Health administration or healthcare administration is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, hospitals, and hospital network. Hospital administrators are individuals or groups of people who act as the central point of control within hospitals. These individuals may be previous or current clinicians, or individuals with other backgrounds. There are two types of administrators, generalists and specialists. Generalists are individuals who are responsible for managing or helping to manage an entire facility. Specialists are individuals who are responsible for the efficient operations of a specific department such as policy analysis, finance, accounting, budgeting, human resources, or marketing.

The visibility of the management profession within healthcare has been rising in recent years, due largely to the widespread problems developed countries are having in balancing cost, access, and quality in their hospitals and health systems. Health care management is usually studied through healthcare administration or healthcare management programs in a business school or, in some institutions, in a school of public health.