The health services administration degree provides students with a fundamental understanding of the health care industry. By learning managerial skills and principles and gaining a thorough understanding of the health care system, you'll build a solid foundation for success in your career.
Serve on the Administrative Side of Health
Earn a Health Services Administration Degree and Find Your Place in Health Care
Health administrators are at the heart of every care facility. As people live longer and require more health-care services, an ever-increasing number of capable health administration professionals are needed to advocate for the young and elderly and champion the underserved. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the employment of medical and health services managers will grow by 28% until 2031 — much faster than other occupations!
When you earn a Bachelor of Health Services Administration degree from Ohio University, you’ll have the academic knowledge, practical experience, and professional connections needed to get a jump start in a variety of managerial, non-clerical roles. Our graduates find their first jobs in hospitals, physician practices, managed care organizations, home health care agencies, community health centers, and other emerging health organizations. Keep reading to learn:
What You'll Learn
Add a Minor or Certificate
Many health services administration majors maximize their time at OHIO by adding a minor or certificate, allowing them to expand into new areas post graduation.
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Community and Public Health Minor
Since many of the health services administration courses overlap with this minor, you'll only need to add a few more to complete the Community and Public Health minor. You'll learn to assess the health needs of a particular group of individuals, as well as design, implement and evaluate an intervention or program to be responsive to the identified health needs.
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Business Minor
Adding a business minor is a great way to learn the basic language and concepts of business. You'll learn more about accounting, finance, management information systems and marketing. Many courses in the business minor overlap with the health services administration major courses, so adding this minor is a seamless integration.
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Finance Minor
Consider adding this minor to gain a basic understanding of corporate finance, financial markets and institutions and investments.
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Marketing Minor
The marketing minor is a great complement to the bachelor of health services administration degree, as you'll gain specific marketing knowledge and experience that leads to a more rounded education.
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Gerontology Certificate
Gain the knowledge and skills needed to work with older populations in various settings such as health care, social services, recreation, mental health, education, administration and business.
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Project Management Certificate
In this certificate program, you'll combine project management and general management courses with other complementary courses to gain the necessary skills to become an effective project manager.
Choose Where You Want To Learn
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Athens, OH, Residential Campus
For HSA degree students, Athens is more than a picturesque college town — it’s a prime place to learn about the modern challenges of health care organizations. Because Athens is a semi-rural area, students who participate in local internships and experiential opportunities will see first-hand what many similar towns and communities need from their health care providers in terms of resources, administrative support and more.
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Regional Campuses
If Athens isn’t ideal for your educational plan, you’re in luck — OHIO’s HSA program is available at our regional campuses, as well. Check out each regional campus to see what it offers and determine whether one or another is a better fit for your needs!
Careers in Health Services Administration
OHIO’s bachelor’s degree in health services administration unlocks a multitude of jobs and careers in the healthcare industry, including:
- Medical office administrator
- Business development specialist
- Medical sales
- Patient advocate
- Human resources specialist
- Billing Specialist
- Nursing recruiter
- Clinical analyst
Post-Grad Opportunities for Health Services Administration Majors
A significant proportion of HSA graduates proceed straight to graduate school after completing their bachelor’s degrees. The Bachelor of Health Services Administration major is an appropriate stepping stone into not only a Master of Health Administration (MHA) but also a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Public Health (MPH) — it all depends on your goals!
Many students discover that this degree program opens up many more doors immediately after graduation than they expected. The health care administration field is brimming with opportunities for new grads, including:
- Marketing and communications positions for health care facilities and nonprofits — imagine planning community events, advertising services and interfacing with local communities to provide the best health care or health education possible.
- Human resources positions at hospitals, insurance companies and elsewhere — these are often the biggest employers in smaller cities and rural areas, and HR professionals are always needed.
- Finance positions for large hospitals or smaller clinics — the important work of medical facilities can only be done with accurate books and sufficient funding, which you can help to create and maintain.
Advance Your Career With a Master's Degree
OHIO’s Master of Health Administration online program is intended for hardworking professionals who need to juggle the myriad responsibilities of a busy schedule. With no GRE/GMAT scores required, you can complete the MHA program online and have a Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration in just two years!
Get Hands-On Experience With Your Health Services Administration Degree
Complete an Internship
As part of your Health Services Administration core requirements, you can complete a HLTH 4910 internship for a medical facility or clinic or a health-related organization. Finishing the internship provides real-world work experience and boosts your confidence well ahead of graduation.
Internship Site Examples
- Christ Hospital
- Cleveland Clinic
- Crumford Health
- Foundations Health Solutions
- Hickory Creek
- Hocking Valley Community Hospital
- Holzer Health System
- The Laurels
- Mount Carmel Graduate Medical Education
- Nationwide Children's Hospital
- Oakview Dermatology
- OhioHealth Graduate Medical Education
- OhioHealth Obleness Hospital
- Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
- Plante Moran
- Riverside Methodist Hospital
- Shriver's Hospice
Join the OUSHA
The Ohio University Society for Health Administration is an excellent student organization for all Health Services Administration majors to join. You can develop personal and professional skills to help you thrive and begin networking before graduating!
Volunteer at OhioHealth, Cleveland Clinic and Elsewhere
Many of our most successful students have additional work experience! You can complete additional internships or open the door for a job right after graduation by volunteering at organizations like OhioHealth or the Cleveland Clinic. Your faculty members will help you find these opportunities and vouch for your skills at the earliest juncture of your career.
Capstone Partners
- Akron Children's Hospital
- Bons Secours Mercy Health
- Hocking Valley Community Hospital
- Holzer Health System
- Hopewell Health
- Maxim Healthcare Services
- Memorial Health System
- Mount Carmel Health System, Graduate Medical Education
- OhioHealth Campus Care
- OhioHealth Obleness Hospital
- Ohio Department of Health and the Athens City, County Health Department
- Ohio School Based Health Alliance
- Shriver's Hospice
Why Choose a Health Services Administration Degree?
OHIO’s health services administration program allows you to work in health care outside a clinical context. In health administration, you’ll do critical work to manage patients, acquire funding for hospitals and communicate medical information to the public. A Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration (HSA) degree is your chance to make a difference.
But the program also broadens your horizons due to its interdisciplinary course content and the classmates you’ll spend time with. HSA students take courses with nursing students, pre-physical therapy students and others in the health sciences: in other words, the exact professionals you’ll be working with post-graduation.
When you join the HSA bachelor’s program, you’ll become a well-rounded, capable individual in more ways than one.
Student Support Resources for Health Services Administration Majors
Thanks to a very low student-to-faculty ratio of 16:1, HSA majors benefit from a lot of one-on-one attention and mentorship from their experienced professors. Whether you need extra tutoring to tackle a tough class or help connecting with local medical organizations to jump start your career, our faculty members are committed to helping you succeed.
In addition, Ohio University has a wide variety of scholarships and other financial aid opportunities for health services administration majors. Most HSA majors receive some financial aid in their first years of school, making the health services administration program much more financially accessible than you may think.
The OHIO Experience for Health Services Administration Majors
Internships, supportive faculty, and well-equipped campuses all result in a one-of-a-kind, highly engaging experience for health services administration students. You will gain the academic knowledge needed to thrive in your future career and hands-on confidence in your capabilities since you’ll complete major-related work by the time you graduate.
Since OHIO produces well-rounded graduates for this major and others, you’ll have a wide variety of professional skills that will benefit you for decades to come. Your verbal and written communication skills will help you overcome challenges, champion the needs of your stakeholders and make health care organizations better, more efficient places overall.