Obama’s administration committed to boost health care sector, 5.6 million healthcare jobs by 2020
Whether or not President Obama’s embattled healthcare reform law clears the Supreme Court, no doubt the healthcare industry is booming as it should. And it will continue to do so, according to a new report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and Workforce, till past year 2020. By then, the industry would have created 5.6 million new healthcare jobs.
The demand for healthcare is soaring, said the Georgetown University report, and most of the job openings are expected to be for: registered nurse, pharmacist, medical office assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist, clinical laboratory technician, paramedic, and massage therapist.
The healthcare growth rate will be double the rate of the national economy over the next eight years. The main reason? Americans simply seem to care more than ever about their health and are willing to pay for it, spending more per person for healthcare than the average Chinese citizen earns in an entire year.
As a matter of scale, the healthcare industry already makes up 18 percent of the entire U.S. economy and within the next eight years 13 percent of all U.S. jobs will be in healthcare.
The report predicted that Idaho, Georgia, Texas, Utah, and Virginia will experience the greatest growth spurts in healthcare jobs by 2020, with California ranking in the middle among all states.
Healthcare employment now comprises 10 percent of all jobs in California. With an estimated 535,870 jobs openings coming between 2010 and 2020, that percentage will jump to 27 percent.
New York, for its part, is not standing still. Capitalizing on the ever-strengthening trend of growth in the healthcare industry nationwide, the New York State Department of Health, the New York eHealth Collaborative, and the New York City Investment Fund have kicked off a $4.2-million program to spur health IT innovation, create 1,500 new jobs in the state, and make New York a healthcare jobs hub.
In the months ahead, the program—called the New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA)—will select a dozen early- and growth-stage companies that are engaged in designing innovative technology products for healthcare providers. Each company will be awarded up to $300,000 and will receive direct mentorship from senior-level executives of major medical facilities and participating providers.
The chosen companies will focus on developing products that will help the state's Medicaid Redesign Team and its new "Health Homes" program.
"Health information technology is helping us transform our healthcare system to provide high-quality, cost-efficient, and patient-centered care for the 21st century," noted New York State Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah, MD. "The Digital Health Accelerator program will further advance New York's national leadership in health IT as it will attract leading-edge companies at the forefront of developing the technology necessary for robust electronic health records and digital-care coordination systems."
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