Health care manager vs service director

The differences between health care managers and service directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a health care manager and a service director. Additionally, a service director has an average salary of $114,981, which is higher than the $60,931 average annual salary of a health care manager.

The top three skills for a health care manager include social work, behavioral health and substance abuse. The most important skills for a service director are patients, healthcare, and patient care.

Health care manager vs service director overview

	Health Care Manager	Service Director
Yearly salary	$60,931	$114,981
Hourly rate	$29.29	$55.28
Growth rate	28%	28%
Number of jobs	153,821	64,277
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	6	6

What does a health care manager do?

A health care manager is in charge of overseeing the workflow and the workforce in a medical facility. Their responsibilities revolve around planning and organizing services, delegating tasks, managing schedules and budgets, and devising strategies for optimal operations. They must also coordinate with different health care workers within the facility, participate in hiring and training staff, set goals and guidelines, and maintain hospital records. Furthermore, a health care manager must implement the hospital's policies and regulations, even create new ones as needed.

What does a service director do?

A service director is responsible for managing and implementing customer service policies and ensuring that all staff strictly adhere to reach the highest customer satisfaction. Service directors' duties include identifying business opportunities to improve customers' experience, monitoring the performance of the customer service team, developing strategic procedures on service delivery, creating new promotional offers and services, and coaching the team to increase business productivity. A service director must have excellent leadership and communication skills, as well as extensive knowledge of the customer service industry to lead the team and boost company sales.

Health care manager vs service director salary

Health care managers and service directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Health Care Manager	Service Director
Average salary	$60,931	$114,981
Salary range	Between $39,000 And $93,000	Between $70,000 And $188,000
Highest paying City	Linden, NJ	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Connecticut	California
Best paying company	Accenture	Mayo Clinic
Best paying industry	Utilities	Technology

Differences between health care manager and service director education

There are a few differences between a health care manager and a service director in terms of educational background:

	Health Care Manager	Service Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Nursing	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Health care manager vs service director demographics

Here are the differences between health care managers' and service directors' demographics:

	Health Care Manager	Service Director
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 30.2% Female, 69.8%	Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 7.5% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	12%	12%

Differences between health care manager and service director duties and responsibilities

Health care manager example responsibilities.

Manage network participation, care with specialty networks, DME providers and transfers to appropriate levels of care.
Manage patient care expenditures including but not limit to labor, pharmacy, DME, medical supplies and mileage.
Provide oversight of the case management and utilization management staff for the Medicaid population
Supervise and conduct employee seminars and training in employee health issues, infection control and CPR.
Support sales team in designing population health solutions present in proposals and client facing PowerPoint presentations.
Assist members with benefits, PCP referrals and inquires.

Service director example responsibilities.

Lead and manage implementation and customization of SharePoint to replace legacy document approval system and document filing system.
Lead the training program for child psychiatry residents.
Manage social medias (Weibo, Facebook and etc . )
Assist in managing client accounts by managing HVAC alignments and ensuring contractual requirements are meet.
Manage a staff of 280 FTE s and a management team of 6 in a union environment.
Manage all daily operations, both clinical and support, during and after Medicare trials to ensure long-term business viability.

Health care manager vs service director skills

Common health care manager skills

Social Work, 28%
Behavioral Health, 10%
Substance Abuse, 8%
Community Resources, 8%
Patients, 5%
Utilization Management, 4%

Common service director skills

Patients, 12%
Healthcare, 10%
Patient Care, 10%
Customer Service, 9%
Oversight, 5%
Surgery, 4%

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Executive Management Industry
Health Care Manager
Health Care Manager vs Service Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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