Hospital administrator vs service director

The differences between hospital administrators 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 hospital administrator and a service director. Additionally, a service director has an average salary of $114,981, which is higher than the $75,644 average annual salary of a hospital administrator.

The top three skills for a hospital administrator include patient care, patients and PET. The most important skills for a service director are patients, healthcare, and patient care.

Hospital administrator vs service director overview

	Hospital Administrator	Service Director
Yearly salary	$75,644	$114,981
Hourly rate	$36.37	$55.28
Growth rate	28%	28%
Number of jobs	72,975	64,277
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	6	6

What does a hospital administrator do?

A hospital administrator is responsible for the management of the hospital. They may also manage outpatient clinics, hospices, or substance abuse centers. Working in this role, they are tasked with ensuring that the hospital operates efficiently and that adequate care is given to patients. Generally speaking, they oversee both the health and medical services in a hospital.

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.

Hospital administrator vs service director salary

Hospital administrators and service directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Hospital Administrator	Service Director
Average salary	$75,644	$114,981
Salary range	Between $48,000 And $118,000	Between $70,000 And $188,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Mayo Clinic
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between hospital administrator and service director education

There are a few differences between a hospital administrator and a service director in terms of educational background:

	Hospital Administrator	Service Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Hospital administrator vs service director demographics

Here are the differences between hospital administrators' and service directors' demographics:

	Hospital Administrator	Service Director
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 46.3% Female, 53.7%	Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.1% Asian, 7.9% White, 60.6% 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 hospital administrator and service director duties and responsibilities

Hospital administrator example responsibilities.

Manage accounts receivable, inventory, control facility and administrative costs, process payroll and perform invoice audit reviews.
Manage billing procedures and negotiate third-party contracts including a federal Medicare and state Medicaid contracts.
Add new employees to payroll system setting up employee specific tax, deduction, direct deposit, etc.
Maintain confidential patient information in accordance to HIPPA.
Revise policy and procedures; developed/revise reports and documents for practice efficiency and HIPPA compliance.
Implement business relationship with national strategic partner to provide bedside medication delivery services for discharging patients.

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.

Hospital administrator vs service director skills

Common hospital administrator skills

Patient Care, 15%
Patients, 14%
PET, 6%
Hospital Operations, 6%
Human Resources, 4%
Surgery, 4%

Common service director skills

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

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Hospital Administrator
Hospital Administrator vs Service Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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