The Master's in Healthcare Administration jobs available in healthcare consulting firms are a significant change of pace from the typical hospital administrator jobs that most graduates are offered as they complete their degree program. Though these jobs are different, they're a refreshing change of pace that might appeal to those with a managerial mindset and the ability to advocate for better health care management and administration in all types of small clinics, larger hospitals, public health outfits, and even some companies. Before dismissing consulting work in favor of more traditional MHA job opportunities, consider the type of jobs available in this unique sector.

Administration and Policy Advocacy Roles

Consulting firms are, by their nature, designed to analyze how a client is performing a task and then recommend new ways to perform that task more efficiently and with lower costs. This is the very nature of health care administration degree programs, where students are taught how to effectively lead a healthcare organization while reducing costs, increasing compliance, focusing on efficiency, and ensuring that patient outcomes remain primarily successful. In a consulting firm, these skills and experiences are typically put to the test in an advocacy role. MHA graduates will learn their firm's basic belief system and administration policy proposals. They will live and breathe those proposals, and sell them to clients who can directly benefit from their implementation.

Advocacy roles within a consulting firm will require persuasive speaking skills. Professionals should also be able to cite specific data, provide examples of what will happen upon implementation of these policies, and give hospital or clinic administrators valid reasons for changing they way they do business on a daily basis. Those who can persuade, sell, and lead will find the most success in this role.

Research on Healthcare Policies, Initiatives and Compliance

While some MHA graduates will be comfortable serving as the face of a consulting firm's policies, helping to advocate for those policies and implement them in the real world, others likely won't have the extroverted qualities necessary to be effective in such a role. That's perfectly fine. Consulting firms today are large and growing at a rapid pace, with positions that are both client-facing and a bit more "back-of-house." In a research role, graduates can put to use another key area of their degree: academic research on health policies and initiatives.

A research-based position in today's consulting firm requires professionals to know the latest state and federal laws governing hospitals, clinics, emergency care centers, and major corporations. Whether its the efficiency mandate in recent healthcare laws, new insurance procedures, liability proposals, or any number of other major developments, research in this area will help to keep the consulting firm on the cutting-edge of modern medicine, according to St. Joseph's University. This will allow the firm to draw a larger number of new clients, perform better consulting work on their behalf, and ensure better patient outcomes over the long-term.

Related Resource: Become a Healthcare Lobbyist

Two Great Ways to Leverage the Power of Healthcare Consulting

Consulting firms are a relatively recent phenomenon in the health industry, necessitated by the industry's rapid expansion and a vast number of new regulations passed in the past two decades. As a result of continued growth in the industry, students who recently graduated with a Master of Healthcare Administration degree will find a significant number of MHA jobs available in healthcare consulting firms across the country.