Posted on Oct 17, 2017
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Have you ever considered leveraging your military background to pursue a management/leadership career within the largest industry in the US (about 1/6th of the overall economy)? The business side of the health industry provides many opportunities (operational jobs, finance, logistics, IM/IT, human resources, strategic planning, marketing, etc.) in a variety of health-related settings (hospitals, physician practices, long-term care, insurance companies, biotech, medical devices, pharmaceutical, consulting firms, etc.). These settings include for-profit, not-for-profit, and governmental organizations all across the country. You do not necessarily need previous healthcare exposure to leverage your military background to transition into this industry, as long as you have a keen interest in understanding what makes this industry unique. With millions of baby boomers retiring each year, combined with longer life expectancies, opportunities will only grow. Plus, if you already have (or are close to completing) a bachelors degree, a graduate education can even set you on a quicker pathway to executive-level jobs within the health industry. If this career pathway interests you, what else would you like to know?
Healthcare
Management
Leadership
Graduate School
Transition
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 7
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I currently work and recruit for Grifols Plasma. A good chunk of the center managers and assistant managers I work with every day are Military. As long as you are comfortable with the fast-paced environment and are willing to learn, we are always looking for great people. We even have training programs that will take you into these roles. This will ALWAYS be an industry where we need people!
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I have to agree. This is a growing industry that is challenging and fulfilling. I work in the revenue cycle portion of healthcare. I begin my masters degree in January. I am looking to try to move more into the organizational side of the house.
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SSG Mike Wyche
I am a member of HFMA. I have been in healthcare finance for over 11 years now. I will be getting my MBA with an emphasis on Healthcare Administration from University of Louisiana Lafayette.
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I plan on going that route after I get a few years of clinician time under my belt. Do you think an MBA or MHA would be helpful when transitioning from the clinical to the administrative side of the house?
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LTC Kevin B.
I think both are beneficial from a management perspective, but in somewhat different ways. The MHA will give you more in-depth knowledge on the health industry, whereas the MBA probably won't even mention the health industry very much. However, the MBA should give you a more robust set of analytical and decision-making skills than the MHA. As a clinician, you may pick up some of the health industry content through your work experience, so you may not need that as much as the additional analytical and decision-making skills. However, you may find the health industry content more interesting than the straight MBA content. I could talk to 30 prospective students, and half would prefer the MHA and the other half would prefer the MBA, based on their own unique preferences. Regardless of their choice, either would be beneficial.
Are you looking at going to the Army-Baylor MHA program or to a school of choice via long-term schooling, or getting out and going to a graduate program somewhere?
Are you looking at going to the Army-Baylor MHA program or to a school of choice via long-term schooling, or getting out and going to a graduate program somewhere?
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CPT (Join to see)
I'm honestly not sure yet, sir. That's pretty much the 300m target for me right now. I'm about halfway through the DPT program. After leaving here I'm sure I'll need a break from school for quite a while. I spoke to a PT who is a current student in the Army-Baylor MHA/MBA program a couple of months ago and he nothing but good things to say about it. He also said that not a lot of PTs apply to the program. I didn't know one could go go the school of their choice for an MHA. The Army-Baylor program has a great reputation though so I imagine would go that route if given the choice. Of course this all hinges on how the wife feels about the Army in another decade or so. If she is fed up with moving around I'll probably get out and go at it on my own.
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LTC Kevin B.
CPT (Join to see) - The school of choice route comes and goes. It went away a number of years ago for MS officers who wanted to be a 70A, but it will come back eventually. I don't know how it's handled for other corps though (like the Medical Specialist Corps). I completely understand about the wife ("Happy wife = happy life"). Best of luck to you.
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