Jasen Gundersen never considered a career in business when he entered medical school nearly three decades ago to become a rural primary care doctor. But, today, he isn’t working in rural America and he doesn’t do primary care. In fact, he no longer practices medicine at all.

As CEO of CardioOne, which provides back-office support to cardiologists, Gundersen is part of a growing trend: physicians and medical school students earning advanced business degrees to work the business side of the booming health care industry. Just over 60% of medical schools now offer dual MD-MBA programs, more than twice the number two decades ago, a recent study shows. And researchers estimate the number of dual-degree graduates has nearly tripled.