As a continuation from a previous post on hospital administration career paths, here are a few other questions I get quite a bit:
What about the "legendary bureaucracy" within hospital administration? They still call it "administration" for a reason, right?
So, how was my answer? If you liked it, then chances are I am getting good at giving bureaucratic answers.
To CHE or not to CHE?
Should you take the 30-60 hours & the few hundred bucks to go ahead a get the CHE certification? I asked one CEO, and he said, "HELL YES, at your age, why not?" While another person said, "why? be a part of more groupthink in healthcare?" Maybe there's a little truth in both statements, but for me the bottom line is two-fold: (1) If you are new to healthcare, it's a good way to establish credibility & learn a thing or two; (2) If running a hospital (or part of one) is one of the top 3 potential career paths, why not? By the way, you should know that the folks at ACHE are working hard to make this certification more and more valuable - some changes on the way, so stay tuned for that. I have to say that some organizations (and some specific high-level people in some organizations) do value the CHE. Like anything, it's just another way to differentiate.
What's the career path to become hospital CEO?
So you want to become a hospital CEO? Talk to some about their experiences. The more I find out, the more becoming a professional accordian player sounds pretty good.
How's the pay?
Not as good as industry, but definitely not as bad as non-profits. Progressive hospitals know that talent is a priority - more and more, I'm seeing "market" competitive rates. If you're a top MBA, salaries aren't like consulting/i banking, but comparable to marketing. Take a peek at guidestar - non-profit hospitals have to report their top 5 highest employees. A CEO at a $1B hospital might make ~50% of a CEO of a $1B publicly-traded company. If you are dead set on making at least $200k, then my guess is you'll have to be among the top handful of folks at your hospital.
Overall, hospital administration careers are as varied as the people who do it. Most importantly, get into a progressive hospital with a positive, open-minded culture.
still sound interesting? what else do you want to do?