In 2022, California’s healthcare system was still reeling from the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the California Health Care Foundation, that year, the sector’s net revenue pitched sharply downward from the $10.1 billion it earned in 2019 to a paltry $876 million.
But just one year later, California’s healthcare industry bounced back in a big way. Net income soared back up to $8.8 billion in 2023. That kind of margin gives healthcare companies more than a little breathing room.
It gives them room to expand and innovate, to reinvest and innovate some more. But while it’s up to highly-trained medical professionals to turn profits into new life-saving techniques, it’s up to the administrators to lay the groundwork. And with a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Administration, you can do just that.
MBA Careers in Healthcare Help Providers Stay Competitive in One of California’s Most High-Growth Industries
The healthcare sector is home to a lot of the same career opportunities for MBAs as other sectors. You can get into marketing, finance, or personnel administration, and if you’ve made some notable gains for the organization, you could eventually get an invitation to the c-suite.
No matter what role you’re pursuing, you’ll have to bring that same energy to the boardroom. You’ll need to move as quickly and precisely as a surgeon’s scalpel.
To see that spirit in action, look no further than California’s academic and research hospitals. UCI Health, a healthcare system operated by the University of California, Irvine, is a prime example.
In 2024, UCI Health acquired four other Orange County hospitals and their satellite locations. On top of that, they opened a handful of specialty care and research clinics, adding hundreds of beds and hundreds of thousands of square feet to expand the footprint of campus locations. Most impressively, UCI Health became one of the few providers in the country to offer photon-counting computed tomography scanning and histotripsy, both of which are game changers in the world of medical imaging.
It bears repeating – they did that all in a single year.
Billion-dollar moves like that leave no time for “should’ve been an email” meetings, timidity, or squabbling over line items on a budget report. Executives need to be decisive enough to move things forward and informed enough to listen to their clinical leaders. And with the wellbeing of entire communities at stake, keeping a healthcare organization afloat in California is enough to make running a Silicon Valley startup look like running a lemonade stand.
The Biotech Industry is Alive and Kicking in California, Generating $400 Billion-Plus in Annual Economic Output
If the hospital research sector isn’t enough to get your blood pumping, try California’s thriving biotech industry on for size. In general, biotech refers to harnessing the power of living organisms and cells to create new products and technologies. While biotech is a cornerstone of the medical world, it’s also widely used for agricultural and industrial applications.
Back in 2018, California became the first state to dive headlong into gene therapy, a type of biotech focused on altering a person’s genetic makeup to treat and cure deadly diseases. That year, the state-run California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) pledged to invest $3 billion into gene therapy initiatives at the clinical trial stage.
Whoever it was at CIRM that made the call to pony-up that funding, you can be sure they’ve earned a promotion. In the years since, California’s biotech sector has grown to generate over $414 billion in economic output each year and employs about 1.2 million people. It draws scientists from all over the world, billions in federal grants, and billions more in venture capital investments. In San Diego County alone, dozens of new biotech firms are expected to open by the end of 2025. Together, those labs will add over 3.2 million square feet of research and development space to the area’s already booming biotech ecosystem.
MBA in Healthcare Administration Programs Prepare Capable Leaders in a High Stakes Industry
To make it as an administrator in California’s fast-paced healthcare industry, you’ll need a unique combination of general leadership skills and intimate industry knowledge. Fortunately, because California is such a healthcare dynamo, you’ll find plenty of MBA programs that offer concentrations in healthcare administration complete with the kind of experiential learning you need to hit the ground running.
As you earn an MBA in Healthcare Administration, you’ll take many of the same core classes found in most generalist MBA programs. This includes classes on topics like business analytics, marketing, and managerial accounting. So even if you’re relatively new to business administration or a medical professional looking to pivot, you’ll learn enough about the fundamentals to get up to speed.
Naturally, the curriculum will also be packed with courses that prepare you to apply business administration principles to the healthcare sector. This includes classes on:
- Public health policy, laws, and ethics
- Change management in healthcare settings
- Using clinical data to guide business decisions
- Health records system management
- Care quality standards and maintenance
- Leading multidisciplinary teams including doctors, nurses, and business administrators
While this is representative of what you would find in the typical healthcare MBA course catalog, each program is a different, with some leaning heavier into biotech, medical research, and even medical technology. Depending on what your ultimate career goals are, those differences can be important to consider.
Selecting the Best MBA in Healthcare Administration Program for You Among the Many Options Available in California
The particular niche or type of organization you want to work for is something you’ll want to consider when looking at your options. Sacramento State, for instance, offers an MBA in Business Analytics in Healthcare that focuses heavily on leveraging data and technology to make decisions — a great foundation for a career in just about any kind of healthcare organization.
On the other hand, UC Berkeley’s MBA/Master of Public Health (MPH) program features classes on the pharmaceutical industry, biotech, and medical device innovation. If you want to work for a medical supply or research company (or even get into the medtech startup game), a program like that would be a great option.
Another extremely prevalent MBA concentration in California is hospital and healthcare management. Since you won’t find many programs that bill themselves explicitly as hospital administration programs, it’s important to take a good look at the curriculum. For example, UCLA’s MBA in Healthcare track has classes on policy analysis, performance management, and other topics that are perfect for preparing hospital administrators.
MBA in Healthcare Administration Program Formats – Online and Executive MBAs
Another important thing to consider is what format would suit your current situation. If you’re a working professional, you can earn an MBA in Healthcare online from the University of Massachusetts Global, National University, and plenty of other private and public universities. Courses are usually offered as a mix of pre-recorded asynchronous lectures and live, interactive classes.
However, if you’re a mid-career professional eyeing c-suite positions, you’ll be looking at an Executive MBA (EMBA) in Healthcare Administration.
EMBA classes are usually offered nights, weekends, and throughout the winter and summer when students are typically on break. And because you’ll be focusing on the higher-level stuff, you can earn your EMBA in 12 – 18 months vs. the two years it takes to complete a standard MBA program. Dominican University, University of California, Irvine, and a handful of other schools offer Executive MBA in Healthcare programs.
MBA vs Master in Healthcare Administration
Outside of earning an MBA in Healthcare Administration or a related specialization, you can also pursue a Master in Healthcare Administration (MHA). The curriculum for both types of programs is similar in many ways, but each has a different orientation.
However, the main difference is that MBA programs teach bigger-picture leadership and business administration skills. The scope is broader, going beyond organizational management and the internal workings of healthcare systems. This means MBA grads have a unique understanding of the external macro and intersectional factors that impact the business of healthcare. This puts them in a position to see opportunity and risk that can build the profitability of healthcare systems and provider networks.
MHA programs focus more narrowly on healthcare organization and system management. Because of that, MHA programs typically offer a more in-depth education in policy, research, and the inner workings of different types of healthcare organizations.
UCLA has both an online and on-campus MHA program. There are classes on healthcare marketing, population health, quality management, and medical health records management. This is a great option whether you want to get into the private or public side of healthcare or if you want to take on more hands-on administrative positions at places that offer complex clinical care.
MBA in Healthcare Administration: Salary and Job Outlook
In such a high-stakes and competitive industry, you’d expect salaries to be off the charts, and career opportunities hard to come by. That’s a natural assumption, but you’d only be half right.
As of May 2023, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the average salary for medical and health service managers of all kinds in California is $156,140. The top 25% of healthcare administrators in the state make about $200,000 and up — way up when you account for the bonuses, stock options, and other perks they often get.
The real surprise comes when you look at job outlook. Overall, the BLS expects employment for all occupations to grow by an average of 4% over the next decade. But by 2032, Projections Central says California’s health and medical management sector is expected to grow by an almost unimaginable 40%. That’s equivalent to an average of about 7,100 new job openings each year. Holding an MBA in Healthcare Administration could very well be vital to navigating what’s likely to be an extremely competitive job market.
Accredited Online MBA in Healthcare Administration Programs and Campus Options in California
If you’re not sure where to begin with exploring MBA programs in Healthcare Administration, a good place to start is looking at California’s many accredited MBA programs.
In the following list, each program is offered by a college or university accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), California’s main accrediting agency. Many programs are also accredited by one of three accrediting agencies whose sole purpose is to accredit business schools that meet a high bar for academic rigor and faculty expertise:
- Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
- Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
- International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE)
But no matter who they’re accredited by, these schools and programs go through regular reviews to ensure they’re offering the academic and career resources students need to put their degrees to use. You’ll find a mix of on-campus, online, and hybrid MBA in Healthcare Management programs, all located in or offering online classes to students in California.
University of California - Los Angeles
Anderson School of Management
Los Angeles, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management
University of California - Berkeley
Haas School of Business
Berkeley, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Management
San Diego State University
Fowler College of Business
San Diego, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Services Administration
California State University - Long Beach
College of Business
Long Beach, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management or Health Science
California State University, Sacramento | Sacramento State
College of Business
Sacramento, CA
Master of Business Administration in Business Analytics in Healthcare
University of Massachusetts Global
School of Business and Professional Studies
Aliso Viejo, CA
Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Administration
California State University - Los Angeles
College of Business and Economics
Los Angeles, CA
Master of Business Administration Finance concentration
California State University, Chico
College of Business
Chico, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Services Administration
University of Southern California
Marshall School of Business
Los Angeles, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Care Advisory Services
Dominican University of California
Barowsky School of Business
San Rafael, CA
Healthcare Executive Master of Business Administration
La Sierra University
Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business
Riverside, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management
University of Redlands
School of Business and Society
Redlands, CA
Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Administration
University of La Verne
College of Business
La Verne, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Services Management
Westcliff University
College of Business
Irvine, CA
Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Administration
Azusa Pacific University
School of Business and Management
Azusa, CA
Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management
West Coast University
Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Ontario, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Administration and Leadership or Public Health
California Baptist University
Dr. Robert K. Jabs School of Business
Riverside, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Administration
Antioch University Los Angeles
Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, CA
Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Leadership
Touro University Worldwide
School of Business and Management
Los Angeles, CA
Master of Business Administration in Health Administration Management
Physician and Healthcare Executive Master of Business Administration
2023 US Bureau of Labor Statistics and Projections Central salary and employment figures for medical and health services managers reflect national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed December 2024.