A health management graduate certificate is a four-subject course for health professionals. You'll learn skills for managing and leading people in the delivery of healthcare services.
A health management graduate certificate is a popular study option for health and social care professionals looking for leadership roles. The postgraduate course gives you management skills and a leadership qualification.
An online Graduate Certificate in Health Management can typically be completed over an 8-month period. You're able to do a subject every 2 months, all while working full-time if you want. You can also continue your studies for a graduate diploma (8 subjects in total) or masters (12 subjects).
A Flexible Online Course for Health Managers
You can get your Graduate Certificate in Health Management online with an Australian university. The best online courses use an accelerated block model that is free of long exams. Students progress steadily, completing one subject at a time in teaching blocks of 6-7 weeks. Course completion is achievable over 8 months of low-stress, part-time online study.
UTS Online Graduate Certificate in Health Services Management
The Graduate Certificate in Health Services Management from UTS Online is about delivering safe, accessible and high-value services. The course offers health leadership training for health and social care professionals. Students gain a strong awareness of how health and social care systems work in Australia. You also develop your ability to assess and re-design systems that deliver health services. The course is part-time and 100% online, allowing you to study without having to take time off work. Graduates have the option to extend their studies and do a Master of Health Services Management, where you can specialise in digital health, planning, leadership, or quality and safety.
Business Administration
Health administration is a branch of business administration. An option for budding health managers is to enrol in a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration.
Studying business administration can be done within a healthcare context. The program at the University of Adelaide, for example, potentially leads to an MBA in Health Management. As the premier management qualification, an MBA can work just fine in the health sector.
Business administration courses cover business disciplines such as finance and marketing while also exploring management principles and practices... READ MORE
Health Professional Education
An alternative management career path in the health sector is to become an educational leader. Health professionals with clinical experience can do education courses to make this transition.
A health professional education course will provide you with skills to manage the professional development of other healthcare workers.
While part of your training will be about teaching, health educators are as much responsible for coordinating educational opportunities in collaboration with learners and employers... READ MORE
Nursing Leadership and Management
For nurses, the ideal management course may be a Graduate Certificate in Nursing with a Leadership and Management specialisation.
With this option, you get to do a 100% online course that's meant for nurses and draws on your existing knowledge in healthcare. If you decide to continue studying, the same specialisation is available as part of a Master of Nursing degree.
The techniques you learn plus your postgraduate qualification create exciting career opportunities in nursing management... READ MORE
Public Health
A healthcare background is useful for working in public health, which is concerned with population health as a whole. You can make or support a career transition into this field with a public health postgraduate course.
Topics you may explore include communicable diseases, biostatistics, epidemiology, social perspectives, and indigenous health.
Working in public health generally takes you out of health settings such as hospitals and clinics, instead placing you into government agencies, research institutes and universities... READ MORE
What You'll Study (Course Structure)
The course structure depends on the specialisation and program. You'll normally have a set of four subjects to do from a much larger master's program. Expect to do some foundation coursework on organisational management.
UTS Online subjects
For this subject, you build knowledge of key parts of the Australian healthcare system. Students establish a foundation for shaping the direction of health care by exploring how health systems and other services models develop and perform. Using case scenarios, you examine the structure and challenges of the Australian system, along with differential impacts on health outcomes across demographic groups. We explore the changing relationships among healthcare providers, insurers, government and the broader community.
The subject explores quality, risk and cost in the health industry. Students engage in the process of designing, organising and managing healthcare delivery systems, with the goal of creating and capturing value for the patient and community. You build skills in new thinking on health services by considering how health care is delivered in relation to quality, risk and cost. Students critically assess the organisation of health care. The delivery of outcomes is assessed in terms of financial management and from patient and population perspectives.
Students build knowledge of organisational theory and how to manage people and processes in a health service organisation. Health service managers need to optimise organisational performance, attract and retain talented staff, and manage change. Accomplishing these goals requires you to learn how to shape organisational dynamics using strategies related to organisational structure and culture.
The subject offers a supervised experience for graduate students to learn how to use data to inform health service decisions. You explore and manipulate data that replicates patient data, generating and answering questions as you go. A managerial or clinical focus, or some combination of the two, are possible. You analyse the patient dataset to produce and interpret health statistics. Furthermore, students translate stats into health information and knowledge for decision making. You develop the ability to analyse health data and make recommendations based on your findings.
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes from a health leadership and management program include being able to:
- explain the structure and key elements of healthcare systems
- understand your own leadership styles and how they shape team performance
- define and communicate organisational issues to target audiences using multiple methods
- propose improvements to safety, service quality and cost-effectiveness for an organisation
- identify key issues affecting health planning, including enabling factors and impediments.
Career Opportunities
Job opportunities from this kind of postgraduate course are innumerable. Just look at the management structures of health organisations for examples. Prospective job titles include nurse manager, clinical services manager, senior health officer, allied health manager, practice leader, and service centre director.
Health managers are in demand across the healthcare sector, including in health service facilities and the public service. According to the NSC, the number of Australian jobs for Health and Welfare Services Managers is projected to surge by 26.5% over 5 years to 45,000 by the end of 2026.
Completing the course will provide you with a postgraduate qualification in management. That gives you credentials for senior roles while also imparting relevant skills and demonstrating a commitment to being a leader. You'll also have the opportunity to continue studying for a master's degree.
Entry Requirements
Entry requirements reflect that the program is intended for aspiring managers from different professional backgrounds. A bachelor degree in any discipline is generally sufficient to be admitted. Without a degree, an alternative admissions requirement may be significant professional experience in healthcare or human services.
Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent or higher qualification OR evidence of general and professional qualifications demonstrating potential for successful postgraduate study.
Applicants without a degree may also be considered on the basis of demonstrated extensive relevant work experience in healthcare or human services.
English language requirements apply. Online programs are unavailable to international students on a student visa.
Tuition fees are $3,192 per subject in 2022. FEE-HELP loans are available from the Australian Government to cover course costs.
Key dates: Intakes happen in Jan, Mar, May, July, Sept, Oct.
Healthcare Management Certification
A Graduate Certificate in Health Management provides a form of healthcare management certification. To work as a health manager, you don't need to complete any particular course nor gain approval from a regulatory body. But, to strongly compete for jobs, a postgraduate qualification such as a grad cert in health services management could be crucial.
Note that you can apply for health manager certification with the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). But the value of ACHSM certification may be limited by low industry awareness and the difficulty of distinguishing health managers from other administrators.
