Trends in Health Care Career Opportunities A Perspective from the Healthcare Workforce Partnership of Western Mass.
The health care industry is frequently cited as a pillar of strength offering more job security and growth potential compared to other industries. Health care is, in fact, deserving of its strong image, but rapid changes in the industry must be understood to meet patient care and workforce needs.
New models of patient-centered care are emerging in response to an aging population, new technology, and the need to decrease health disparities. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act seeks to transform the health care system, including payment for services. All this change impacts job availability, career opportunities, and the skills required for success in the health care industry.
The Healthcare Workforce Partnership of Western Mass. is responding to the industry’s changing landscape. The partnership works to ensure our region has a skilled workforce to deliver quality patient care. Partners represent more than 25 health care employers, education, and workforce-development organizations. Together they are addressing employer needs and making sure workers have access to education and training needed to prepare them for lifelong careers in health care.
The Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, as convener of the partnership, knows that forecasting employment trends is never an exact science. This is particularly true in a fast-paced industry like health care. With the partnership in place, the region has a higher level of confidence in its ability to identify trends and implement realistic solutions. Strong collaboration, coordination, and communication exists among the partners. In this regard, Western Mass. serves as a model for other regions in the Commonwealth.
For those currently in health-related education programs or actively seeking employment, the most pressing issue is successful graduation, locating a new job, or advancing in an existing job. Health care worker shortages loom large in the coming years, yet new nurses are currently finding it more difficult to locate jobs when just a few years ago they had multiple opportunities to choose from. We must be cautious that a single snapshot in time does not give us a clear picture of the future. This mismatch between supply and demand will happen again down the road.
When recent graduates from a medical coding and billing program can find positions only as medical receptionists due to lack of experience, we need to better understand the changing workplace and skill sets. We should not conclude there is a lack of demand or that all medical coders end up as receptionists. Therefore, the enduring question is: how do we do a better job matching the supply of workers to employer needs? The partnership is continuously seeking timely answers to this question by paying attention to the following trends.
Geriatric Training
People are living longer with more complex health needs, but the health care workforce does not have the knowledge and skills to adequately care for them. According to the Institute of Medicine’s 2008 report Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Healthcare Workforce, “providers need to be trained in the basics of geriatric care and should be capable of caring for older patients.” Health care jobs of the future, whether nursing, medical assistance, or dental hygiene, will require competency in the care of older adults and willingness to work with them where they need care.
Continuum of Patient Care
Health care is no longer delivered exclusively in a hospital, but along a continuum from hospital to home. Community health centers, long-term care facilities, physician offices, and an individual’s home are just a few patient-care settings along the continuum. This changing model of health care focuses on successful transitions between settings.
Health care workers need to understand the continuum and gain quality experience in different settings. They need to learn how to communicate across care settings and with interdisciplinary teams to achieve successful patient transitions. It also means that jobs will follow the patients. Today, 50{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of nurses work in a hospital, but that number will dwindle over time as more job opportunities increasingly exist outside the hospital setting.
Decreasing Disparities
Increasing access to quality health care and decreasing health disparities require a more diverse and culturally competent workforce. Targeted recruiting and retention strategies are being used by schools and employers to attract individuals who reflect the cultural diversity of our patient population. Bilingual health care workers are in high demand in all settings along the continuum of patient care.
Demonstrated cultural competence is the ability to adapt service delivery to meet the diverse needs of the community. Going forward, cultural competency training will be a required standard for health care providers.
As patients gain greater access to quality care along the continuum, new and expanded career opportunities are emerging. Community health outreach workers are helping patients navigate the complex health care system. Medical interpreters are alleviating language and cultural barriers between patients and their health care providers. Nurse practitioners are delivering more primary care due to the shortage of physicians.
Technology
Providing comprehensive care from hospital to home will require integration at all levels of the health care system. Electronic medical records (EMR) are one tool to achieve integration and to ensure that accurate information accompanies patients as they transition between care sites. Implementation of EMR will require new types of professionals with a combination of information-technology training and knowledge of health care systems.
Occupations like medical transcription and medical coding/billing are evolving as health information technology advances and accurate patient information is tied directly to payment for services. In these occupations, gaining practical experience is critical to landing a job. Utilizing ‘earn while you learn’ models like apprenticeships and internships may help job seekers successfully enter the workforce while meeting employer needs.
Academic Preparation
The majority of health care careers require at least a high-school diploma and some post-secondary education. Many require a bachelor’s or master’s degree to enter into practice. Strong academic performance in math, science, reading comprehension, and critical thinking are fundamental requirements for success at all levels.
Despite high interest in health care careers, young people and low-literacy adults are not academically prepared to transition to college. They may first have to complete training to obtain an entry-level position such as a certified nursing assistant, but they will not achieve family self-sufficiency without completing some post-secondary education or certification. Generally, with two years of education and mastery of basic skills, access to careers such as surgical technologist, physical therapy assistant, or licensed practical nurse becomes possible.
Career pathway programs that integrate education, job training, and ongoing case management show promising results in addressing some of the underlying preparation issues. This is true for job seekers and those already in the workforce. The programs also tackle soft-skill deficiencies that employers often cite as a significant barrier for many job seekers. More effort should be made to link these career pathway programs with targeted recruiting and retention strategies to diversify the health care workforce.
Need for Educators
Finally, developing more educators with expertise in areas such as geriatrics is critical to maintaining and growing a skilled workforce that can adapt to the changing health care environment. Many nurses and allied-health professionals do not have the advanced degrees necessary to take on a teaching role. So employers are encouraging staff to continue their education while also developing innovative education models that address the salary disparity that exists between educators and clinicians.
Despite all the change within the health care industry, many aspects remain constant. It is relatively stable since it is difficult to offshore or outsource most direct-care functions. Therefore, both employers and education share the responsibility for developing a skilled workforce, and pursue this goal by working collaboratively through our Healthcare Workforce Partnership of Western Mass. Partners stay in touch with these latest trends and share strategies that respond to their emerging needs. The overarching goal is to deliver quality patient care, and the only way to do that is to successfully develop skilled workers and match them with ever-changing employment opportunities. v
Kelly Aiken is the director of Healthcare Workforce Initiatives at the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County; kaiken@rebhc.org. Visit the REB’s Web site,www.rebhc.org, for more information.
