As the healthcare industry continues to boom, there continue to be a wealth of jobs available with an online health policy degree. Thanks to excellent rates of growth in health policy advising and consultation, healthcare management, and government jobs relating to healthcare, those who possess either an undergraduate or graduate degree in this field can expect to have a significant number of opportunities immediately after graduation. For this reason, job placement rates in all sectors are typically quite high and the salaries offered to qualified candidates are generally above the average for all entry-level occupations combined. Here’s a look at exactly which fields are the most receptive to those who have studied health policy online.
Public Policy Positions with Government Agencies
The government has a major stake in the development and enforcement of high-quality healthcare policies and regulations. Consider that the federal government currently oversees the entire Medicare program, and is responsible for operating a federal exchange used to provide insurance plans through Obamacare. The government also sets health insurance regulations in some cases, and oversees the ongoing refinement of Medicaid before the program can be administered by the states.
In this role, health policy experts will translate their online degree into real-world success stories that benefit the lives of patients, improve the careers of doctors and nurses, and help to increase efficiency in the broader U.S. healthcare system. They’ll create hypothetical scenarios, test potential regulations, evaluate the cost and effect of new policies on the industry, and advise political leaders on the best course of action to reduce healthcare costs, improve outcomes, and benefit the industry at large.
Hospital Advisors, Managers, and Policy Consultants
While health policy graduates are certainly a perfect fit for jobs that test and deploy new regulations and government policies, they’re also an excellent match for consulting and management positions within hospitals or smaller clinics. Consider, for instance, that every new regulation requires someone at the hospital who can read it, understand it, and describe in simple terms what impact it will have on expenses, patients, and physicians. This is where health policy graduates really enjoy high employment numbers and lofty average salaries, even for entry-level positions. Today’s biggest hospitals have a major stake in ensuring good care and regulatory adherence, and those who have spent years understanding how the laws work can spare hospitals the expense of state and federal fines, patient lawsuits, government lawsuits, and other legal headaches.
Healthcare Law and Litigation
Many health policy graduates turn their attention to the law, leveraging their understanding of state and federal healthcare regulations and turning it into a lucrative career holding both patients and physicians accountable for their actions. These lawyers represent hospitals and defend their actions, take on a patient’s case who believes they were the victim of malpractice, and hold accountable those insurance companies that run afoul of strict regulations that enforce certain reinvestment schemes, efficiency procedures, and more.
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An Expanding Industry for Recent Health Policy Grads
From jobs at major law firms to consulting and management roles at today’s biggest and most prestigious hospitals, the economy is strong for those who have pursued their online degree in health policy. To look for health policy jobs and more information on healthcare policy is the National Institute for Health. The good news is that jobs with an online health policy degree are getting easier to find, more lucrative to pursue, and more rewarding to participate in on a daily basis for most candidates.
