Changes in the Healthcare Job Market and Its Effect on Recruitment Essay

For a very long time, jobs in the healthcare system have always get considered among the most stable ones because of the well-paying earnings and its top position on the spectrum of job satisfaction. However, with that changes in the industry that have been happening at a fast rate, budgets have become tighter and the use of technology been advanced together with a rising number of the aging population. Additionally, health care reforms, hospital debts, and government cuts are the possible causes of upending the healthcare economy. Most hospitals have been forced to cut costs and shrink their workforce. At the same time though, there are specific medical fields that are facing severe shortages of the workforce, especially in nursing and primary care. These are among the leading changes that get witnessed in the healthcare job market. They come with both favorable and adverse effects on job recruitment.

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With so many healthcare reforms get initiated, it will result in the creation of more job opportunities without a doubt. This is regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) law which got endorsed in March 2010. The implementation of the ACA led to the creation of more part-time jobs. This caused a negative impact on the full-time employment and the employment of the young generation, (Suchman et al., 2011). The increased part-time employment is more concentrated among the prime aged and old workers. It is because this is the age group that has a high disutility of labor and therefore the best ones to switch to part-time labor under the act. Before the act got enacted, most of the young people qualified for a Medicaid cover regardless of whether they worked full time or part time, however after the act, the young ones mostly qualified for Medicaid only if they worked part-time jobs. The large shift among young workers to full-time jobs has affected the healthcare job market.

As the healthcare system lumbers towards universal healthcare while highlighting on primary care, such changes apart from creating jobs will also impact on the career paths of most aspiring and experienced healthcare professionals. The prominence on primary attention brought about by this law has led to cascading effects on some of the clinical careers. Since physicians cannot undergo training overnight, healthcare employees have ever since been forced to leverage their MDs with nurse practitioners and physician assistants, (Givan, 2016). Everything has been pushed to ensure that every individual performs right up to their level of education. There also has been a boost in demand for medical assistants ever since.

Changes in the healthcare job market have impacted on the recruitment. Most states today license nurse practitioners and physician assistants in physician's offices to practice on their own without the mandate of being supervised by a professional. This has been a result of the pressure to reduce some of the physicians'' tasks at most healthcare institutions. With the rise of demand for advanced practice nurses, there has been an intensified shortage of bedsides RNs. The law promoted patient-centered medical homes, (Grol et al., 2013). These facilities usually get monitored and run by licensed medical providers like physician assistants and nurse practitioners other than just physicians. Because of this, most graduates in the physician assistant field have received attention from both the public and private practice sector and therefore get easily employed.

The initiation of digital healthcare which is an ongoing process has fueled demand for specialized skills and there will be more demand in the near future. Technological changes today call for a different type of a health worker than a decade ago, from evaluating data created by remote patient monitoring devices for managing electronic records. Digital skills will be required for senior level professions because almost every organization is shaping its needs to use technology I order to cut cost and increase efficiency. These senior-level professionals may not necessarily require becoming data specialists but it will be safe for them to have these skills. (Flaubert et al., 2017). Given the speed of change over the last years since the booming of technology, leaders in the healthcare sector have had to keep up and stay updated with sensors, mobile apps, wearable, data analytics and other wireless-enabled medical devices.

Everything now is all about change and especially in the healthcare system. It can, therefore, tend to be frightening for some people when they realize that they will have to deal with inefficiencies, new technologies and therefore new ways of working. The job market, therefore, offers ways in which such changes can be easily adapted and tackled carefully through robust change management methodologies and techniques, (Spicer et al., 2017). One of the most noticeable effects in the job market and consequently healthcare recruitment is the introduction of senior posts related to IT in healthcare organizations. Today the medical C-suite, as well as the chief medical officer, is most likely to have a chief transformation officer, chief analytics officer or chief information security officer to keep up with the IT aspects of the organization. The board of directors is also including technology executives that are responsible for leading the health IT practice for the healthcare organizations, (Sluyter et al., 2011). These changes have also affected the reporting relationships in the healthcare management systems. Chief information officers have made unaccountable to the chief financial or chief administrative officers. They are only answerable to the chief executives, making them a part of the leadership group.

Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals will have to get new skills due to the changes in how technology is being incorporated in clinics, operating rooms and hospital wards. In the past decades, the knife was the key tool that surgeons had. With today's technology, surgeons can now perform operations with the aid of robotics and computer consoles which mimic human wrist movements. Surgeons can only watch the processes of operation through high-resolution screens while they manipulate the robots using cameras attached to them. Data analysis get added to the job description for healthcare specialists. Professionals in the healthcare system need to be equipped to manage large amounts of information, (Givan, 2016). This is because devices and machines used in hospitals and homes of patients normally collect and transmit huge sums of health data.

A lot of new jobs have been and are being generated in the market as the world continues to move from collecting data and implementing systems to a point where there is a need for analytics to improve patient outcomes. This whole enhancement in data analytics and an amplified dependence on home health monitoring equipment have also driven some changes in the human resources sector. With home-based care comes the need for healthcare networks and hospital systems to look for IT experts to come up with and manage software that will link the doctors and patient remotely. This only means that medical experts will need to know how to operate those systems, (Cherry et al., 2014). Another effect will be on the education and training of professionals in healthcare. The curriculum in medical, nursing and pharmacy schools will have to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate these changes that are being introduced in the system by technology. The healthcare system is going to be revolutionized with technology other than just evolving it.

Cuts to Medicare and lack of Medicaid expansion in several states combined with the huge debts some hospitals have are also the key contributors to the transformations in healthcare delivery model and the job market. A career in health care system is no longer considered safe as it once was. However, there is hope for the future as there is an increasing baby bearing population that will amplify the need for more healthcare related services, (Eccles et al., 2013). The current job shortages majorly lie in the long-term care, primary care, behavioral health and public health. It would be wise for aspiring medical professionals to start training and acquiring skills in health IT as it is a hugely growing area in the field of medicine.

The ACA, technology, substantial medical debts in several healthcare facilities, cuts to Medicare and lack of some states making Medicaid expansions are the fundamental changes in the healthcare job market. They have caused both negative and positive impacts on the recruitment and the whole healthcare sector at large. Because of the link between employment and access to health insurance and services, the above mentioned have significantly affected the market. However, with the advancement of technology, the healthcare job market will grow favorable towards those seeking jobs and patients' altogether. It is imperative that at the end of it all a better designed and all accommodating health care system is achieved.

References

Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2014). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier.

Givan, R. K. (2016). The Challenge to change: Reforming health care on the front line in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In Grol, R., In Wensing, M., In Eccles, M., & In Davis, D. (2013). Improving patient care: The implementation of change in health care. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell/BMJ Books.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.)., In Jette, A. M., In Spicer, C. M., & In Flaubert, J. L. (2017). The promise of assistive technology to enhance activity and work participation.

Suchman, A. L., Sluyter, D. J., & Williamson, P. R. (2011). Leading changes in healthcare: Transforming organizations using complexity, positive psychology, and relationship-centered care. London: Radcliffe Pub.