on broad oversight, while those in smaller departments may also handle tasks such as ordering medical supplies and coordinating daily operations. They may also work alongside physicians, registered nurses, medical records specialists, and other healthcare personnel, and may interact with patients or insurance agents.2
Typical responsibilities may include:2
- Developing goals and objectives related to efficiency and quality of healthcare services
- Ensuring that the facility complies with applicable laws and regulations
- Preparing budgets and managing finances, including patient fees and billing
- Creating work schedules
- Representing the facility or department at investor meetings or on governing boards
- Maintaining records related to facility services, such as the number of inpatient beds used
- Hiring, scheduling, and evaluating staff and monitoring compliance with state and federal guidelines
- Developing reports and budgets for their departments or facilities
Where Do Healthcare Managers Typically Work?
The largest employers of medical and health services managers include hospitals, offices of physicians, nursing and residential care facilities, government organizations, and outpatient care centers. Healthcare managers may also collaborate with other healthcare professionals, such as licensed practical nurses and medical assistants.3
Employment of medical and health services managers is projected to grow 23% from 2024 to 2034.4
Skills You Could Build in a Healthcare Management Program
Rasmussen University's online Bachelor of Healthcare Management program is designed to help students develop competencies that may apply across a range of roles and settings. The following are skill areas that students in the program work toward:1
Healthcare Leadership and Critical Thinking
Build knowledge of change management, teamwork, negotiation and motivational skills to help navigate challenges in a fast-paced, demanding healthcare setting.
Overseeing Regulations and Policies
Keep pace with the constantly changing influences on healthcare delivery across patient experience, quality management and process improvement.
Strategic Planning and Decision-Making
Leverage data, technology and organizational behavior to design and implement strategic plans for organizational change in alignment with the broader market forces and trends driving services, quality of patient care and costs.
Population Management
Critically evaluate healthcare data from multiple sources to determine patterns of actionable information for population management. Learn to plan for high-demand public health services and patient experience initiatives within healthcare systems.
Considering Healthcare Management Careers
A Healthcare Management degree may help you explore how organizations plan, manage and improve the delivery of health services across a wide range of private and public healthcare settings. Whether you're drawn to the general Healthcare Management track or the Public Health specialization, the program is designed to help you develop skills applicable to healthcare management roles.1
The responsibilities and focus of these roles may vary depending on the organization, care setting, and community being served. Reviewing job postings or connecting with professionals already working in the field may help you better understand the range of opportunities available and identify roles aligned with your interests and goals.2,4
Earning a degree does not guarantee employment or specific job outcomes. Employment conditions in your area may vary.
1Rasmussen University, Healthcare Management Bachelor's Degree, at https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/business/healthcare-management/ (accessed May 1, 2026).
2Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Medical and Health Services Managers, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm#tab-2 (accessed May 1, 2026). Employment conditions in your area may vary.
3Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Medical and Health Services Managers, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm#tab-3 (accessed May 1, 2026). Employment conditions in your area may vary.
4Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Medical and Health Services Managers, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm#tab-6 (accessed May 1, 2026). Employment conditions in your area may vary.
