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What does a nursing home administrator do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
What does a nursing home administrator do

A nursing home administrator is responsible for managing and running a nursing home facility and supervising staff. Your typical duties will include managing the budget and making critical decisions, overseeing the recruitment, training, and dismissal of staff members, conducting employee performance reviews, and communicating with prospective and existing residents and their families. Additionally, you are expected to advocate for nursing home residents, develop rules, procedures, and policies for the facility, and oversee residents' billings for services. As a nursing home administrator, you are also responsible for conducting safety training for all staff.

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Nursing home administrator responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real nursing home administrator resumes:

  • Manage the day to day operations of a LTC facility.
  • Achieve and maintain a 5 star quality facility as per CMS guidelines.
  • Lead a team in developing and implementing a new EMR system for patient registration.
  • Lead quality improvement initiatives and practices in change concepts and measurement strategies for improve health outcomes for long term care patients
  • Manage global security in WebSphere using LDAP authentication.
  • Manage billing procedures and negotiate third-party contracts including a federal Medicare and state Medicaid contracts.
  • Audit daily for regulatory compliance and oversight by staff for successful regulatory outcomes.
  • Enforce and monitor HIPPA guidelines.
  • Implement and monitor clinical CQI program.
  • Assist in the implementation of CQI improvement activities.
  • Skil nursing visits, Mediture EMR, case management.
  • Perform intensive AIT training in all aspects of the operation.
  • Continue to remodel facility to keep current with the changing SNF landscape.
  • Screen prospective residents on both the acute, LTC and community setting.
  • Support and guide the facility s quality improvement process in conjunction with NHA.

Nursing home administrator skills and personality traits

We calculated that 14% of Nursing Home Administrators are proficient in Nursing Home, Long-Term Care, and Healthcare. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Interpersonal skills, and Technical skills.

We break down the percentage of Nursing Home Administrators that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Nursing Home, 14%

    Utilized expertise in regulatory compliance and acted as administrator for multiple regional nursing home facilities in Missouri and Indiana.

  • Long-Term Care, 8%

    Facilitated operational change and realized ultimate goal of sale to long-term care provider.

  • Healthcare, 8%

    Contributed to a growth in annual revenue by delivering consistent high-quality administrative services for this 284-bed healthcare business.

  • Patients, 7%

    Acquired additional patient referrals through comprehensive support of patients and families during difficult family transitions.

  • NHA, 7%

    Served as the NHA of a 108-bed nursing and rehabilitation facility with 130 employees.

  • Rehabilitation, 5%

    Supported regulatory compliance and smooth operations of front and back office business activities, including nursing and Rehabilitation areas.

"nursing home," "long-term care," and "healthcare" are among the most common skills that nursing home administrators use at work. You can find even more nursing home administrator responsibilities below, including:

Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a nursing home administrator to have is detail oriented. Their role and responsibilities require that "medical and health services managers must pay attention to detail." Nursing home administrators often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "learned in detail specific regulatory guidelines, reimbursement procedures and financial aspects of nursing homes. "

Technical skills. This is an important skill for nursing home administrators to perform their duties. For an example of how nursing home administrator responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "medical and health services managers must stay up to date with advances in healthcare technology, such as the coding and electronic health record (ehr) systems their facility adopts." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a nursing home administrator: "scheduled technical and professional development training for morethan 80 personnel. ".

Leadership skills. For certain nursing home administrator responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "leadership skills." The day-to-day duties of a nursing home administrator rely on this skill, as "medical and health services managers hire, train, and direct staff." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what nursing home administrators do: "supervised nursing staff supervised ancillary staff including kitchen staff, dietary staff and maintenance managed facility operations leadership & professional affiliations. "

Analytical skills. Another crucial skill for a nursing home administrator to carry out their responsibilities is "analytical skills." A big part of what nursing home administrators relies on this skill, since "medical and health services managers review and evaluate healthcare metrics for ways to improve efficiency and meet goals." How this skill relates to nursing home administrator duties can be seen in an example from a nursing home administrator resume snippet: "job duties: accounts payable clerk payroll, invoicing, ordering funeral home headstones, bill payment and data entry. "

Communication skills. Another skill commonly found on nursing home administrator job descriptions is "communication skills." It can come up quite often in nursing home administrator duties, since "medical and health services managers must convey information to their staff, other healthcare workers, and, sometimes, patients and insurance agents." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day nursing home administrator responsibilities: "general supervision of all department staff, payroll, education, ar, referrals, communication, general administrative duties. "

See the full list of nursing home administrator skills

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Nursing Home Administrator Resume
Nursing Home Administrator Resume
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Nursing Home Administrator Resume
Nursing Home Administrator Resume
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Nursing Home Administrator Resume

Compare different nursing home administrators

Nursing home administrator vs. Medical officer

A Medical Officer delivers health and first-aid provisions for patients as well as prepares and maintains the paper and electronic health care records of clients. They ensure that all related equipment and supplies are suitably maintained at all times.

We looked at the average nursing home administrator salary and compared it with the wages of a medical officer. Generally speaking, medical officers are paid $9,735 higher than nursing home administrators per year.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between nursing home administrators and medical officer. For instance, nursing home administrator responsibilities require skills such as "nursing home," "long-term care," "healthcare," and "nha." Whereas a medical officer is skilled in "public health," "infectious disease," "diagnosis," and "direct patient care." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Medical officers tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $124,636. In contrast, nursing home administrators make the biggest average salary, $82,799, in the health care industry.On average, medical officers reach lower levels of education than nursing home administrators. Medical officers are 7.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 17.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Nursing home administrator vs. Clinical manager

A clinical manager is responsible for monitoring medical procedures and administrative duties to ensure the smooth flow of operations in a healthcare facility. Clinical managers manage the facility's staffing needs, evaluate budget reports, assist healthcare professionals on administering medical duties, and develop strategic procedures to optimize treatments and maximize productivity. A clinical manager enforces strict sanitary and safety regulations for everyone's strict compliance. They also need to have excellent knowledge of the medical industry to promote medical processes and provide the highest quality care.

On average, clinical managers earn a $3,186 higher salary than nursing home administrators a year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Nursing home administrators and clinical managers both require similar skills like "patients," "rehabilitation," and "home health" to carry out their responsibilities.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, nursing home administrator responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "nursing home," "long-term care," "healthcare," and "nha." Meanwhile, a clinical manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "direct patient care," "quality patient care," "patient education," and "process improvement." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

On average, clinical managers earn a higher salary than nursing home administrators. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, clinical managers earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $72,510. Whereas nursing home administrators have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $82,799.clinical managers earn similar levels of education than nursing home administrators in general. They're 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 17.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Nursing home administrator vs. Patient care manager

Patient care managers are executives who are in charge of supervising a clinical team. The managers take responsibility for directing patient care within an organization. Also called health care managers, they protect every patient's safety and health in a clinical setting. They interact with the healthcare team members to maintain open communication. It is also part of their duties to supervise the daily operations in the clinical care units. Managing clinical budgets and maintaining quality health services are also their responsibilities.

On average scale, patient care managers bring in lower salaries than nursing home administrators. In fact, they earn a $15,511 lower salary per year.By looking over several nursing home administrators and patient care managers resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "patients," "rehabilitation," and "quality care." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a nursing home administrator is likely to be skilled in "nursing home," "long-term care," "healthcare," and "nha," while a typical patient care manager is skilled in "social work," "community resources," "substance abuse," and "medication administration."

Patient care managers make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $54,278. On the other hand, nursing home administrators are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $82,799.patient care managers typically earn similar educational levels compared to nursing home administrators. Specifically, they're 3.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Nursing home administrator vs. Medical director

A medical director is responsible for handling the overall supervision of different medical departments, managing the coordination between medical teams to ensure smooth operations and achieve high-quality care services for the patients. Medical directors enforce strict guidelines and safety measures for everyone's adherence. They also implement medical care programs, recruit medical staff, inspect the adequacy of medical equipment, respond to patient's inquiries and concerns, and oversee the facilities' procedures. A medical director manages the budget of the department, allocating equal resources to address every need.

Medical directors tend to earn a higher pay than nursing home administrators by an average of $149,437 per year.According to resumes from nursing home administrators and medical directors, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "patients," "rehabilitation," and "quality care. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between nursing home administrators and medical directors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a nursing home administrator might have more use for skills like "nursing home," "long-term care," "healthcare," and "nha." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of medical directors require skills like "medical care," "medical services," "utilization review," and "appeals. "

Medical directors enjoy the best pay in the insurance industry, with an average salary of $242,668. For comparison, nursing home administrators earn the highest salary in the health care industry.In general, medical directors hold similar degree levels compared to nursing home administrators. Medical directors are 3.7% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 26.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of nursing home administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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