Healthcare executive careers fared well even in other healthcare sectors like non-profits. For example, the Adventist Health System that operates 37 hospitals in 12 states as a non-profit organization posted a profit of $363 million in 2009. Understandably, healthcare executive jobs and healthcare executive careers remain more stable than other jobs and careers, because this is a sector where even non-profits make profits exceeding hundred million dollars.
However, healthcare executive careers are currently under flux since the nation is experiencing radical experimentation with the healthcare system and the results have been painful for some traditional operations. For example, jobs in hospitals owned by states are under threat since, as reported by Wall Street Journal in August 2010, the new federal health-care law is causing local governments to leave running hospitals and forcing them to shed public care-giving facilities. In fact, local governments own more than a fifth of the nation's hospitals, and most are negatively affected by rising healthcare costs, increase in uninsured patients, cuts in Medicare and Medicaid etc.
Since small-scale local government hospitals used to offer a great number of healthcare executive jobs, constriction of the sector by new laws restricts growth in healthcare executive careers to a certain extent. However, large-scale operations remain profitable, and thus healthcare executive jobs remain a viable alternative for jobseekers.
Healthcare executive jobs are varied in nature, as are healthcare executive careers. Each hospital or care-giving unit functions as a complete business organization with personnel required in jobs ranging from receptionists to accountants. Most jobs in a healthcare organization that does not involve the job of a doctor or nurse, that is does not involve medical knowledge or clinical degrees, belong to the category of healthcare executive jobs and provide paths for healthcare executive careers.
So, healthcare executive jobs can be found in finance, accounting, IT, HR, administration, and all fields that are required in most business structures. In healthcare executive jobs, employees need to handle a lot of pressure including the stress of handling patients and their relatives or well-wishers, as well as politics between doctors and medical personnel. Healthcare executive careers usually require an understanding of the healthcare industry and for getting healthcare executive jobs; experience in medical environments is always preferable.
For building healthcare executive careers, it is essential to gather experience in primary healthcare executive jobs and work in hospitals and medical offices. Employers prefer those candidates who already possess passing knowledge and exposure to the healthcare industry. Usually, undergraduates accept low-level jobs in healthcare, and work up their way to desired positions. A minimum Bachelor's degree is essential for most healthcare executive careers and networking with those already in healthcare executive jobs provides benefits for any jobseeker.
