The modern hospital is much more than a building where sick people go to get well. The technological sophistication of today’s hospital environment rivals most any Silicon Valley startup. Highly specialized staff work long hours, both providing care and conducting invaluable research. Even facilities management — from ensuring beds are available for incoming patients to maintaining hygiene in the hospital’s public spaces — is a complex affair.
Students enrolled in the online Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a Concentration in Healthcare Administration program from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) gain the nuanced knowledge and skills to excel in advanced facilities management and executive leadership roles. At the top level, these highly educated and experienced professionals can pursue hospital chief executive officer (CEO) positions.
The Hospital Leadership Team
An executive team is generally responsible for the administration of modern hospitals, whether private of public. This team may include a chief medical officer (CMO), a chief operating officer (COO), a chief communications or marketing officer (CCO or CMO), and a chief financial officer (CFO). With advances in data analytics and the rising reliance on technologies like AI and electronic health records, executive roles like the chief information officer (CIO), chief data officer (CDO) and even chief AI officer (CAIO) are also increasingly common.
The leader of this executive team is the hospital’s CEO. As such, the CEO provides leadership, guidance and top-level decision-making for the hospital as an institution and organization.
The Hospital CEO: Core Competencies and Essential Duties
For hospital CEOs, leadership entails many duties — some discrete and others more comprehensive. The following list includes a few typical responsibilities:
- Make decisions and take actions that help fulfill the hospital’s mission, vision and values statement
- Establish a strategic plan as well as policies to ensure that the hospital delivers the highest quality patient care
- Foster a culture of accountability, transparency, operational efficiency and commitment to excellence
- Manage and supervise the senior management teams as well as other C-suite executives
- Oversee efforts to recruit, vet, hire and retain licensed clinical professionals who are also talented and show strong leadership potential of their own
- Hold all hospital employees, including themselves, accountable for complying with governmental regulations and industry-defined principles of ethical behavior
- Develop and sustain productive relationships with stakeholders in communities the hospital serves
- Achieve the organization’s financial goals and safeguard its financial health
In summary, a good hospital CEO must understand and be able to communicate the healthcare organization’s mission, vision, values and culture. Plus, critically, the hospital CEO must find, engage and retain the right people to execute and achieve the core plans and goals of the organization.
Commensurate with the extent of their responsibilities, hospital CEOs are among the best-compensated individuals in the healthcare sector. According to 2023 data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), chief executives earn a median annual salary of approximately $206,680. Factor in bonuses and other incentives, and the highest paid healthcare system CEOs can claim earnings in the tens of millions.
Training to Become a Hospital CEO: The Importance of Professional Experience
Prior management experience is a must. But do all hospital CEOs come up through the ranks of the medical profession?
Each hospital is different, and each chooses a leader based on the organization’s particular needs. In some instances, medical expertise may be less desirable than a strong record of executive leadership — regardless of industry.
A hospital struggling to manage electronic health records may prefer to hire a CEO with health information systems experience. Another facing competition from urgent care centers or seeking increased market share may opt for a growth-focused CEO with marketing and financial expertise. A hospital with a strategic succession plan may achieve a smooth leadership transition by promoting an internal candidate, such as the institution’s current COO.
Training to Become a Hospital CEO: The Importance of Formal Education
Apart from gaining the required experience, aspiring hospital CEOs must also invest in furthering their education. To accomplish this, some hospital administrators choose to earn a Master of Health Administration (MHA) or a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. The MHA path may attract managers who want to increase their knowledge of the special considerations tied to doing business in the healthcare industry.
Yet, for aspiring executives who want to delve deeper into the nuances of today’s business- and tech-driven healthcare world, an MBA in healthcare administration may be more enticing and prove more rewarding in terms of job versatility
The MBA provides degree candidates with a solid foundation in finance, accounting, software-based business solutions, marketing, public policy, ethics, administrative strategy and organizational behavior. Concentration courses examine healthcare law, economics, financial management and policy considerations. Further, TAMU-CC offers an accelerated, fully online MBA in Healthcare Administration. With this program’s convenient, flexible design, students can continue working and making a salary while they earn their MBA degree and pursue career advancement.
The MBA path can be particularly attractive to clinical personnel and healthcare providers who seek to broaden their knowledge of corporate leadership. For others, the MBA is an excellent option because the degree is a valuable credential, recognized by employers across multiple industries. Either way, earning an MBA in Healthcare Administration from TAMU-CC can help graduates achieve their personal and professional goals.
Learn more about TAMU-CC’s online MBA with a Concentration in Healthcare Administration program.
