Nursing Home Administrator Salary: Job Outlook, Responsibilities, and Requirements
Nurse administrators are the backbone of many healthcare organizations; they are the nurses you see as supervisors and at the same time taking care of the patients’ needs. But how much do these types of nurses make annually? Are they getting their fair share, or should they be in the higher ranks of salaries? You can find the answer to this question, as well as details about the role of a nurse administrator, job outlook, and qualifications, in this article. So keep on reading to find out more about this important and inspiring career.
What Is a Nursing Home Administrator?
Nursing home administrators, or NHA, are nurses who work in assisted living residences, nursing homes, and retirement communities. Nursing home administrators interact primarily with the patient and their families as well as their physicians to keep track of the progress and make sure the patients are provided with good care.
What does a nursing home administrator do?
A nursing home administrator’s job responsibilities are both clinical and administrative, so not only do they have to handle and assist with the healthcare needs of the patients, but they also take care of scheduling, answering phones, and organizing different medical files. Some of the job responsibilities of an NHA have to do with medical, financial, and staff supervision, as well as other tasks needed to run a nursing home.
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How to Become a Nursing Home Administrator?
Becoming a nursing home administrator is a challenging but rewarding journey. It takes a lot of hard work and a lot more than just a license and a high GPA score. An aspiring nursing home administrator must be able to handle a variety of different tasks every day while managing patients and their needs. That being said, there are three main steps to accomplish in order to become a nursing home administrator.
Education
The first necessary requirement to become an NHA is to obtain a bachelor’s degree in an accredited nursing college. This program is full time, and it will take you a minimum of four years to complete. After you complete the four years of education, many states will require you to go through training as well.
Qualifications
The first qualification one must have to become an NHA is to graduate from high school with a high GPA and do exceptionally well in courses such as biology, math, writing, and chemistry. After high school, one must complete a four-year nursing program.
What will really set you apart in a job interview is having completed your master’s degree in healthcare administration or a related field. It takes two years to complete, and it allows students to expand their knowledge and specialize in specific areas.
The final step of your qualification is getting your nursing home administrator license. You are required to pass the National Association of Long-Term Care Administrator Boards. However, there are other licenses that many students complete:
NHA - Nursing Home Assistance
HCBS - Home and Community-Based Services
RCAL - Residential Care and Assisted Living
Skills
To become a nurse administrator, one must possess a specific set of skills that can be divided into clinical and administrative. Skills such as orientation to detail, analysis, leadership, communication, patient care, planning, teamwork, and mentoring are some of the most useful and required for aspiring nurse administrators.
Where Do Nursing Home Administrators Work?
Nurse administrators can work in a variety of places, such as nursing homes, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, large clinics, public health offices, and other healthcare organizations. When they are not directly in contact with the patients, they are attending meetings and supervising clinical programs and healthcare facilities.
Nursing Home Administrator Job Prospects
Based on research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is estimated that nursing home administrators will continue to be high in demand, and jobs for nurse administrators will grow in the upcoming years. Four roles that are high in demand for nurse administrators are:
Chief Nursing Officer - this role requires nurses to work in hospitals and deal directly with the patients as well as collaborate with other healthcare workers to provide the best care strategies for their patients.
Nurse Manager - they are supervisors to the nursing staff in physicians’ offices and hospitals, with their main duties being scheduling, hiring, and training new nurses and formulating policies for patient care.
Nursing Director - this is a versatile role as they can work in a variety of healthcare institutions with tasks such as monitoring budgets, supervising the nursing staff, collaborating with physicians and other healthcare professionals, and tending to the patients’ needs.
Nurse Administrator - they mainly work in nursing care facilities with the responsibility of overseeing the nursing staff and working closely with other professionals such as physicians to provide the best healthcare plan for the patients.
Nursing Home Administrator Salary
So how much does a nursing home administrator make? The salary for a nursing home administrator can vary depending on a few factors such as geographic location, education, experience, and additional skills. The average annual salary for a nursing home administrator is $109,692, but as mentioned above, nurses with extra years of experience, education, and certifications can earn a lot more annually. So on average, the annual salary could range between $97,000 and $122,000. Below you can find the average annual salary for the four roles mentioned above for nurse administrators.
Chief Nursing Officer - $132,000
Nurse Manager - $84,000
Nursing Director - $88,000
Nurse Administrator - $88,000
According to the research provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, these are some of the highest annual salaries in some of the states in the United States.
District of Columbia - $157,590
New York - $156,140
Washington - $132,620
Maryland - $132,090
Rhode Island - $130,620
Connecticut - $130,510
Delaware - $130,300
Oregon - $129,710
New Mexico - $128,250
New Jersey - $127,380
North Dakota - $126,560
Illinois - $124,940
Nebraska - $124,080
Conclusion
Suppose you were thinking of a career as a nurse administrator or just wanted to learn more about the role. In that case, you now have the complete information on the multitalented, fulfilling role of the nursing home administrator. And as for the main topic, their salary, one could argue that the benefits match the hard work and passion it takes to become an NHA, and hopefully, the benefits will keep growing.
Becoming a nursing home administrator takes a lot of hard work and determination, but with a willingness to conquer and work closely with people while providing them with good healthcare, there’s no doubt you will achieve it.