University of New England (UNE Online) , February 16, 2021
Though on-the-job experience often offers the most valuable learning experience, earning an academic degree continues to be a useful, structured way to cultivate career-boosting knowledge and skills.
For those passionate about healthcare, a Master in Healthcare Administration (MHA) offers the chance to dig deep into finance, management, strategic planning, and other topics that affect just about every aspect of hospital and healthcare organization operations.
Here are three reasons why now is a uniquely ideal time to earn an MHA:
1. Burnout is its own epidemic within the healthcare community. Compassionate healthcare leaders can help the industry evolve.
This past year’s events have laid bare multi-faceted issues in our healthcare infrastructure and processes. Healthcare leaders who understand the historical foundations of such challenges and who cultivate strategic acumen can lead their organizations towards reducing the systemic factors that lead to burnout.
Ideally, an MHA program includes courses that take systemic issues and injustices into account, producing graduates who understand that “the bottom line” is more complex than ever.
More specifically, MHA students are trained to be proficient in evaluating organizational and national policies that have shaped the healthcare system, and in critically analyzing, formulating, and advocating for policies that advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice.
In the realm of healthcare management, an MHA can further develop leadership skills and tactics needed to navigate the current healthcare environments—and construct better ones.
This includes the ability to evaluate operational and capital budgets for a health care facility, including sources of capital funding and costs, and to create budget action plans that are both profitable and protective of its workers.
All in all, after a year that has asked more of healthcare professionals than ever before, a graduate degree can help one feel more in control by assembling knowledge and tools to improve healthcare at individual, organizational, and industry-wide levels.
2. Metrics indicate an ongoing and rising need for more healthcare management professionals.
It is estimated that the projected demand for medical and health services managers will grow 32% between 2019 to 2029 (when the average growth rate is just 4% in the same time period), opening up around 133,200 positions in the next decade.
This growth will be needed to handle the increasing healthcare industry, offering both career and personal opportunities to mold the industry to be more efficient, more compassionate, and more equitable.
An MHA degree is designed to produce healthcare professionals who can do just that. As a few examples, in the course of their curriculum, MHA students learn to assess healthcare strategic planning problems, develop comprehensive and practical solutions, and evaluate strategies to increase the reliability of healthcare processes and technology.
3. Technology has advanced to the point that online learning can provide education that is just as rigorous as in-person learning—and without a timely commute.
As tired as everyone may be of Zoom calls right now, expert-designed remote education can offer flexibility and efficiency while retaining a sense of community.
Asynchronous learning, in which you are never required to be at your computer at any specific time, allows busy professionals to complete readings and assignments anywhere and anytime in their schedule (by specified due dates).
Instructor-curated online discussion boards allow for a wealth of perspectives from all around the globe that you may not otherwise encounter.
Plus, new technologies and modalities such as branching scenarios, video roleplaying, and virtual field simulations are constantly being implemented to further improve each learning experience.
Now is the Time
There may be uncertainties in our near future, but one thing you can control is your continuing education.
The University of New England offers a fully online Master of Healthcare Administration degree and a growing number of graduate certificate options, all designed by learning experts with the schedules of busy professionals in mind.
Program faculty actively work in the field while they teach online, ensuring that modern issues and actionable insights are covered in class discussions, and optional focus areas are available in health data quality or public health.
Our four-course graduate certificates can also be transferred into the master’s program either immediately or within several years after completion. Tracks include emergency management, health data quality, healthcare management, or health policy, law, and compliance.
This flexibility means that you can advance your career or jump into a new career track more easily than ever before—all from an accredited university with more than a century of science and medical education expertise. Learn more at https://online.une.edu/healthcare-administration.