Healthcare Consultant: Duties, Pay, and How to Become One

Healthcare consultants help healthcare providers and institutions grow and develop their services whilst also remaining mindful of the best patient outcomes and considering regulations, health policies, and budgets. Healthcare consultants are experts in their field with a wealth of experience and education. If you're interested in healthcare systems, then you might consider this as part of your career path. 

Read on to learn more about healthcare consulting, how much consultants earn, and how to become one. At the end, you'll also explore flexible, cost-effective courses that can help you gain job-relevant skills.

What is a healthcare consultant?

Healthcare consultants examine existing processes and give their professional advice and guidance on how to make improvements, reduce costs, and improve patient care. With a background in healthcare, you can provide valuable expertise and training to help others overcome organisational challenges and improve service delivery. 

What does a healthcare consultant do?

Much like business consultants, healthcare consultants support organisations to improve their processes, maximise their profits, and minimise their costs. Unlike business consultants, though, as a healthcare consultant, you will work in healthcare settings, such as hospitals, private practices, doctors' offices, and rehabilitation centres.

Organisations hire healthcare consultants when they have a problem that needs solving or they need to make improvements. You may analyse data and research potential problems to offer solutions, which you might stay and implement or provide as recommendations. 

Whilst your exact responsibilities vary according to the needs of the organisation that is using their services, you can typically expect to perform the following duties:

• Consult with company employees to offer advice on new healthcare technology deployments 

• Use analytical skills to detect any weaknesses or inefficiencies in organisational processes

• Assess relevant practices and provide insight for improvement based on industry standards and trends

• Support organisations to reduce costs and increase revenue

• Create training programmes and workshops on the latest healthcare practices

• Ensure patient satisfaction and safety are a priority

• Formulate emergency response protocols

• Monitor the effectiveness of implemented strategies

Healthcare consultant salary and job outlook

According to Glassdoor, healthcare consultants earn an average base salary of ₹9,88,000 a year and earn an estimated additional compensation of ₹1,25,000 annually from commission, tips, bonuses, and profit-sharing [1]. The exact amount you can expect to earn will likely vary based on your work experience, qualifications, expertise, and geographic location. 

Additionally, the job outlook for healthcare consultants appears promising in the coming years. The digital healthcare market in India is anticipated to reach 37 billion USD by 2030, growing tenfold, whilst the overall healthcare sector is expected to expand to 458 billion USD [2]. Key contributors to this exponential growth include rapid digitalisation, supportive policies, and enhanced integration of healthcare organisations with the government’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission programme.

Other job titles for healthcare consultants 

Healthcare consultants may have different titles depending on where they work. Explore some of the other job titles you may find when searching for healthcare consultant positions, along with their median total pay, according to Glassdoor:

• Healthcare management consultant: ₹7,65,000 [3] 

• Senior healthcare consultant: ₹18,20,000 [4]

• Public health consultant: ₹10,20,000 [5] 

• Health policy consultant: ₹9,41,598 [6]

Where do healthcare consultants work?

Healthcare consultants don’t just work in hospitals, as you might expect.

You can find healthcare consultant jobs in a variety of healthcare organisations, including physician offices, central or state government agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, private clinics, medical technology companies, outpatient care, and nursing and residential care.

How to become a healthcare consultant

A healthcare consultant is a senior position resulting from hard work, years of experience, education, and certifications. You can take various routes depending on where you start in the profession, but specific experience and qualifications are essential for this role. 

1. Earn a bachelor’s degree.

The first step in your career journey to becoming a healthcare consultant is to earn a bachelor’s degree. Ideally, this should be in a relevant field, such as public health healthcare, health management, or even a business-related course of study, such as business administration or finance. Be sure to check course outlines to choose a course with highly relevant majors and minors to deepen your studies in healthcare management. 

2. Build job experience.

After achieving your educational goals and before embarking on a search for healthcare consultant jobs, you need to get a good amount of experience in the field behind you. People come from all sorts of medical and business professions and, in most cases, have a good level of experience in an administrative or clinical setting. 

If you opt for a graduate degree, you can gain some of this experience through on-the-job work as part of your studies. If you have no experience in the field, an internship or entry-level medical or healthcare position can be of great value.

When applying for this type of role, you will likely be asked to evidence experiences such as expertise in computer and healthcare applications, knowledge of current healthcare literature, and other transferable skills. 

3. Hone the right skills.

To be an effective health care consultant, you'll need to develop various technical and interpersonal skills. Whilst the exact skills you'll need will vary across positions and workplaces, some of the most common skills and knowledge you'll use include:

• Effective communication

• Self-motivation

• Stress management

• Attention to detail

• Interpersonal skills

• Analytical skills

• Knowledge of healthcare structures, laws, and policies

• Decision-making abilities

• Business acumen

• Financial knowledge 

4. Enhance your employability with professional certificates.

Consider what path you want your consultancy career to take. Specialising in a field or area to consult on can help you hone your skills and consider which qualifications and certifications will benefit you. Whether you decide to be self-employed or work for a company will also impact the type of training you require.

Certifications aren’t required, but can be an excellent way to excel in your professional development. Popular choices include:

• Certified Management Consultant (CMC)

• Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS)

• Certified Professional In Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM)

5. Consider earning a master’s degree.

To make yourself stand out, consider earning a master’s degree. A bachelor’s degree is generally the requirement to work as a healthcare consultant, but many employers ask for a master’s degree. Even when that isn’t the case, having one can potentially set you apart from other applicants that don’t. 

An excellent graduate programme to consider is a Master of Health Administration (MHA), which provides options to specialise in data analytics, marketing, and financial strategies within a healthcare setting.

Learn more about healthcare consulting

If you are considering a career as a healthcare consultant, start by working towards your bachelor’s degree and gaining some relevant experience. Online courses, meanwhile, can help you gain job-relevant skills in a flexible and cost-effective manner.

The University of Michigan’s Healthcare Management and Finance Specialisation, on Coursera is a great place to start. This Specialisation will help you learn the administrative and financial aspects of healthcare management.