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The term “medical administration” is a broad one. Doctors in the medical administration specialty can be engaged in a wide variety of roles, not just in hospitals, but in a range of organisations, such as education, pharmaceutical or technology companies; or government departments such as health, defence, immigration and corrections where they run health services and advise on health policy and strategy. But the “top rung” in this speciality is a position as Executive Medical Director or Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in a large, metropolitan teaching hospital, health service or private hospital.
Medical
Administrators
coordinate medical programs and clinical services in a hospital or health
service. They manage the day to day business of health services for
communities, oversee budgets, and manage capital investments such as
buildings and biomedical technologies.
As
well as managing the day-to-day business of health services for communities,
medical administrators oversee multimillion-dollar budgets, manage clinical
workforces, oversee clinical support services, and manage capital
investments such as buildings and biomedical technologies. They must
regularly liaise with multiple stakeholders including hospital boards,
health departments and ministers. A major part of their role is in dealing
with medicolegal and performance issues relating to clinical services and
medical staff.
Medical administrators regularly
liaise with stakeholders including
hospital boards, health departments and
ministers to ensure that health services meet the needs of the public. They
promote and manage the effective and efficient delivery of medical and
clinical patient services.
Medical administrators plan, direct and coordinate health and administrative services provided by hospitals, community health services, aged-care facilities, private healthcare facilities and other health service organisations.
Australia's Chief Medical
Officer (CMO)
(Source:
Dept Health & Aged Care)
ANZSCO ID & description:
134211: Plans, organises, directs, controls and
coordinates medical programs and clinical services in a hospital or other
health service facility, maintains standards of medical care, provides
leadership to ensure an appropriately skilled medical workforce, and
contributes to health service planning.
Alternative names: Medical Manager,
Executive Medical Director, Chief Medical Officer
(CMO), Director of Medical Services, Director of Clinical Services,
Knowledge, skills and attributes
Good communication and collaboration skills are
essential to the role, and not just with medical colleagues but with nursing
staff, the hospital CEO, the finance manager, and others in the health care
team. Maturity, flexibility, and good problem-solving and people skills are
essential to the role. Most senior medical administrators are medically
trained and have management training. Directors of medical services in
metropolitan hospitals are usually doctors, although they don’t always have
management qualifications. A clinical background adds credibility to the
person and the role and makes consultation with the medical workforce
smoother. Issues relating to medical procedures and treatments are easier to
address because they’re familiar to someone with medical training. Medical
administrators are often former specialist doctors seeking a new challenge.
Formal medical specialty training isn’t always a prerequisite for a career
in the field. Some people get there after gaining experiences in various
management roles such as head of department. Others get there after gaining
postgraduate qualifi cations in health management or public health. But the
most respected qualifications are those in medical administration offered
through the RACMA, the College recognised by the Australian Medical Council
to offer specialist fellowship in medical administration.
A medical administrator needs:
-
advanced knowledge and experience in medicine, or medical administration
-
excellent communication and interpersonal skills
-
good organisational and time management skills
-
good analytical and problem solving skills
-
a high level of business and management skills
-
effective leadership and motivational ability.
Duties and Tasks
- providing overall direction and management for the service, facility, organisation or centre
- developing, implementing and monitoring procedures, policies and standards for medical, nursing, allied health and administrative staff
- coordinating and administering health and welfare programs and clinical services
- monitoring and evaluating resources devoted to health, welfare, recreation, housing, employment, training and other community facilities and centres
- controlling administrative operations such as budget planning, report preparation, expenditure on supplies, equipment and services
- liaising with other health and welfare providers, boards and funding bodies to discuss areas of health and welfare service cooperation and coordination
- advising government bodies about measures to improve health and welfare services and facilities
- representing the organisation in negotiations, and at conventions, seminars, public hearings and forums
- controlling selection, training and supervision
of staff
Working conditions
Medical administrators usually work indoors in an office. They work for
private or public hospitals, or community metropolitan or regional health
services throughout the State. They may be required to be on-call in case of
an emergency in the health service.
Medical administrators often liaise with government departments,
organisations and medical services to ensure the smooth running of the
health care facility.
Tools and technologies
Medical administrators regularly use computers to coordinate administrative duties such as record keeping, health service planning, reporting and budgeting. They may also consult and reference government and health legislation policies. Medical administrators may require a driver’s licence to visit locations within the health service.
(Source: Your
Career)
Education and training/entrance requirements
To become a medical administrator, you must first
become a qualified medical doctor and then specialise in medical
administration.
On completion of the postgraduate medical degree, you must work in the
public hospital system for two years (internship and residency). To then
specialise in medical administration, doctors can apply to the Royal
Australasian College of Medical Administrators (RACMA) after three years of
clinical experience to undertake further training and ultimately receive
fellowship.
To become a hospital administrator you usually have to complete a degree in health management at university. You may also consider a degree in business with a health-related major.
Entrants into the RACMA’s fellowship
training must have an MB BS degree (or equivalent) and a minimum of 3 years
of medical practice experience. They must also complete a master’s degree
(which may be in public health or health services management or,
increasingly, an MBA) during training. Fellowship training consists of 3
years full-time training, culminating in an oral examination. Advanced
candidates with 5 or more years of experience in medical management and
another fellowship may do it in less, under the College’s Accelerated
Pathway to Fellowship program.
Those who don’t wish to do the full fellowship training may become an
Associate Fellow, after successfully completing a 9-month part time course
of workshops and tutorials.
Employment Opportunities
Employment prospects generally are excellent. There is a
widespread shortage of medical administrators, with demand particularly high
in rural hospitals. Many doctors who do the College’s training programs are
already employed as medical managers and are undertaking the training to
acquire the formal qualification. If not, they usually have a substantive
job by the time they finish training.
|
Did You Know? In 2015–16, there were 701 public hospitals in Australia accounting for about two-thirds (61,000) of all hospital beds. There were 630 private hospitals with 33,100 hospital beds. Total recurrent expenditure on public hospital services was about $64 billion. About 57% of this was for admitted patient care, 18% for outpatient care, 10% for emergency care services, 2% for teaching, training and research and 13% for all other services. (Source: Australian Government: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Hospital Resources 2015 - 16: Australian Hospital Statistics)  (Source: The Australian) |
Medical practice managers run the business side
of a general medical practice, dental surgery, specialist consulting
rooms or other form of health centre. They manage and ensure the smooth
running of the practice's staff, administration and budgets.
Alternative names: Health Practice Manager,
Knowledge, skills and attributes
To become a medical practice manager, you would need:
-
excellent organisational and administrative skills
-
good people management skills
-
good teamwork skills
-
accuracy and attention to detail
-
financial and budgeting skills
-
good computer skills
(Source: Your Career)
Duties and Tasks
As a medical practice manager, you would:
-
recruit, train and supervise administration, secretarial and reception staff
-
manage the practice's finances, and sure the practice meets its financial targets
-
contributes to the planning and review of office services, and sets priorities and office service standards
-
allocates human resources, space and equipment
-
assigns work to and monitors work performance of staff
-
manages records and accounts of the practice
-
liaises with professionals to co-ordinate practice business and to facilitate resolution of problems
-
manages physical facilities and ensures buildings and equipment are maintained
-
ensures compliance with occupational health and safety regulations
-
ensures work complies with relevant government legislation, policies and procedures
-
co-ordinates personnel activities such as hiring, promotions, performance management, payroll, training and supervision
-
organise duty rosters for both medical and administrative staff
-
manage appointment and medical records systems
-
order and control equipment and medical supplies, including drugs.
Working conditions
In a full-time job you would normally work a standard number of hours,
Monday to Friday. You may sometimes work in the evenings or on Saturday
mornings, depending on your practice's opening hours. Part-time or
flexible work may be available.
You would be based at a medical or health centre. If the practice
includes more than one centre, you may need to travel between locations.
Education and training/entrance requirements
You could work as a medical practice manager
without tertiary qualifications; however, you would most likely need to
be an experienced administrator or manager, with experience in a health
or social care setting. You would also need experience and
qualifications in accounts, and people management.
You could also become a medical practice manager by gaining a bachelor’s
degree in an area such as health administration or nursing. To get into
these courses you usually need to gain your senior secondary school
certificate or equivalent. English, maths, and business studies would be
appropriate subjects to study prior to university.
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Material sourced from
Jobs & Skills WA [Medical
Administrator; ]
Web Archive Only -
CareerHQ [Medical
Practice Manager;]
Australian Visa Bureau,
Medical
Journal of Australia [Managing
Chaos: Medical Administration;]
Your Career
[Medical
Administrator;
Health Practice Manager; ]
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