Medical and Health Services Managers

Plan, direct, or coordinate medical and health services in hospitals, clinics, managed care organizations, public health agencies, or similar organizations.

Most important skills

Speaking
Critical Thinking
Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Writing
Monitoring
Social Perceptiveness
Complex Problem Solving

Key knowledge

Administration and Management
English Language
Customer and Personal Service
Personnel and Human Resources
Education and Training
Computers and Electronics
Administrative
Medicine and Dentistry

What the work involves

Direct, supervise and evaluate work activities of medical, nursing, technical, clerical, service, maintenance, and other personnel.
Establish objectives and evaluative or operational criteria for units managed.
Direct or conduct recruitment, hiring, and training of personnel.
Develop and maintain computerized record management systems to store and process data, such as personnel activities and information, and to produce reports.
Develop and implement organizational policies and procedures for the facility or medical unit.
Conduct and administer fiscal operations, including accounting, planning budgets, authorizing expenditures, establishing rates for services, and coordinating financial reporting.
Establish work schedules and assignments for staff, according to workload, space, and equipment availability.
Maintain communication between governing boards, medical staff, and department heads by attending board meetings and coordinating interdepartmental functioning.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education

Bachelor's Degree (46.4% of respondents)

Related experience

Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (37%)

On-the-job training

Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (33.3%)

Preparation level

O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Licensing

Depends on state or role (national summary): Some medical and health services managers need a state license: all states license nursing home administrators; some positions require an RN or social worker license. source (checked 2026-10-25)

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections; State licensing authorities (curated, see evidence links) · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	Very high	Higher on contact with others than 86% of occupations compared	82% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	High	Higher on dealing with the public than 76% of occupations compared	43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Very high	Higher on teamwork than 96% of occupations compared	86% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Freedom to make decisions	Low	Lower on freedom to make decisions than 72% of occupations compared	44% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom”
Time pressure	Moderate	Higher on time pressure than 56% of occupations compared	39% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Conflict situations	Very high	Higher on conflict situations than 91% of occupations compared	36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	High	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 79% of occupations compared	29% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week”
Consequence of error	Low	Lower on consequence of error than 77% of occupations compared	41% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: moderate
Conflict situations: very high
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
Consequence of error: low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions