Physician Office and Hospital Job Growth This Year

Amednews.com, the online publication of the American Medical Association, posted an article a week ago on predictions of job growth in physician offices and hospital by the end of this year.  Not only had the recession slowed healthcare job growth, but concerns over the SGR are also blamed for employers having taken a “wait-and-see” attitude about hiring new FTEs.  Those factors added up to 4,600 fewer new hires in the first half of 2010 vs. the same time last year.

Despite continued uncertainty about what state of the recession the country is currently in, the healthcare sector has reasons to feel optimistic.  The month-to-month delay of the 21.5% SGR Medicare cut has ended (for now), and the 2.2% payout increase is in effect until 11/30/10 when Congress will have moved beyond election season and can presumably focus on fixing the SGR.  The recently passed healthcare bill is also expected to increase the need for healthcare providers and midlevel and support staff as previously uninsured people will be able to seek affordable care due to the requirement to get insurance.  Thus, stabilizing Medicare payments and increased patient volume is expected to cause the expected uptick in hiring.

The expected hiring has already begun as a survey done by CareerBuilder.com found a 3% increase over this time last year in healthcare employers intending to add FTEs from physicians to support staff.