Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Designation of occupation

Health services officer
Recognized by ordinance of 25 June 2001 (BGBl. I, p. 1262)

Duration of traineeship

3 years
The venues for training are company and part-time vocational school (Berufsschule)

Field of activity

Health services officers contribute to the development of health services. They plan and co-ordinate business and service measures across a range of areas in the health service sector. They work especially in the areas of customer relations, personnel, resource management and administration, performance-related finance and accountancy specifically for the health service sector. The health services officer acts for his or her organization as a business interface, internally as well as externally, that is, in relation to other organizations in the health and social welfare service sector. Quality management and marketing tasks take on an increasingly important role.

Employers include hospitals, nursing care homes, day care centres and domiciliary care organizations, preventive care and rehabilitation centres, health insurance companies and medical services, medical bodies and associations, large private practices of physicians, emergency services and care trusts and charities.

Occupational skills

The tasks of health services officers require knowledge of the legal principles underlying the health services, and of their structures and tasks, including those of the social welfare services. Skills are required in customer relations, record keeping and report writing, marketing, accountancy and finance, personnel, quality and resource management.

 
Health services officers

• apply social welfare and public health legislation,
• plan and coordinate organizational and administrative processes,
• use information and communications technologies,
• contribute to the development of service products,
• assess the market and draw up marketing concepts,
• work in a team- and customer-oriented manner,
• provide customer care and information,
• employ work planning and control tools,
• engage in accountancy and prepare cost estimates,
• participate in the drawing-up of budgets on the basis of different funding sources,
• prepare invoices for health insurance companies and other agencies covering health costs using documentation systems,
• draw up and evaluate quality assurance measures,
• process internal business reports,
• compile, evaluate and present statistical information,
• process personnel management information,
• determine the need for, procure and administer necessary resources, products and services.

Last modified on: December 12, 2006