The demand for more health care workers in Florida and across the nation is being driven by these main factors: Greater access to health care and an aging population that is living longer and requiring more health care services.
The Affordable Care Act and recent Medicaid changes give more people access to health care, which is wonderful, but also requires more staff. In just the next seven years, we will need 11.6 million health workers to fill new jobs and replace those who leave or retire. That’s more than the population of Georgia. Nurses, technicians, medical billers, home aides, lab techs, pharmacists, health information technologists and so on.
More than 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day and we are living longer. The U.S. population over 65 will nearly double from 43.1 million in 2012 to 83.7 million in 2050. That’s one in five people in the U.S. With that increase comes an accompanying demand for more health care workers.
I am fortunate to lead Ultimate Medical Academy, an institution that has a front row seat to this issue. We currently serve more than 14,000 online health care students in the U.S. and are proud to have had more than 50,000 alumni complete our diploma and Associate of Science degree programs in health care.
However, none of us can tackle this growing health care worker gap alone. We need everyone to come together and bring their ideas to the table. Here are some ways we can collaborate:
1. Bring the industry together to help solve the issue. We've brought together health care providers and educators to encourage collaborative problem-solving by highlighting workforce diversity, innovative design, transformative technology, disruptive solutions and creative alternatives to traditional health care offerings.
2. Identify core themes. Major hospitals are investing in data technology to anticipate and prevent logjams, so they can provide better and faster care. We should flow those advancements down to clinics, doctors' offices and other health care providers.
3. Broaden perspectives of health care. Health care is not just patient care; it is also healthy living. We need to encourage more people to consider a health care career. Not every health care job means taking someone’s blood pressure, and in this growing technical field not everyone understands all the career opportunities there are available in health care, e.g., what it means to be a medical biller and coder. But that is where the jobs are. There is also amazing health care work in artificial intelligence, wireless infrastructure, nutrition, hospitality, architecture, robotics, and research.
4. Form partnerships with educators and health care providers. Connect decision-makers with hiring managers.
We must be nimble and thoughtful as we work together to meet the growing need for health care workers. Getting it right will help us all receive the health care services we need when we need them.
Derek Apanovitch has been president of Ultimate Medical Academy since July 2015, where he is responsible for leading the more than 2,000 faculty and staff of the Tampa-based nonprofit health care educational institution with a national presence.