Video: Healthcare Is Still Creating New Jobs. But Are They the Right Jobs?

According to the new labor report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), healthcare added 14,000 new jobs in March. Most of the gains came in hospitals, which added about 9,000 jobs. The March total is down significantly from February’s 31,400 new healthcare jobs. The sharp decline is likely due to uncertainty surrounding health reform and health organizations taking a “wait-and-see” attitude.

But 9,000 new hospital jobs is still 9,000 new jobs. The question Oliver Wyman Partner Sam Glick now poses is this: Is that really what healthcare needs right now?

In this new video, Glick explores the idea of our nation’s hospital “dependency.” In many towns and cities, hospitals are the largest employer; disrupting the current healthcare delivery system could have a significant ripple effect through communities.

But the reality is healthcare is changing, and the United States now has too many hospitals and too many hospital-based health workers. Glick calls on industry and community leaders to take a hard look at our nation’s hospital “dependency.” It’s time to think about healthcare more broadly and consider how we can retrain health workers to work outside of hospital, encourage provider organizations to deliver care outside of traditional settings, and even how we might repurpose hospital land.

This is a disruptive vision, but one that we have to consider, he says, for the viability of the industry and the long-term health our communities.

Watch the video.