The increase in 68,000 healthcare jobs, as reported by the 2024 May CES report in The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has many questioning which aspects of the healthcare industry are growing – and which positions are declining. The threat of robotics and AI developing faster and on track to becoming “co-pilots” for healthcare workers, lends the question, what does this mean for non-clinical workers and the industry as a whole? Alison Flynn Gaffney, FACHE, President, Healthcare Work Dynamics, JLL, covers these points and more in a Q&A session. Read her below insights to learn more:
There is an increase in 68,000 jobs according to the 2024 May CES report in The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Would you say that COVID is the main driver for this increase in jobs – and how are these increases in jobs impacting healthcare?
COVID is just one factor driving this increase. Primary care is needed because of our growing and aging populations. As healthcare continues to grow, that automatically creates new roles in management or IT because you need other roles to support those healthcare positions. Not to mention, telehealth’s boom since COVID created more roles too. There is no question that healthcare is a significant contributor to the economy, and as there is an increase in jobs, there is improved care coordination as well.
How is AI impacting healthcare?
There are conversations about the creation of humanoids and robots in doing task work, which would help lift other team members within the healthcare field to be able to focus on other higher levels of work. There is a phrase in the healthcare world called “working at the top of your license.” Within healthcare there are always some inefficiencies or things that can get in the way of doing the best work you can do – so conversations around applying AI to act as a “co-pilot” to healthcare workers could supplement work and make things a lot less stressful. It’s about doing more with less. Robotics have been around for a long time – in the fields of cardiovascular, for example, there have been co-piloting technology opportunities already in existence. However, there is still a demand for educating individuals about these technologies so that it can ultimately make the lives of healthcare workers much more efficient.
On that note, there is a statistic that states, “Even as the healthcare workforce grew 20%, transportation and material moving, food preparation and facilities and property management were flat or declined.” How have these particular roles declined, and is there any hope for bringing them back?
People working with outside providers, in addition to the increase in automation are factors to these declines. Another component is a lack of education on these positions in food services or facilities. There is an opportunity as mentioned, about robotics and technology that can take on these roles. But again, educating young people so that they can see that these roles as careers that they can explore will help. Overall as a society, we focus mainly on clinical, but there are also non-clinical roles like security, environmental and facility services that are integral in supporting these roles. You can’t do one without the other, and with that said, I would love to see a greater focus and growth on these job roles highlighted. I believe there is a lot of value in bringing a human focus to healthcare and adding essential support jobs.
With hospital systems expanding in growth, can you share a little bit of background for why we are seeing particular growths in certain roles like management, social service and protective service occupations?
The growth in hospital systems is due to horizontal and vertical integration. Horizontal integration, the merging or acquiring of other medical practices, and vertical integration, the acquisition of non-acute care providers in multiple settings, is the primary driver for this expansion. There is an increasing complexity of care, and mental health is one reason why there is an increase in these types of roles – especially as it relates to social work. Mental health was particularly brought to light in the pandemic. COVID seemed to have been a catalyst for additional mental health issues in our communities and populations, which then required a deeper security focus. The reason we are seeing increases in protective service roles, for example, is because violence in healthcare has risen tremendously. Unfortunately, as the latest stats show from the 2024 May CES report, one in five nurses receive physical, mental or verbal abuse daily.
Protective service occupations are the hospital security officers playing a crucial role in ensuring the safety, security and well-being of the organization. Emergency management teams are very close to my heart because if you don’t have a safe environment, you can’t attract and recruit employees, and you can’t serve your community. I am all for increasing opportunities for individuals to get into the field to be able to create safe and secure environments so caregivers can deliver at the top of their license. And these roles don’t require a healthcare background.