MPH vs. MHA: Which Degree Is Right for You?
MPH vs. MHA. Pick one. But which? If you're torn between the two of them, we're here to help you decide.
Students, or professionals looking to advance their careers, often find themselves in difficult situations where they have to choose between two degrees. When it comes to choosing between an MPH vs. MHA degree, there are several factors you need to consider before ultimately deciding which one is the right for you. Our guide presents the differences between these two degrees, comparing their curriculums, skills, career paths, and job outlook and salaries. This way, you will find it easier when it comes down to picking one of them. All you have to do is read on.
What Is an MPH Degree?
If you are interested in healthcare and want to help people at a higher level, for example at a community level, an MPH degree would be ideal.
MPH stands for Master of Public Health; it is a graduate-level degree that prepares students to prevent illnesses and improve the health of specific populations. By studying such a degree, you will learn how to change health behaviors and encourage better health through education, research, and the promotion of best health care practices. It prepares you to work as a public health practitioner in various industries, government, or non-profit organizations, raising awareness of the best ways to stay healthy, designing new health programs, or working with current ones. You will be able to conduct health research, analyze and observe dangers to public health, and interpret data.
What Is an MHA Degree?
If you are interested in the business side of healthcare, with emphasis on administrative and leadership roles in medical facilities, consider pursuing an MHA.
A Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), also referred to as Master of Health Administration, is an advanced degree that prepares students for managerial challenges in the healthcare industry. An MHA degree provides you with detailed knowledge of health care systems and skills to coordinate services in various settings and improve the overall quality of patient care. Pursuing it and becoming a leader in administrative healthcare enables you to oversee the work of entire facilities or specific medical departments.
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Differences Between an MPH and an MHA
Let's now take a look at the differences between these two degrees. To better understand the difference between MPH and MHA degrees, we compared them from various perspectives: their curriculum, employment opportunities, and average salaries.
Curriculum
Considering that each degree has a different focus—with an MPH degree mainly preparing students for a career in population health and community awareness and an MHA degree concentrating on the management part of medical facilities—their program curriculums differ as well.
An MPH curriculum is more health-related. You learn about diseases, injuries, health issues, how they impact populations, and how to prevent them. Courses may vary depending on the program, but they usually include:
Environmental health
Epidemiology
Global health
Biostatistics
Social and behavioral sciences
Health policy and management
Biological sciences
Occupational health
In addition, you also learn about research methods, demography, and public budgeting.
In contrast, an MHA program prepares you to manage healthcare facilities. You usually learn about healthcare systems, economics, marketing, finance, population health, healthcare policy, and ethics. You can expect courses like:
Ethics of healthcare
Healthcare law
Epidemiology and community health
Healthcare informatics
Health services research
Accounting for healthcare organizations
Health systems management
Health policy and administration
Marketing and strategic planning
HR management
Health care financial management
Skills
Apart from the knowledge you gain through the different courses we mentioned above, it is crucial that you acquire both technical and soft skills from pursuing an advanced degree in healthcare administration or public health. In general, both degrees offer valuable skills that you can use in numerous job positions. However, an MHA degree focuses more on leadership, decision-making, and communication skills. Meanwhile, conducting research and analyzing data and statistics are obtained by pursuing an MPH degree.
In order to be a successful healthcare administrator, you need to be able to plan strategically. In addition, since your job often requires recruiting and training new staff members, mentoring skills are usually part of the skills you obtain while pursuing a master's in healthcare administration. Furthermore, from this advanced degree, you can expect to acquire skills like the following:
budgeting
teamwork
problem-solving
marketing
quick thinking
project management
empathy
Meanwhile, a profession in public health requires research and analytical skills as essential for the job. You need to conduct research and be able to interpret your findings before actually putting an idea or policy into action. To do that, you also need strong critical thinking and decision-making skills. Other skills you may gain by studying an MPH program are:
communication
politics and policy management
interpersonal skills
attention to detail
social skills
Careers
One way to determine whether you are more inclined to pursuing an MHA or MPH degree is by considering their career opportunities. While both degrees offer a myriad of career paths you can choose from, they differ from each other. As an MPH graduate, you are more likely to find a job in science and research-oriented fields like epidemiology, serving the public by conducting research to help prevent illnesses or the spread of particular diseases. If you get an MHA degree, on the other hand, you will be prepared for health services management roles, taking on administrative duties in hospitals or other medical facilities.
Common career paths for MPH graduates include:
Epidemiologists: study public health issues and work to prevent them. Epidemiologists can work in federal agencies, government organizations, hospitals, universities, etc. Their responsibilities include collecting data and conducting research about various diseases, communicating with policymakers, developing action plans, overseeing public health programs, etc.
Clinical dietitians: design nutrition programs for patients in order to improve their health. They do that by first assessing patient needs, developing the program, then documenting the outcomes.
Health educators: discuss health issues with people and educate them about health-promoting and disease/injury-preventing behaviors.
Biostatisticians: usually work in labs where they analyze data concerning people's health. For example, they apply statistics to find out whether a new drug works, what causes a particular disease, etc.
Environmental health scientists: mainly deal with educating people about environmental dangers and how they can impact their health and try to find solutions to reduce or minimize those threats.
Meanwhile, the following career paths are typical for MHA graduates:
Health services administrators: usually direct and manage healthcare organizations. Their responsibilities include keeping and organizing records, dealing with finances, performing other day-to-day administrative tasks, training new staff, etc.
Health information managers: manage, organize and protect patient data. They design computer systems and software to protect health records.
Nursing home administrators: manage administrative matters of nursing homes or related facilities by supervising staff members, medical care, medical supplies, financial issues, paperwork, and so on.
Healthcare consultants: provide advice in order to improve efficiency in healthcare organizations. They identify problems, analyze data, and suggest solutions.
Directors of hospital operations: manage daily operational activities, oversee staff functions, formulate policies, monitor budgets, assess patient satisfaction, etc.
Job outlook and salaries
When comparing the job outlook and average salaries for public health workers and healthcare administrators, we conclude that both jobs have high annual payments and way above-average employment growth. However, one degree comes with a significantly higher estimated number of new jobs, while the other has a higher yearly salary.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for health education specialists and community health workers is 17% from 2020 to 2030; meanwhile, for medical and health services managers, it predicts a 32% growth.
On the other hand, when it comes to MPH vs. MHA salary, the average salary for public health jobs is $67,001 per year, which is higher than the average annual salary of $45,337 for healthcare administrators.
Going further and looking at the employment growth and average salaries of some job positions you can choose with an MPH degree under your belt, we find that epidemiologists have a 30% estimated job outlook and an annual payment of $89,398. Clinical dietitians are expected to have an 11% employment growth, with a median salary of $64,995, and environmental health scientists an 8% employment growth, making $72,150 a year.
On the other hand, if you graduate from an MHA program and become a nursing home administrator, you'll benefit from an average salary of $106,184, with a 32% job outlook. Next, health information managers are predicted to have a 9% job growth, with an annual salary of $67,963, and healthcare consultants a 32% job outlook, earning $68,801 annually.
MPH vs. MHA: Which Degree Is Right for You?
After comparing an MPH vs. MHA degree and considering their differences, you can determine the degree that best suits your future. Making the right choice for you comes down to your interests and long-term goals.
If you have an interest in helping communities and populations improve their health by educating them and preventing diseases, you could go for a master’s degree in public health. In this way, you would work to prevent illnesses and find solutions for disease outbreaks. However, if you are more interested in management and leadership in the healthcare system, a better choice would be a master’s degree in health administration.
All in all, both MPH and MHA degrees can open doors to fantastic careers that come with many benefits for you. Whichever degree you choose to pursue, we know that it will be a success!