CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
in Health Services Administration

• Overview
• Places of Employment
• UCF Career Services

Overview
Health services administration involves managing the integration of all aspects of health-care to provide services. HSA graduates are concerned with the business aspect of the health industry: human resources, accounting, marketing and sales, planning, information systems, and facility management.

Health services administrators are often responsible for million-dollar budgets of facilities and equipment as well as hundreds of employees. The complexity of the job, the challenge of leading and motivating, and the delivery of efficient and effective high-quality health care combine to make health services administration a rewarding and demanding career.

Health services administrators advance by completing graduate study and moving into more responsible and higher paying positions, such as assistant or associate administrator, and in larger facilities, as the CEO.

Health care is the fastest growing industry in the country and the second largest industry in the state of Florida. The industry is growing so fast in Florida, due to the demographics of the population, that there should be a variety of career opportunities in health services administration for the foreseeable future.

"I really like the diversity of my job. I learn enough about each specialty area to be its champion." — Debbi Lehner, B.S. Health Services Administration ('96); M.B.A. ('99) Debbi Lehner began her career in health care as a radiology technologist. Today she is chief operating officer at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska, where she oversees departments such as diagnostic imaging, construction management, building maintenance, physical therapy, pharmacy, laboratory, respiratory therapy and others.

"Health services administration blends my interests in both business and medicine." — Ayanna O'Connor, M.S. Health Sciences – Health Services Administration ('06) Ayanna O'Connor is currently manager of A1 Imagining in Kissimmee, Florida. Video As an HSA graduate student, Ayanna O'Connor held an internship at the Health Council of East Central Florida. Click here to learn more.

Places of Employment
Career opportunities in health services administration encompass much more than hospital care. Health services administrators are often employed by other types of health-care facilities and organizations, including

• ambulatory surgical centers
• assisted-living facilities
• birthing centers
• free-standing clinics
• home health-care agencies
• managed-care organizations
• nursing homes
• physician practices
• public-health centers
• retirement centers

They may also be employed by organizations that do business with health-care facilities, including

• computer software firms
• durable medical equipment companies
• insurance companies
• pharmaceutical companies
• research and development firms

Medical group practices and HMO's are expected to grow larger and more complex, and the need for professionals to manage those organizations also creates jobs for health services administrators.