Do you know that to meet the need for hospitalization under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, India will require 3,50,000 additional beds at its hospitals by 2025? Ayushman Bharat Scheme is a plan of the Indian Government to provide free healthcare facilities to economically backward people at government and private hospitals. According to the study, these additional 3,50,000 hospital beds will hospitalize about 1,70,00,000 patients in a year. Do we need Healthcare Management professionals to manage such a huge inflow of patients?

What is Healthcare Management?

Who will provide treatment and clinical services to these many patients under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme? Doctors and Nurses of course. But are doctors & nurses the only people who run a hospital?

Definitely not! Along with Doctors, Nurses, and Paramedical professionals, a large number of healthcare management staff members are essential for a hospital to operate smoothly. Healthcare Management involves all the administrative and non-clinical functions at hospitals and other healthcare facilities – such as patient admission and discharge management, finance, marketing, facilities upkeep and management, general administration, and public relations.

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Definition of Healthcare Management

Healthcare Management or Healthcare Administration involves general administration, administration of patient admission and discharge, administration of outpatient departments, and administration of various facilities at a hospital, healthcare clinics, or similar other facilities. Healthcare Management also involves marketing, staffing, human resources management, finance and accounting, day-to-day hospital operations management, and Public Relations.

Healthcare Management or Healthcare Administration Professionals are also required to manage public healthcare or community healthcare systems and facilities. They are involved in healthcare policymaking for public benefits; planning for policy implementation; and implementation of the plans.

A few simple examples of the roles of Healthcare Management Professionals – they recruit doctors and other staff members; manage various staff requirements; assist patients to get admission and treatment easily; maintain good relationships with patients and those accompanying patients.

Education Requirements

To become a Healthcare Management or Healthcare Administration Professional, to begin with, you can do a Bachelor’s degree in any of the following depending upon your stream and subject combination in class 11-12:

If you have a science stream in 11-12 and have Physics, Chemistry, and Biology as a subject combination, then you can do any of the following:

1. Bachelor’s in Hospital Administration (BHA) / Healthcare Management
2. MBBS
3. BHMS (Homoeopathic Medicine)/ BAMS (Ayurvedic Medicine)/similar degree
4. B.Pharm. (4 years) / Pharm.D. (6 years)
5. B.Sc. Nursing
6. Bachelors in Physician Assistant/ Any other Bachelor’s degree in Allied Medical Sciences such as in Operation Theatre and Anaesthesia Technologies, Radiology and Medical Imaging Technologies, Emergency and Critical Care Technologies, etc.
7. Medical Record Science & Health Information Management
8. B.Sc. (Medical) – in Anatomy / Physiology/ Biomedical Sciences / Similar
9. B.Sc. (Non-Medical) – in Zoology / Microbiology / Biochemistry / Similar
10. B.B.A. with specialization in Healthcare Management/ Healthcare Administration
11. If you have any other stream in 11-12 with any subject combination, then to enter this field you can only do: (sub-sub-heading)
12. B.B.A. with specialization in Healthcare Management/ Healthcare Administration

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What should you study after graduation to pursue a career in Healthcare Management or Healthcare Administration:

• After a Bachelor’s in Hospital Administration (BHA)/ Healthcare Management, you can do a Master’s degree in the same field.

• After MBBS / BHMS / BAMS / B.Pharm. / Pharm.D. / a similar degree, you can do an MHA (Master’s in Healthcare Administration) or a similar post-graduate degree or you can straight away go for a Ph.D. in Healthcare Administration in a University in the USA or Canada

• After a B.Sc. Nursing / Bachelor’s in Physician Assistant/ Any other Bachelor’s degree in Allied Medical Sciences, you can do an MHA (Master’s in Healthcare Administration) or a similar post-graduate degree

• After a B.Sc. (Medical) or a B.Sc. (Non-Medical) degree, you can do an MHA (Master’s in Healthcare Administration) or a similar post-graduate degree

• After a Bachelor’s degree in a medical science / allied medical / nursing/ pharmacy/ bioscience (medical or non-medical) degree or even a Bachelor’s degree in any subject, you can do an MBA in Hospital Management / MBA in Healthcare Management/ MBA in Hospital Administration / Healthcare Administration

Scope and Prospects of Healthcare Management

India’s healthcare industry is on a path of fast growth. This means that the number of hospital management jobs and healthcare management jobs will be growing faster. Overall, the healthcare industry in India is expected to reach a size of $372 Billion by 2022. This industry comprises hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic companies, etc.
The hospital segment (which is a part of the healthcare industry) is expected to grow at a rate of about 16-17% annually (Compounded Annual Growth Rate). This kind of growth will add thousands of new jobs for doctors, nurses, paramedics, and others. This will also add thousands of hospital management jobs as well as healthcare management jobs.

Top Colleges for Healthcare Management in India

1. The Institute of Health Management Research- IIHMR, Jaipur
2. All India Institute of Medical Research- AIIMS, Delhi
3. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, TISS, Mumbai
4. Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University
5. Apollo Institute of Hospital Administration, Hyderabad
6. Christian Medical College, Vellore
7. ASCI Hinduja Institute of Healthcare Management, Hyderabad
8. KEM Healthcare Management Institute, Pune
9. Institute of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Management and Research – IPHMR, Calcutta
10. School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad
11. Goa Institute of Management
12. Manipal University
13. Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences
14. Institute of Health Management Research Bangalore
15. School of Health Sciences, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun
16. National Institute of Health and Family Welfare Delhi
17. IMS, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya University, Indore
18. DMS, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai

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Where are the hospital management jobs?

You can get a job in:

• Multi-specialty private sector hospitals like Apollo Hospital, Fortis Healthcare, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Medanta, Tata Cancer Hospital, Narayana Hospital, etc.

• Super-Specialty private sector hospitals like Lions Kidney Hospital, Fortis Hospital & Kidney Institute, Fortis C-Doc Hospital, etc.

• Multi-specialty government hospitals like the AIIMS in Delhi and many other cities, King Edward’s Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi, CMC Vellore, CMC Ludhiana, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, etc.

Where are the healthcare management jobs?

Apart from the opportunities in hospitals, you can get a job in any one of the following types of organization:

• Nursing Homes and Health Clinics

• Various Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in healthcare such as WHO (in India offices), International Medical Corps, HelpAge India, Medicine Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders), Rural Health Care Foundation, Care India, etc.

• Pharmaceutical Companies such as Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Roche Healthcare, etc.

Healthcare Management: Rewards and Challenges

Conclusion

If doctors are god, then healthcare management professionals are god’s best friends!!

If you are looking for a career where you can work towards the improvement of the medical infrastructure of the society and also grab a handsome pay package, healthcare management is just the right profession for you!

If you are also passionately interested in being a part of fast-paced clinical settings without having to be a doctor or a nurse exactly, you will enjoy a high-paying and promising career in this field.

Is hospital administration or healthcare management good for you?

Although there are plenty of opportunities in hospital administration and healthcare management and the prospects are good, the critical question is whether a career in this field is suitable for you. Besides, there are other tingling questions too like whether an MBA in Hospital Management / MBA in Healthcare Management/ MBA in Hospital Administration will suit you or other postgraduate degrees in cognate disciplines would be better for you after a BHA/ B Sc/ BBA/ MBBS / BHMS / BAMS / B.Pharm. / Pharm.D. etc.

The answer depends upon a lot of personal factors, your background, and qualifications. To get help further to decide whether this field is good for you, you can avail of unbiased career guidance. Such career guidance will clear all your doubts and answer all the questions that you may have in mind about healthcare management and hospital administration.

Also read:

• Top Medical Courses Without NEET
• Student’s Guide: Courses After 12th Class
• Beyond Numbers: Scope of Mathematics