Find your degree
The American and global healthcare systems are at a crossroads. Some of the areas the field is changing include the development of new technology, exponentially increasing medical discoveries, political battles over the nature of healthcare delivery (whether it should be private and for-profit, or single-payer and non-profit), and breakthroughs towards curing major health viruses and diseases like cancer, HIV and AIDS, cystic fibrosis, Ebola, and Alzheimer’s disease, among others. All of this change means health organizations both new and old are desperately in need of bold, effective leadership. That’s where you come in.
According to government projects, by 2024 one in every five dollars spent in the United States will go towards healthcare.
If you’ve been working in healthcare administration or management, and have earned a master’s degree, a doctorate in health leadership can do wonders for your career, whether you want to work in academia as a professor or administrator, researching vital areas and questions in healthcare, or working in practice, leadership roles in government agencies, for-profit companies, non-profits, and other medical organizations.
Doctorates in health leadership help you by building your skills in:
Applied research and using evidence to make decisions.- Management and leadership.
- Working within bureaucracies to make substantive changes that address the current failings of healthcare systems.
- And much more.
Applied research and using evidence to make decisions.These programs will also help you gain a better understanding of:
- Health economics
- Health entrepreneurship
- Behavioral intervention
- Ethical and legal issues in healthcare
- Among many other outcomes.
On this list, you’ll find degrees with courses in:
- Business
- Leadership
- Health policy
- Strategic change management
The programs on this list are mostly delivered through online courses, but often require students to attend in-person intensives on their campuses. There are different in-person requirements for various programs, and there are some that need no in-person participation whatsoever. You’ll also find there’s a vast difference between how long these programs take to be completed, ranging from 2-5 years, depending on your bandwidth to take classes while you continue meeting your current job and life responsibilities.
Methodology
To discern the best online doctor of health leadership degrees, we’ve used the following methodology:
- Academic Quality of Parent Institution (33.3%): a multivariate metric including student success and support metrics such as acceptance rate, student-to-faculty ratio, financial aid offerings, research rank of the university, and more.
- Academic Quality of Program in Question (33.3%): range of electives, research rank of faculty, and overall support services for careers in health science.
- Flexibility of Program (33.3%): a measure of a variety of offering types that enable those juggling work, life, and school to obtain the education they desire.
You’ll find a diverse collection of degrees from public, private, non-profit, and for-profit schools. Some are offered from the universities’ and colleges’ schools of health, and some come through their respective business schools, among other subsets of the larger institutions. You can graduate with Ph.D.’s, doctorates in business administration, behavioral health, public health, health administration, and more.
No matter what you’re looking to do with these doctorate degrees in health leadership, you’ll gain significant skills and knowledge that can lead to a host of new job and career opportunities. When you find a school that you feel is a good fit, do yourself a favor and reach out to them directly. You can request more information about the following programs and get help with the application process from eager support staff professionals that will often be happy to help you in your pursuit of a doctorate in health leadership. Let’s get into it!
Note: The estimated costs are based on the most recent information available on the NCES website for tuition and fees, selecting in-state and graduate student options where options were available.
If you’re looking for a Ph.D. in Health Care Administration, you’ve come to the right place. While a Ph.D. in this discipline is rarer than other degrees, they still exist. A Ph.D. is a degree that’s more focused on creating future researchers and academics. If you’re looking to work in academia and make discoveries that will significantly impact the future of healthcare, you should pick one of these programs.
A Ph.D. in Health Services stands for a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Services. In these programs, you’ll learn about the finances, structures, and policies of healthcare in the United States. You’ll be prepared to work in research, teach future healthcare professionals, and do vital healthcare policy analysis. There are other roles that you’d qualify for, but these are the most common outcomes. Some people who hold these degrees end up working in government agencies. You’ll have titles like research associate, research scientist, and executive roles in a number of agencies, universities, and other organizations.
Health Information Manager: You’ll manage the health records of a medical facility, making sure they stay protected, and are only shared with authorized parties. You’ll use the latest software and medical information technology available, and have a deep understanding of the regulations that govern medical records.
Hospital Administrator: This is what it sounds like. You’ll run a hospital, making sure its services are delivered properly and its policies are closely followed by its staff, who you will coordinate and supervise.
In these programs, you’ll study how to improve healthcare quality and delivery as well as the best ways to educate healthcare workers and manage an array of different health organizations or agencies. You’ll take courses in the legal policies and ethics in healthcare, healthcare professionalism, clinical healthcare, research and analysis, community health, public health, disease prevention, healthcare policy, and healthcare delivery, among many others.
A DHSC can also lead to work in a specific aspect of science, like biochemistry or biophysics. In these positions, you’ll look at the physics and chemistry that create and govern life. Your findings will help develop medical advancements and a better understanding of organisms. You’ll likely also teach college-level courses while working in this field as well.
