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Medical & Health Services Manager

$123,860
median / year
$73,390 – $224,340
what most earn per year (10th–90th percentile)

What the job actually is

Manage staff, budgets, and operations at hospitals, clinics, and practices to keep care running well.

You may also see this posted as: Clinical Director, Health Information Management Director (HIM Director), Health Information Manager (HIM Manager), Nursing Director, Cancer Center Director, Healthcare System Director.

Where you work

Hospitals, clinics, and nursing facilities

The hours

Full-time, sometimes on-call

The day to day

What you'd actually spend time doing

  • Direct, supervise and evaluate work activities of medical, nursing, technical, clerical, service, maintenance, and other personnel.
  • Develop and maintain computerized record management systems to store and process data, such as personnel activities and information, and to produce reports.
  • Plan, implement, and administer programs and services in a health care or medical facility, including personnel administration, training, and coordination of medical, nursing and physical plant staff.
  • Conduct and administer fiscal operations, including accounting, planning budgets, authorizing expenditures, establishing rates for services, and coordinating financial reporting.
  • Maintain awareness of advances in medicine, computerized diagnostic and treatment equipment, data processing technology, government regulations, health insurance changes, and financing options.

Good fit if you like…

Enterprising

leading, persuading, selling, or turning an idea into action

Conventional

organizing information, following systems, and getting details right

Social

helping, teaching, caring for, or supporting other people

O*NET job zone 4 of 5

High preparation—usually a four-year degree plus experience—is common.

Work styles that matter most

DependabilityLeadership OrientationAttention to DetailIntegrity

Software that shows up in the work

Examples employers report—not a checklist you must already know.

Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft PowerPointAdobe AcrobatApache Hadoop

By the numbers

May 2025 BLS wage & employment data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.

Median pay
$123,860
per year
Hourly median
$59.55
per hour
What most earn
$73,390–$224,340
yearly, 10th to 90th percentile
Openings a year
~62,100
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
+23.2%
Much faster than average
Working in the U.S.
597,080
people, nationwide

Openings a year counts new jobs plus the ones that open when people retire or move on — a truer picture of your odds than growth alone.

“Median” means half earn more and half earn less. Your city, employer, and years on the job move it a lot — that is what the 10th-to-90th range shows.

BLS estimates 5.1% of workers in this occupation are self-employed.

What it pays in your state

Statewide medians are a better starting point than the national number. Your city and experience still matter.

BLS state wage tables

How you get in

Typical starting education

Bachelor's degree

Training path: Bachelor's degree, often a master's.

Related work experience: Less than 5 years.

On-the-job training: None.

License or certification

Nursing home administrators need a state license, though most other management roles do not.

Check the path where you live

Licensing rules and available programs change by state. These federal tools take you to the current official listings.

What it takes

LeadershipOrganizationCommunicationKnowledge of regulations

The honest take

One of the fastest-growing management fields, opening health-care leadership without a clinical degree.

Standard Occupational Classification 11-9111. Pay and employment from the BLS May 2025 OEWS survey; outlook and openings from the 2024–34 employment projections; job context from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; tasks, interests, work styles, software examples, and job zone from O*NET 30.3. See something off? Tell us.