Healthcare is serious business.
Learn to manage it.
Healthcare is among the fastest-growing industries in our economy. It’s big business, and if your goal is to advance in this exciting and rewarding field, an online Master of Health Administration can be the credential you need to get ahead.
Choose Maryville University’s 100% online MHA, and you can gain the broad yet deep expertise to grow as a well-rounded, decisive organizational leader. Tailor your studies to align with your career goals with one of four concentrations, or choose a general program, which includes electives from each concentration.
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100% online with no campus visits required
No GMAT, GRE, or application fee
Graduate in as few as 2 years
3 start times per year (Spring, Summer, and Fall)
4 concentrations
offered
Collaborative learning environment
Why Earn an Online Master of Health Administration?
If you’re interested in improving the business of healthcare, then a career in health administration may be for you. Health administrators manage the smooth daily operations of a medical facility using skills from many disciplines — such as business, accounting, finance, insurance, ethics, policy, and medicine — to ensure efficiency and improve patient outcomes.
Health administrators typically enjoy above-average salaries, numerous job opportunities, and a choice of working in many different types of settings.
What Can You Do with an Online MHA?
Completing your online Master of Health Administration can qualify you for leadership positions across a variety of healthcare settings — hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and more. Health administrators’ main job is to ensure that their facilities run effectively and provide quality patient care.
Day-to-day responsibilities include:
- Developing short- and long-term goals for each department and the facility as a whole
- Hiring, training, and directing staff members
- Overseeing the main systems for scheduling staff, billing patients, and keeping health records
- Creating and managing budgets for individual units and departments
- Ensuring the facility complies with legal policies, standards, and regulations
- Representing the facility at press conferences, fundraisers, or other events
Top MHA Careers
Your online MHA can help you prepare for senior-level positions in a wealth of healthcare settings where strong leaders are needed now.
Professional settings include:
- State, local, and private hospitals
- Nursing and residential care facilities
- Government agencies
- Physicians’ offices
- Home healthcare services
Career opportunities for graduates with an online MHA include:
- Administrative service manager
- Healthcare consultant
- Hospital director
- Nurse manager
- Nursing home director
- Political scientist
- Healthcare recruiter
Find out more about MHA careers.
What Is the Median Annual MHA Salary?
Careers in health administration offer excellent opportunities for advancement and increased earning potential. Earn your online master’s degree in health administration from Maryville, and you can build a solid foundation for growth in positions such as these:
Hospital Administrator
$112,870*
Nursing Home Administrator
$89,880*
Medical and Health Services Manager
$104,280*
Healthcare Marketing Director
$74,000**
Health Insurance Underwriter
$72,430*
Political Scientist
$125,350*
*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) median salary, May 2020; **PayScale.com, July 2021
Healthcare Administration: Industry Outlook
A master’s in health administration online program puts you in an excellent position to start or advance your career in a rapidly growing field where roles and responsibilities are wide and varied. Industry data from the BLS reveals the following insights:
- Healthcare represents nearly 11% of total national employment.
- The projected job growth for medical and health services managers is 32% from 2019 to 2029.
- In 2020, the median pay for hospital administrators was $112,870.
- Hospitals, physicians’ offices, nursing and residential care facilities, government, and outpatient care centers are among the top five health administrator employers.
Why Choose Maryville for Your Online MHA?
At Maryville University, we recognize that strong healthcare leadership requires in-depth knowledge of both business and healthcare. That’s why our online MHA offers an interdisciplinary approach to equip you with a broad foundation of skills. You’ll graduate from our program prepared to manage and grow a modern healthcare practice or facility — or even start your own.
- Experience an interactive and collaborative online learning environment.
- Learn from a faculty of active industry practitioners and accomplished scholars.
- Participate in discussions with other healthcare professionals and executives.
- Benefit from coursework that reflects the changing landscape of healthcare.
- Immediately apply what you’re learning to real-world healthcare challenges.
- Expand your network as you build relationships throughout your coursework.
Additionally, your online MHA degree will carry the accreditation of a university respected worldwide for its quality, value, and affordability. We’ve spent more than 140 years building a reputation for excellence. Now, let us help build yours.
Online Master of Health Administration (MHA) Curriculum
Maryville’s online Master of Health Administration curriculum is designed to help you become a capable and confident healthcare leader. You’ll learn to manage the business side of healthcare in courses such as Healthcare Financial Management; Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Risk Management; and Healthcare Technology and Information Systems. You’ll also learn to improve patient care through courses such as Population Health Management and Healthcare Quality and Performance Improvement.
Coursework for Maryville’s online MHA program is structured to align with the 10 key knowledge areas from the American College of Healthcare Executives. Visit our MHA curriculum page for details.
Be a generalist, or choose from 4 concentrations.
Our online MHA program gives you the opportunity to choose from four concentrations — or you may opt for a general MHA degree by selecting any three courses from the concentrations below:
Health Informatics and Analytics: Leverage the power of big data to help healthcare organizations improve and optimize their administrative, clinical, and financial strategies.
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Healthcare Leadership: Delve deep into the business of healthcare as you learn about marketing, policy, economics, and management as they pertain to a healthcare system.
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Population Health Management: Gain the leadership and managerial skills you need to help improve community health and curb epidemics.
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Senior Services: Gain a multidisciplinary perspective on gerontology as you learn to effectively manage the day-to-day operations of senior healthcare and living services.
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Insights from Our Faculty
Karen Schechter, director and assistant professor of healthcare management and health administration programs, shared her thoughts on the Master of Health Administration program:
Our courses are designed — and constantly updated — to deliver a broad depth and breadth of valuable and timely content that can be applied immediately.
Additionally, our instructors are experts in their fields. Most are working in and are passionate about the healthcare industry and their careers.
Enrolling in the Online MHA Program: Admission Requirements
The following criteria are considered during the admission process for the Master of Health Administration:
- Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution
- 3.0 cumulative GPA is required for full admission.
- Less than 3.0 cumulative GPA can be considered for conditional admission.
- Personal letter explaining qualifications for graduate work
- No Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or letters of recommendation required
- An understanding of basic statistics to ensure your success in the online MHA program
- If you have completed a statistics course previously, you may already satisfy this requirement. If not, we offer an abbreviated online statistics course to get you up to speed. You may take this self-paced, shortened course alongside your first MHA-specific courses.
Learn more at our admissions page.
International Admission Requirements
English proficiency, demonstrated in one of the following ways:
- Test score* (TOEFL iBT 79, IELTS 6.0, PTE 58)
- College degree earned in the U.S.
- College degree for which the medium of instruction was in English
*Low sub-scores may disqualify a student. Test dates must be within 5 years of application.
Frequently Asked Questions
Completing your online MHA helps you qualify for leadership roles in hospitals, physicians’ offices, nursing care communities, government, senior living facilities, and other healthcare settings.
Popular careers for health administration graduates include:
- Hospital or clinic director
- Medical and health services manager
- Nurse manager
- Healthcare recruiter
- Senior living community manager
Find out more about MHA careers.