What Is Healthcare Administration - Essay Example

"What Is Healthcare Administration?" is an engrossing example of a paper on the health system. Healthcare administration/management entails the overall leadership and overseeing of a healthcare organization with the purpose of optimizing the output of healthcare services and profits. Without proper management, projects are likely to stall with little or no services delivered. Efficient healthcare is therefore measured by the ability to lead a healthcare organization while delivering sustainable quality service to clients (Stevens, 1999). There are several skills needed for effective healthcare administration. First is an in-depth knowledge of leadership skills and organizational culture. The second requisite quality is the possession of people skills such as negotiations, conflict resolution, and negotiation (Stevens, 1999). Other skills include the ability to interact well with people of different socioeconomic, professional, and cultural backgrounds. In its pursuit of organizational goals, management teams must strive to maintain good public relations with the local community within which a healthcare facility operates (Stevens, 1999). Healthcare administration consists of many facets, including project management, compliance with regulations, financial oversight, human resource, change management, and diversity, which are the subjects of this paper.

Aspects of Healthcare Administration

With regard to project management, effective healthcare administration requires proper project management skills. These skills include a good grasp of the scope of work to be done, teamwork, and proper resource allocation. In situations where there are insufficient funds or supplies, the administration can be a challenge without well laid out plans on how resources are to be allocated. Hence, the crucial role of proper project management skills is substantiated. Concerning compliance with regulations, healthcare administration entails processes that ensure an organization abides by the established healthcare regulations and laws (Haddock & McLean, 2002). In ensuring compliance, administrators must ensure that all legal forms are filled and submitted in time and must also oversee the regulatory audits (Haddock & McLean, 2002). For an administrator to perform this function properly, he/she must have good knowledge of the organization’s procedures and policies in relation to the established law to avoid discrepancies in the books and accounts of an organization.

Regarding, staffing and diversity, in many healthcare organizations, it is the mandate of an administrator to employ, hire, recruit, and retain employees. The human resource division must always endeavor to maintain diversity in an organization’s manpower (Haddock & McLean, 2002). In addition to this duty, an administrator must maintain equal employment and promotion opportunities. An administration that supports diversity will most likely concur with employment regulations and in the process get a productive workforce for his team (Haddock & McLean, 2002). Under financial oversight, one of the main functions of healthcare administrators is to oversee an organization’s budget. An administrator is the chief accountant of a firm hence monitors its budget and expenditure to ensure no excesses. To adequately perform this role, the administrator may have to include services of experts from within the company, or borrowed from outside the company.

Conclusion

Healthcare administration is a leadership role and therefore holds the responsibility for the success or failure of its companies. It is responsible for the management of their firm’s financial as well as human resource forces. It is the choice of the healthcare administration which programs to implement and to what extent, for example, Six Sigma or any other improvement programs. Without the commitment of the management, the goals of the healthcare organization will not be met.

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