Which nursing leadership role the hospital Exec's like?

[rearviewmirror, BSN, RN]

Hello good nurses. I will cut straight to the point. I am at UR department at hospital and I like getting hospital paid. I think there are so many entities that are ready to pounce on hospitals and say "Gotcha!" And smack them on the head with a hammer (think CMS, insurance, hcap scores, etc) and no entities that advocate for these hospitals, so I dont mind siding up with these guys.

Main thing is, I want to go the direction where hospitals value you the most: where the money is, and the one who brings it in (i.e hospitals love revenue generating providers like interventional cardiologist). What masters do you recommend then? MSN, MBA, MHA, what service or department should I be looking into? Quality, risk, revenue cycle, infection control, patient safety, etc. Thank you!

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Moved to post-grad student. Personally, I think the combo MSN/MBA is great.

[pro-student]

I'm not sure what you're asking because unless you are actually a provider billing fee-for-service, you actually cost the hospital money. Since most providers are not actually employees of hospitals, they also usually only generate revenue for the hospital if they admit patients or order services that the hospital can charge for (e.g. - labs, MRIs).

This seems like the most bizarre way to choose a career direction because anyone in any role can be a valuable employee provided they do their job well and don't cost the hospital a lot of money, say, in insurance premiums, settlements, or disability payouts.

I gather your interest is not in being a provider. Really, short of bringing in revenue, your financial benefit to a hospital is doing something worthwhile while costing the least. There's no degree for that. The custodian who does a great job, draws the smallest salary, and never calls in sick or takes vacation fits that bill. Shy of being an experienced healthcare executive with a proven track record of providing value to hospitals, in any capacity they are really just looking for someone reasonably competent who will work for a reasonable amount of compensation.

A much more sensible question, and many e what you were getting at, "would be what roles do hospitals tend to view as valuable and what are the appropriate educational preparations for those roles?" To that I would suggest that two popular areas tend to be healthcare marketing and compliance/risk-management. There are specific concentrations in healthcare marketing in all kinds of degrees (MHA, MBA, MS) but a hospital is more likely to value your skill set rather than the specific letters. The same goes for risk management which you could do with an MBA, JD, MHA, even MPH. Just avoid the perception that you are "over educated" because then they will tend to think you'll want a higher salary.

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

If you want to side with hospitals (corporate), your best bet is MBA with a concentration in healthcare admin. A friend of mine works in hospital IT and often deals with the business side of a large hospital, and those "business" folks have little or nothing to do with the clinical side (although they know the terminology). If you're already a BSN, you have more than enough healthcare knowledge. What you need is business knowledge (which BSN doesn't teach at all). An MBA provides you with core business courses (accounting, finance, economics, marketing etc.) and healthcare concentration will give you courses that are more focused on healthcare finance, IT, and laws. MHA, IMO, is the next best choice. But it doesn't give a solid foundation in the business core. MSN, IMO, is not useful unless you want to take on a leadership role related to nursing units.

If you're good at managing the margins or increasing efficiencies of the business units you work in, you effectively help the hospital make more money. So although you're ultimately the cost center (you'll be among the first to get canned in a down economy), you might still worth something.