Every career in the world involves designing, managing, or providing a product, service, or experience, and healthcare is no exception. In a healthcare organization, internal and external operations go far beyond only the provision of quality care. Effective managers ensure those organizations can run, can grow, and can best serve the population that needs that care.  A foundation in business principles and tools is essential to successfully serving your clients, customers, or patients.

Healthcare Managers plan, direct, or coordinate medical and health services in hospitals, clinics, managed care organizations, public health agencies, or similar organizations. For the most current occupational information regarding Healthcare Management and other careers, including required education and median salary amounts, we recommend you visit O*NET OnLine, a very useful website created for the U.S. Department of Labor. 

A bachelor’s degree is normally required for hiring and promotion to a management or executive position in a healthcare organization. A  Master’s degree combined with experience is highly recommended. Education and experience offering the practice of analytical skill are highly applicable for this career path. Many current healthcare executives are now returning to school to complete a Master's degree through programs like La Sierra University's cohort-based MBA in Healthcare Management.

Management has become one of the most popular degrees in the United States. And for good reason. A large majority of our economy is based on the design and delivery of services. The people and processes behind those services need to be optimized and managed. As part of the service industry, healthcare is one of the largest and fastest growing fields of study and work. It has a bright outlook of job growth over the next several years and because of this, health organizations are offering excellent job and internship opportunities through targeted schools and programs. 

The world today has plenty of workers with degrees in business. And it takes much more than just a degree to compete with them. Employers today want employees not only competent in their field but who can communicate effectively, work in and lead teams, and are able to observe and analyze a situation to quickly identify the best solution. You won’t find this experience in just any degree program. 

The best business education should include two important standards: (1) Everything you learn should be useful in the world right now, not just twenty years ago or “someday in your future career.” (2) You should be given the opportunity to put what you learn to the test. Many universities offer excellent lessons in business theory. Others offer a more training-based education. Very few can offer you both.

Look for a program clearly design based on current and coming trends in healthcare, one with connections to health organizations, and one with opportunities to apply what you learn.

Absolutely. In our School of Business, we believe that the value of your education is found in how you can use it right now. So we not only hire professors with the highest level of education available in their respective fields, we find those who are also active in research, publications, consulting work, and other opportunities for active engagement in management. By the time you graduate from La Sierra University with a degree in Healthcare Management, we want you to already have valuable experience not only in the standards and practices of this field, but in acting as a leader, a team-member, an effective communicator, a sharp analyst, and an ethical decision-maker.

We also continuously improve our program with feedback from and design partnerships with health executives and organizations, the same organizations interested in hiring our students. 

This is a new program, launched in 2018, and is quickly becoming one of our most popular due to a bright outlook on job growth in the field and the high applicability of our courses.

In our School of Business, we believe in the value of small class-sizes combined with highly engaged professors. We limit the maximum enrollment of each of our courses to thirty students or fewer, allowing our professors to work closely with each student, maximizing their potential for learning. In addition, each of our professors holds regular office hours, a time for students to meet with them for assistance, questions, advice, or even to learn of networking or career opportunities. There is nothing that delights our professors more than students interested in their own growth.

Yes. We strongly believe in the value of engagement outside of the classroom. All students are given opportunities to apply what they learn in the classroom in useful ways to our local and global community. Whether it be through community engagement in our Service-Learning courses, student-led projects in our Enactus Team, events and activities with our highly active business club and other student groups on campus, our students learn through experience.

We also work actively to engage students in job and internship opportunities. The fact that La Sierra University lies in the fastest growing county in the state and a city known for its affinity to business provides our students with excellent prospects for local work and internship opportunities. Our annual Meet the Firms Night event stands as one such opportunity for students to meet and network with potential employers.

One of the most common mistakes potential business students make is assuming that the study of business is only for those who “enjoy math” or “working with numbers.” Today’s employers need students with strong communication, leadership, critical thinking, and analytical ability. As a university, we seek well-rounded students with these same characteristics. And based on current trends across the United States, students who put extra effort into their written and oral communication skills before college end up in high demand.

The main difference is based on your intended career path.

• If you intend to become a practicing physician, you should consider our "Management for Healthcare Professionals" degree. It was designed specifically for you to complete both your pre-professional requirements and science courses and a business program all in a single four-year bachelor's degree. You'll be ready for medical or dental school as well as what comes after.
• If you are interested specifically in the management side of healthcare, without becoming a physician yourself, we recommend you consider the "Healthcare Management" degree.