Health Services Manager – A Day in the Life

A health services manager oversees one or more aspects of the logistical operations at a medical facility. While physicians and other medical staff focus on treating patients, health services managers handle everything else, ensuring a facility runs smoothly and efficiently. That’s no small task: American medical facilities are businesses—and highly regulated ones at that—where the stakes aren’t only profit and loss, but occasionally life and death.

Healthcare is America’s biggest employer, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. As the Baby Boomer generation ages into retirement, the need for medical services is set to increase, and so is the need for health services managers. As healthcare becomes more tech-oriented and business-driven, medical facilities will need to retain larger numbers of skilled managers to operate at peak efficiency. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025) projects the demand for health services managers to increase by 23 percent between 2024 and 2034—a rate of growth that’s over seven times the national average for all professions.

Just as there’s more than one type of doctor, there’s more than one type of health services manager. But even though there’s no singular routine for a health services manager, some broad themes do apply across the industry.

If you’re interested in learning more about one of America’s fastest-growing professions, read on to get a glimpse into a day in the life of a health services manager.

Dr. Lindsey Haynes-Maslow is professor and director of master’s programs in the department of health policy and management at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also an adjunct associate professor in the department of nutrition. She earned her BSPH, her MHA, and her PhD in health policy and management all from UNC Chapel Hill.

Dr. Haynes-Maslow is an expert on the intersection between public health and nutrition. Her research focuses on policies that contribute to healthy behaviors in disinvested communities. With over 20 years of experience across nonprofit, public, and private organizations, she has worked for UNC Health, Durham Veterans Affairs, the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, the North Carolina Medical Journal, and the North Carolina Division of Public Health.

MHAonline.com: What’s something you wish the public understood about health services managers?

Dr. Haynes-Maslow: I wish the public understood that health services managers are extremely compassionate people who focus on creating spaces where high-quality and patient-centered care is the backbone of healthcare. We may not be the first, second, or even third face you see in a clinic, but health services managers focus on making more efficient processes and systems so that providers can spend more time treating and focusing on their patients.

MHAonline.com: Do you have any advice for someone aspiring to work in this role?

Dr. Haynes-Maslow: My advice is to first and foremost understand your “why” for wanting to work as a health services manager. Healthcare can be a very rewarding profession, but it is also a complicated, complex system that can be demanding at times. Second, stay curious — health services managers are lifelong learners. Those who continue to ask the questions “what,”“how,” and “why” help our healthcare systems run more smoothly, improve access, and promote health equity.

MHAonline.com: What are some of the major challenges and opportunities for health services managers today?

Dr. Haynes-Maslow: Healthcare is still dealing with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have a workforce crisis where burnout and retention issues are being felt across all healthcare roles. In addition to the workforce shortage, recent changes to federal health policy have created financial pressures for health care systems, which in turn will create wider gaps in health disparities. Lastly, with the rapid increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare is learning how to ethically, responsibly, and efficiently implement this technology in the clinic.

While AI may be listed as a challenge, it’s also an opportunity. When used appropriately, AI and digital health provide us with a chance to create and pilot data-driven decisions that could improve healthcare quality and patient outcomes. We have more tools than ever to make a meaningful impact—we just need to have the skills to know which tool is the right tool to use at the right time for the right reason. Lastly, healthcare is an ever-evolving landscape—change is always an opportunity.

Health services managers work in medical facilities, though the particular type of medical facility can vary. Approximately 29 percent of health services managers work in hospitals, while others work in physician clinics, outpatient care centers, and nursing care facilities (BLS 2025). The type of facility a health services manager works in will affect their daily responsibilities and clinical teams. In many cases, a health services manager will call an office home base, but this is a job that, at its highest level, demands interaction among all departments and personnel within a facility.

Health services management is often a people-facing role, even when implementing technical solutions. Whether managing a single department or an entire facility, a health services manager will need to collaborate with a clinical team. When overseeing a whole facility, a key part of a health services manager’s role is to facilitate smooth communication between all the different dimensions of a healthcare facility, and health services managers may work closely with physicians, surgeons, nurses, medical technicians, laboratory staff, patients, and insurance agents.

And even if they’re overseeing a single department (such as finance, IT, or care coordination), a health services manager often needs to interface with different sectors of the medical facility in order to achieve their goal.

A health services manager has a broad mandate of improving the quality and efficiency of a healthcare facility’s service delivery. The ways in which they achieve this can take many forms, and it depends largely on the particular facility or department one is managing. A nursing home facility will require special attention to aging-related issues, while a private practice may need a more personalized touch.

Even within the same type of medical facility, the work of a health services manager can vary: one facility might need help integrating a new IT system and storing patient records, while another might struggle to meet budgetary and regulatory requirements.

In general, the typical daily responsibilities of a health services manager may include:

• Creating work schedules and shift maps
• Balancing the overall finances of a healthcare facility
• Facilitating collaboration between separate departments
• Hiring, training, and supervising a facility’s staff members
• Researching new data management strategies
• Ensuring a facility’s compliance with laws and regulations
• Developing overarching strategic goals and objectives for the facility
• Representing the medical facility on governing boards

Inside health services management, it’s also possible to specialize in a particular function:

• Care coordination
• Finance and budget
• Health information
• Legal and policy compliance
• Insurance
• Personnel

No single typical day exists for all health services managers. Each facility and department has its own needs and resources to consider. In the same way that a physician must assess each patient individually, so must a health services manager evaluate a medical facility. And, especially when they’re tasked with running an entire medical facility, it’s up to the health services manager to come up with both a diagnosis and a prescription and then carry out this metaphorical treatment to completion.

Health services managers will need, at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as public health, healthcare administration, or health information management. But it’s increasingly common for employers to seek out candidates with graduate-level education. A master of business administration (MBA) or a master of healthcare administration (MHA) can supply both the leadership skills and the technical knowledge necessary to take on executive-level positions at healthcare facilities. Furthermore, graduate-level education provides the opportunity to specialize in a particular area of expertise, such as long-term care administration, finance, or health information management.

While education is an important requirement for health services managers, it’s the soft skills that can truly make all the difference. Managing a healthcare facility requires robust business knowledge and a deep understanding of all the aspects of healthcare service delivery. Detail-orientation is key to managing supply chain logistics and employee scheduling. Analytical skills are required to interpret new regulations and budgetary limitations, while technical skills are necessary to stay current with innovations in IT, electronic health records (EHRs), and securing patient data.

Finally, a mix of leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills is integral in implementing the changes across a barrage of disaggregated departments.

While nursing homes and long-term care facilities require their management to hold certification and licensure, the majority of health services managers do not need additional certification to practice. But many health services managers do elect to join a professional organization in their specific area of focus. These professional organizations serve as gathering points for industry professionals and offer opportunities for networking, conferences, job postings, academic publications, and continuing education.

Professional organizations for health services managers include:

• American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE)
• Healthcare Business Management Association (HMBA)
• Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
• Health Care Administrators Association (HCAA)
• Medical Group Management Association (MGMA)
• American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)