MBA in Health Care Management?

Question

I have a Bachelor of Information Technology and I would like to obtain an MBA. My school offers an MBA in Health Care Management and this degree seems the most interesting and rewarding to me. Is it possible to go for this degree without any medical experience? I took some medical classes in high school but that was almost 10yrs ago. What would you recommend to prepare if I do need medical experience?

Answer 1

The key word is "management".

You probably dont need any medical experience (those who can, do, those who cannot, manage LOL), but you will probably need some business classes such as Finance, Ops Management, etc.

Good luck, it is a growing field.

Answer 2

Why don't you see if you can get an appointment with HR at a hospital in your area, a large insurance carrier, and perhaps a nursing home, assisted living facility, or rehab facility?  Those are just a few obvious places that use MBAs with Health Care Management.  Interview these people.  Find out what jobs in their organizations require an MBA in general or the Health Care Mgmt MBA in particular.  Ask what other coursework or job experience they look for in an applicant for one of these positions.  Ask if you can talk to any of their executives - maybe take someone to lunch and pick his/her brain.  But find out from the companies most likely to hire you whether that particular degree will prepare you to do something you love or whether you need additional job experience or coursework to make you "hireable" after you get the degree.

I used to work for a guy whose bachelor's was in IT, then he immediately went for his MBA and his first job was as an accounts payable supervisor.  He thought his MBA meant that he was the most brilliant thing in shoe leather, but he had no accounting knowledge other than two classes required for his MBA.  I don't have an accounting degree, but my 30 years experience as a bookkeeper have taught me more than he knew, AND I *do* have 18 of the 30 hours required for the degree.  He knew more than me about a whole lot of things, but he knew almost nothing about what he was responsible for day to day.  

So don't be one of those bosses.  Get the degree that lets you do what you love, and get the coursework on top of the degree that will give you more understanding of what you and your employees are doing.

Good luck!