MHA Press Room

Hospital employment climbs 0.12% in October

Employment at the nation's hospitals rose 0.12% in October to a seasonally adjusted 4,741,200 people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Nov. 6. That's 10,000 more people than in September and 59,300 more than a year ago.

Without the seasonal adjustment, which removes the effect of fluctuations due to seasonal events, hospitals employed 4,745,100 people in October, 16,900 more than in September and 58,500 more than a year ago. The nation's overall unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point in October to 10.2%.

Health Care Sector's Online Job Ads Falter

Adding weight to the belief that we are in a jobless recovery, a new report showed that online job listings decreased slightly across many employment sectors nationally, and that health care was one of the casualties.

The Conference Board's Help Wanted OnLine Data Series report, which tracks more than 1,000 online job boards across the United States, found that online advertised vacancies across all occupations fell by 83,200 listings in October, for a total of 3.2 million.

A snapshot of U.S. physicians

Nearly one-third of physicians still practice in solo or two-physician practices, but nearly 20% work in practices of six or more doctors, according to a tracking study of U.S. physicians released by the Center for Studying Health System Change. On average, nearly half of physicians' practice revenue is derived from public sources (31% Medicare and 17% Medicaid), and about three quarters of doctors still accept all or most new Medicare patients. 

Read more here.

Hospital employment climbs in June

Employment at the nation's hospitals rose in June to a seasonally adjusted 4,723,100 people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics on July 2. That's 3,700 more than in May and 89,100 more than a year ago. Without the seasonal adjustment, which removes the effect of fluctuations due to seasonal events, hospitals employed 4,730,400 people in June, 24,300 more than in May and 87,200 more than a year ago. The nation's overall unemployment rate rose by one-tenth of a percentage point in May to 9.5%.

Record number of students matched to teaching hospitals

A record 29,890 applicants were matched on March 19 to residency training programs, 1,153 more than last year and 4,500 more than five years ago, according to the National Resident Matching Program. More than half the participants in the annual match day were U.S. medical school seniors (15,638), 400 more than last year. Other participants included 10,874 graduates of international medical schools, 2,015 students and graduates of osteopathic schools, and 1,222 physicians who previously graduated from medical schools.

"We saw an across the board increase in Match applicants this year, particularly among U.S. medical school seniors," said NRMP Executive Director Mona Signer. "This is likely the result of medical school expansion across the nation in anticipation of a future physician shortage - existing medical schools have increased their class sizes and new medical schools are in development."

Worst year for jobs since '45, but health services increase payroll in December

The hemorrhaging of American jobs accelerated at a record pace at the end of 2008, bringing the year's total job losses to 2.6 million. The U.S. Labor Department jobs report showed the economy lost 524,000 jobs in December and 1.9 million in the year's final four months, after the credit crisis began in September. Education and health services, however, grew payrolls by 45,000 employees in December.

Only two of ten industry categories were hiring last month. Government hiring, which has stayed relatively strong throughout the downturn, added another 7,000 jobs in December. Education and health services also grew payrolls by 45,000 employees.

For the full story from CNNMoney.com, click here.

Health care employment keeps rising

During November, government statisticians said, the U.S. economy lost jobs for the 11th straight month, shedding 533,000 positions and driving the unemployment rate from 6.5 percent to 6.7 percent. Health care, on the other hand, added 33,800 jobs, a rise of 0.3 percent, which included 9,100 new hospital positions and 14,100 in ambulatory healthcare services. Over the past year, hospitals have grown their workforces by 3.1 percent. Meanwhile, doctors' offices added 6,100 workers last month, contributing to total annual growth of 68,900 employees.

AAMC projects growing shortage of physicians

A new report from the Association of American Medical Colleges projects the U.S. will face a shortage of 124,000 physicians by 2025, citing population growth, aging and other factors.

“Simply educating and training more physicians will not be enough to address these shortages,” the report states. “Complex changes such as improving efficiency, reconfiguring the way some services are delivered and making better use of our physicians will also be needed.”

In 2006, the association recommended a 30% increase in U.S. medical school enrollment and expanding Graduate Medical Education positions to accommodate an anticipated shortage of physicians.

Medical schools report largest entering class

First-year enrollment at U.S. medical schools for 2008-09 increased by 277 students or 1.6%, representing the largest class ever at 18,036 students, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported Oct. 21. Most of the increase was at three medical schools that recently established branch campuses or plan to: Mercer University School of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, and University of Arizona College of Medicine. Women comprised 48% of the entering class, Latinos 7.9%, African Americans 7.2% and Native Americans 1%. After increasing for five years, the number of applicants was relatively unchanged at 42,231.

"In a time of great economic uncertainty, interest in the healing profession of medicine remains stable," said AAMC President and CEO Darrell Kirch, M.D. "As medical schools expand to meet the nation's demand for more doctors, there will be even more opportunities for the most qualified and well-rounded aspiring doctors to pursue rewarding careers in medicine."

National policy needed to address health care workforce crisis, report says

A report released July 17 by the Association of Academic Health Centers warns that the U.S. needs to take immediate action to develop an integrated, comprehensive national health care workforce policy to meet the needs of the aging population. Further exacerbating the problem is that large numbers of health professionals will be retiring in the coming years. For example, 55% of nurses surveyed in 2006 said they plan to retire between 2011 and 2020.

“It is essential that the nation take a critical look at its policymaking framework that has created a system for the health workforce that may no longer be adaptable to changing national health needs,” said AAHC President and CEO Steven Wartman, M.D. “We also need action because the workforce plays such a pivotal role in biomedical research and science as well as in the U.S. economy and jobs creation.”