Healthcare facilities managers must have excellent people skills. They interact with healthcare professionals and staff on a routine basis, as well as other administrators and legal and financial professionals. Managers must also have strong leadership skills, intelligence and adaptability to lead facilities into the future among many legal and logistical changes.
Changes in technology and advanced medicine will impact the future of healthcare facilities management. Legal changes and a higher degree of regulation of healthcare facilities have also already begun to impact facilities of all types. For example, nursing homes have become much more highly regulated since the late 1980s, and regulation will continue to increase in an effort to improve living conditions for nursing home residents.
The aging of the American population will also change the field of healthcare facilities management. The number of aging people with dementia, unless major strides are made in medical response to dementia, is expected to double by the year 2020. Since this is the most common condition of nursing home residents, the demand for nursing home care is expected to increase greatly in the near future.
Medical and health services managers made an average of $67,430 annually in 2004. Earnings varied according to the setting of employment. Managers working for the federal government made an average of $87,200; those in general medical and surgical hospitals made $71,280; in physicians' offices, $61,320; in nursing facilities, $60,940; in home healthcare services, $60,320.
Salaries for administrators of physicians' group practices usually depend on the size of the practice. In 2004, administrators in practices of six or fewer physicians made $72,875; administrators in practices of seven to 25 physicians made $95,766; and administrators in practices with 26 or more physicians made $132,955.