March 29, 2024

Can I Be A Healthcare Manager If I Am Not Good With Numbers?

Some people are blessed with the ability to complete complex mathematical problems with little more than a pencil, paper and their brain. Others find numbers a much harder task to master. What happens if you are interested in pursuing a career in health care management but numbers just aren’t your thing? Does this mean you are not a good candidate for the field of health care management? Fortunately, there are many different areas of this field and many have little to do with number crunching. Many facilities employ CPA’s who complete all of the financial tasks of managing a hospital, physician practice or other health care organization. This means that it is the health care manager job to manage people, hire and manage employee issues, schedule, meet with board members and many other tasks. These are just a few of the responsibilities of a health care manager, and have very little to do with numbers.

Managing Employees in a Health Care Setting

One of the main tasks of a health care manager in a larger setting such as a hospital is to manage all of the people that keep the hospital running. This can include making sure departments have enough coverage, ensuring that staff supportive services are running smoothly (things like HR, compensation, cafeteria, parking, etc.) and making sure that departments have the supplies and equipment they need. By managing people, many health care managers have the ability to interact with people rather than numbers.

Hiring, Firing, Training and Overseeing Employees

Another important task often done by health care managers is helping in the search for new employees. This can be as simple as hiring more medical assistants, to helping decide whom the chief of a department will be if a position becomes available. They are often the people that are called upon when an employee must be let go, to help the human resources department make solid decisions about employee termination. Medical providers of all levels must engage in ongoing training to keep their licensure or certification up to date. Health care managers can helps nurses, doctors, therapists and technicians complete their training quota for each year.

Staying on Top of Changes in the Field

A growing area of responsibility for the health care manager is to stay on top of changes in regulations and mandates within the health care field. With the Affordable Care Act and other changes to health care, health care manager became the point person within their organizations to understand and implement the changes and rules.

Scheduling Employees

A final duty that involves little to no number crunching is working with individual departments to schedule staff. In a small scale, such as a doctors office, this is a fairly simply task. When you look at a larger setting like a hospital it can be a large task to make sure each department is properly staffed with doctors, nurses, technicians, assistants and other staff. The health care manager can help make sure this process is covered.