Public health director vs practice administrator

The differences between public health directors and practice administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a public health director and a practice administrator. Additionally, a public health director has an average salary of $85,569, which is higher than the $78,493 average annual salary of a practice administrator.

The top three skills for a public health director include community health, public health and public health programs. The most important skills for a practice administrator are patients, patient care, and customer service.

Public health director vs practice administrator overview

	Public Health Director	Practice Administrator
Yearly salary	$85,569	$78,493
Hourly rate	$41.14	$37.74
Growth rate	28%	28%
Number of jobs	75,124	75,986
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	6	6

What does a public health director do?

Public affairs specialists, also called media or communication specialists, are responsible for communicating with the public on behalf of an individual, company, government, or politicians. This role will require you to perform various tasks including creating press kit materials, such as images, press releases, and pitch letters for media outlets, maintaining the reputation and identity of the client or employer, and evaluating clients' public opinion through polls, social media listening, and surveys. In addition, public affairs specialists are responsible for evaluating promotional and advertising programs.

What does a practice administrator do?

A Practice Administrator is responsible for the daily activities of a medical facility. They prepare prescriptions for patients, provide leadership in developing and implementing business plans, and oversee the billing and collection processes of departments.

Public health director vs practice administrator salary

Public health directors and practice administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Public Health Director	Practice Administrator
Average salary	$85,569	$78,493
Salary range	Between $55,000 And $131,000	Between $56,000 And $109,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	New Hampshire	New York
Best paying company	Jefferson County Health Center	Osa
Best paying industry	Non Profits	Professional

Differences between public health director and practice administrator education

There are a few differences between a public health director and a practice administrator in terms of educational background:

	Public Health Director	Practice Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Most common major	Nursing	Business
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	University of Pennsylvania

Public health director vs practice administrator demographics

Here are the differences between public health directors' and practice administrators' demographics:

	Public Health Director	Practice Administrator
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 37.8% Female, 62.2%	Male, 25.0% Female, 75.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.6% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 13.8% Asian, 7.7% White, 60.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 12.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 7.1% White, 60.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	12%	12%

Differences between public health director and practice administrator duties and responsibilities

Public health director example responsibilities.

Manage multiple patients, assessing ability to continue living independently or moving to higher acuity care.
Provide continuing medical education with HIV and TB specialists on the prevention and control of HIV and TB.
Provide oversight for communicable disease surveillance, investigation and control, epidemiology, and emergency preparedness.
Position demand expertise in grant oversight, strategic project planning, program management, and stakeholder collaboration.
Provide clinical exercise physiology services and health/wellness counseling for family practice/sports medicine/orthopedics medical group effecting positive lifestyle changes in patients serve.
Conduct and implement group WIC orientation emphasizing WIC benefits.

Practice administrator example responsibilities.

Lead the hospital through a successful CMS validation survey.
Manage multiple SharePoint sites by adding and editing accurate data for each team within the department.
Deploy, configure, and manage enterprise systems; monitoring, windows, linux, aws, vmware.
Manage accounts payable and accounts receivable activities using QuickBooks and online banking applications.
Compose monthly productivity reports, manage payroll; develop and implement policies & procedures.
Manage the overall operations of a large pediatric practice that provide services to a predominantly Medicaid population

Public health director vs practice administrator skills

Common public health director skills

Community Health, 15%
Public Health, 10%
Public Health Programs, 8%
Public Health Issues, 6%
Health Education, 5%
Medicaid, 5%

Common practice administrator skills

Patients, 14%
Patient Care, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Payroll, 5%
Practice Management, 4%
Oversight, 4%

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Public Health Director
Public Health Director vs Practice Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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