What are your best recommendations to begin a career in Military Health Care on the Reserve side of any service branch?

I agree. Their program seems to be the most open to new applicants in my area, but the process is extensive just to get them to look at the possibility of joining in an HCA specialty.

Part of the issue is that for the Army, most of our Health Care Administrators are MSC officers (70A), but HCA is typically a mid-career specialization (senior CPTs/junior MAJs) for them, so there really isn't a clean initial entry HCA pathway. Most will go into that role after doing both mTOE time and TDA time (possibly even command), and then go to the Baylor HCA masters program as a mid grade officer. If you were wanting to become a clinician (ie Nurse, MD, PA, etc) there are set initial entry pathways.

For you to do this within the Army, you'd need to gain qualifications for that position. That would almost certainly entail getting a Master of Healthcare Admin degree. You'd also need to switch to the Med Service Corps. This would almost certainly entail loss of a grade.

My recommendation, if you are only wanting to do the Reserves, would be to pursue a career in HCA on the civilian side first (get your degree, seek out HCA employment) THEN try to change over on the Army side. May peruse a branch transfer to MSC in the Army as well so you can start down the 70A career track.

LTC Paul Labrador - Thank you again for your guidance, Sir. I'm a civilian currently, and have been out for 4 years, so I will have to start afresh. The last person I discussed this with was our local AMEDD Recruiter. She was very helpful in explaining, and said almost everything you've mentioned verbatim. My intention in posting this was to gain insight into options from those who are in the role of Medical Admin, or who have first hand experience with the other branches of service. I'm thinking the ability to stay Army on the Reserve side in the 70A or 70B roles are not going to be an option for me given my masters degree focus, lack of medical admin experience, and unwillingness to go Active Duty again. I appreciate your expertise though and will keep going until I find an avenue that works; it just may not be on the Army side.

Also along with finding what you want to do, depending on what service you go with you are the needs of them. You may get lucky with choosing something that is right for you but still.....things change within the military world (as you may already know). Talk with a recruiter or get a hold of your Career Counselor; those two will have all the updated information for you.

Also...this was coming from an enlisted side so apologies if there was any confusion. The officer side maybe different. I was just going by what I know, sir; no disrespect.

Thanks, SSG Lewis. I'll do some more reading into this MOS. I appreciate the link.

SSG Lewis, I just read the duty description. Looks like this is a specialty for physician qualified personnel who completed their Medical Degree as well a residency and are board certified by the AMA or AOA . I'm looking for a role on the admin side managing doctors, nurses, and other critical positions within a clinic, hospital, or other medical facility. Thanks for posting though.