What Can You Do with a Qualification in Health Services Management?

By Your Health Magazine Contributor

Your Health Magazine Contributor

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What Can You Do with a Qualification in Health Services Management?

Just because you work in healthcare doesn’t mean you have to work in a clinical capacity all day. You might love working with patients but be much more interested in how services are delivered or how teams are organised. You may be fascinated with why some processes seem intent on making everyone’s job more difficult than it needs to be. You may start to wonder if there’s a way to have a career in healthcare that doesn’t involve providing direct patient care.

But then you hit a stumbling block. What are you going to do with those skills? Health services management can seem like a blanket term. It’s not always clear what sorts of roles fall under that title or what you would actually be doing day-to-day. You might even question whether studying for a qualification will open doors for you or just create another bullet point on your CV.

Healthcare needs people who understand how it works from both a human and operational perspective. With a qualification in health services management, you can enjoy careers that utilise skills surrounding teams, resources, service delivery, strategy and improvement in all sorts of healthcare environments. 

So what careers can you pursue with health services management skills? Let’s find out.  

How Can a Qualification in Health Services Management Support Career Progression?

A Master of Health Management can equip health professionals with skills to step into healthcare leadership roles and take on greater responsibility across the health sector. You can also use a qualification like this to build upon existing experience in any number of clinical, administrative or operational roles.

Career outcomes can include moving into management positions and assuming responsibility for teams and resources. Alternatively, you might focus on developing your professional expertise in one area of health service delivery. As you gain experience, you may have opportunities to take on strategic roles that focus on service improvement, planning or organisational performance in areas such as quality or efficiency.

Once you become a manager, your professional development does not have to end. Healthcare is an ever-changing sector. Continuing to build your leadership, communication, strategic and problem-solving skills can help you to adjust to new challenges as they arise. 

Postgraduate study can be one way to continue developing your skills and expertise. It can be particularly beneficial for health professionals who want to continue working after graduation or take their career to the next level.

However, you don’t have to start your career in healthcare management to pursue this career path. Experience in nursing, administration, allied health or another area can provide a foundation in how healthcare services operate. From there, you can use a health services management degree to learn how to manage teams and projects to turn your skills into your new career. 

What Is Health Services Management?

Health services management involves ensuring that healthcare organisations and services are equipped with the workforce, resources and systems they need to deliver and run smoothly. Although much of this work takes place out of the spotlight, it can directly affect how well services run and what patients experience.

Health services managers may have responsibility for staffing, budgets and resources, service planning and improvement, and day-to-day operations. Those in more senior positions may focus on longer-term strategy, evaluating how services can meet changing healthcare needs and continue to provide safe and effective care.

The role differs from clinical practice, as health services managers do not spend most of their time seeing and treating patients. Instead, they focus on the teams providing care to patients and improving the systems that support them. They may partner with clinicians and other healthcare workers to solve problems and optimise processes. 

What Can You Do With a Qualification in Health Services Management?

Careers in health services management are found across the healthcare sector. Roles will differ in their day-to-day responsibilities, but many will involve coordinating both people and resources to help improve the way services operate and enable organisations to adapt to shifts within healthcare. 

Here are some options you might choose to consider:

Healthcare Manager

Healthcare managers are typically responsible for the day-to-day operation of a healthcare service or facility. This can include managing staff, allocating resources, monitoring performance and ensuring services run smoothly while keeping a focus on delivering patient care. 

Health Services Manager

Health services managers take a wider look at how healthcare is delivered. They might manage a number of services or teams, identify ways services can operate more efficiently and effectively, and work on initiatives designed to improve patient experience and outcomes. 

Clinical Services Manager

Clinical services managers typically manage specific clinical departments or areas of care. These roles require an individual to understand and meet both operational demands, such as staffing and resources, as well as clinical demand and patient needs. These roles often involve significant liaison with health professionals to improve services. 

Health Program Manager

Health program managers typically design, coordinate and assess discrete health programs. This can include setting program objectives, working within budget and resource constraints, coordinating staff and monitoring outcomes to ensure the program is meeting its goals. 

Health Policy or Planning Roles

Graduates can also find themselves working in health policy or planning roles. These roles can include working with health data and statistics to identify emerging community health needs and planning for or helping to implement policies that can better meet the needs of those being served. This can be at a government department or health service organisation. 

Where Can Health Services Managers Work?

There are many different pathways you can take with health services management. The management skills you learn are useful no matter where you work in the healthcare system. This is different from many healthcare jobs, which only allow you to work in hospitals or large health networks. As a manager, you can work with all sorts of teams, patients and day-to-day operations.

You may find work in hospitals or health networks managing departments, services or overall operations. Community health centres and GP clinics are also options. Here you may manage programs, teams and resources directed at specific patient needs. There may also be management positions in specialist services such as mental health, which cover daily business operations.

Other workplaces can include aged care providers, private healthcare companies, government-run health departments and not-for-profit organisations. Different workplaces will focus on different things, but your skills will still be beneficial. Rather than being stuck in one area of healthcare, you’ll have the opportunity to explore a variety of fields. 

What Skills Do You Need for Health Services Management?

Health services management combines individuals with strategy and tactical decision-making. As such, leadership and communication skills are valuable assets. Managers should be able to collaborate with various teams and communicate their decisions while fostering an atmosphere where their teams can do their jobs and reach objectives efficiently. It’s also helpful to understand the role of healthcare leadership when navigating competing interests.

Problem-solving skills and strategic thinking can help managers identify areas of improvement, respond to needs, and streamline how care is delivered. Finally, health services managers can benefit from skills in resource and financial management to help them make decisions about budgets, personnel, equipment and more.

Data skills can help managers assess performance or leverage health data to inform their decisions. Project management can help managers start and manage new projects. An understanding of how healthcare systems operate can help managers make informed decisions. 

Is Health Services Management Right for You?

Health services management may be a good match if you’re someone who likes to see the big picture and think about how something could operate more efficiently. You may naturally wonder why something isn’t working faster or how teams can collaborate better. 

Maybe you think of ways to change policies so patients and staff have an improved experience. If the idea of streamlining the healthcare process appeals to you, management could offer a way to turn that interest into a career.

It’s also ideal for those who like to work with others and coordinate groups of people. As a health services manager, you may spend your time corralling different stakeholders, balancing priorities and making executive decisions that can support both your staff and your patients. Interest in leadership and strategy can come in handy as you take on more responsibility.

Lastly, it could suit you if you’re interested in working in healthcare but aren’t thrilled at the idea of providing clinical care. Instead of working one-on-one with patients, you’ll have a hand in managing the systems, resources and services that allow clinicians to provide care. 

Where Can a Career in Health Services Management Take You?

Delivering healthcare is about more than having people take care of patients. It’s also about having people to lead teams, manage resources, improve services, and make decisions about how care can best be delivered. 

Health services management is where the nuts-and-bolts of healthcare meets the human needs of both patients and medical staff. Studying health services management can lead to opportunities in clinical, administrative, strategic, or leadership settings. 

Whether your goal is to move up with an organisation, transition into a specialty field, or branch out into leadership, there are a variety of career paths that focus on improving the healthcare system.