Health Administration

by

Julia Field Costich

Introduction

The term “health administration” in a public health context has connotations that vary with the health system in which it is situated. In the United States, the distinction between public health and personal health care means that health administration, as a subtopic under public health, would be restricted to the management of services oriented toward population health. These services are largely but not exclusively provided in the government-funded sector, by federal, state, and local or district agencies and their partner organizations. In the United Kingdom and other countries with national health systems, “health administration” as a subtopic of public health has a much broader meaning, extending to include the full range of personal health care services that are funded through government agencies and grants. Regardless of its national context, health administration is an interdisciplinary undertaking that requires knowledge of business and finance, policy, law, human resource management, and clinical practice, to cite but the most obvious topics. Textbooks addressing health administration thus tend to be divided into topical chapters that focus on each relevant subject area serially, then present cases and problems that call upon students to synthesize learning across topics. The following selection includes widely used texts and related material from the United States and European Union. Health administration as a field of scholarly inquiry is highly dynamic, and those who wish to explore it beyond basic methods training are best advised to follow the leading journals, think tanks, and government publications rather than rely on published books. Thus, this article includes listings for journals and websites to direct the reader to the most timely health administration scholarship, with direct citations to a very limited number of leading articles in the field.

Reference Works

The complex nature of health administration does not lend itself readily to the development of published reference works. Thus, the references listed below, with the exception of Stahl 2004, do not hold themselves out as comprehensive guides to the field. They are nonetheless useful compendia in their own areas. Three—Davies 2009, Laude, et al. 2009, and Mladovsky, et al. 2009—address aspects of British, French, and European Union health systems, respectively, while the balance focus on the United States. Because content areas for United States health care change so frequently, the American Hospital Association (AHA) Guide (Health Forum 2010), the Baldrige Resource Library and the Community Guide (see Zaza, et al. 2010) are available electronically; the latter two are also free of charge. The European materials and Zaza, et al. 2010 address public health as well as health care, while the remaining references are focused almost exclusively on individual medical care rather than population health.

• Davies, Peter. 2009. The NHS handbook 2009/10. London: National Health Service Confederation.

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  A wealth of practical information and data on the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

• Health Forum. 2010. AHA guide to the health care field 2011. Chicago: American Hospital Association.

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  Definitive compendium on a range of health care providers with a primary focus on hospitals and health systems. The guide is published annually.

• Laude, Anne, Bertrand Mathieu, and Didier Tabuteau, et al. 2009. Droit de la santé 2d ed. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

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  The “bible” of the legal structure of the French health care system, this work includes a detailed presentation of the system’s structure, missions and institutions, policies governing the provision and funding of care, and protection of human rights in biomedical contexts.

• Mladovsky, Philipa, Sara Allin, Cristina Masseria, Cristina Hernández-Quevedo, David McDaid, and Elias Mossialos. 2009. Health in the European Union : Trends and analysis. Copenhagen : World Health Organization.

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  Useful reference on European Union health initiatives and assessments.

• Baldrige Resource Library

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  The Baldridge Awards program uses stringent criteria to assess quality in a broad range of manufacturing and service sectors, including a very select group of hospitals and health systems. The section on health in the Baldrige Resource Library provides information to support potential applicants with a focus on leadership, governance, and quality of care.

• Stahl, Michael J., ed. 2004. Encyclopedia of health care management. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

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  Explains academic, corporate, and governmental topics related to health care management in some six hundred encyclopedia entries.

• Zaza, Stephanie, Peter A. Briss, and Kate W. Harris, eds. 2005. The guide to community preventive services: What works to promote health? New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

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  Important reference for public health administrators who need to make optimal use of public funds by directing them to evidence-based interventions. Content also available online.