Growth in healthcare hiring slows in August

Modern Healthcare

  • After a year of strong hiring growth in healthcare, job creation slowed significantly in August. The sector added 14,400 jobs in August, much less than the average 39,000 jobs added every month for the past 12 months, according to preliminary figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS also released revised figures from July, showing 45,300 healthcare jobs were added that month, up from the 43,200 originally reported. Hiring was down slightly among hospitals, which added 10,700 jobs in August compared with 13,200 in July. Outpatient care centers, which hospitals continue to build or acquire, added 3,100 jobs.

  • The scheduled initial rollout of the Military Health System's new multibillion-dollar electronic health record system has been delayed for at least several months. The Defense Department is blaming the pause on an “aggressive schedule and issues identified during testing that led to the determination that more time is needed to correct these issues,” according to a statement. The Defense Department had planned to deploy the new EHR system, now called MHS Genesis, at a select group of facilities in the Pacific Northwest in December. In July 2015, a consortium led by defense contractor Leidos, Accenture Federal Services and Cerner Corp. won the $4.3 billion contract, one of the largest in health IT history.

  • Cleveland Clinic's operating margin dropped significantly in the first half of this year after the academic health system felt the squeeze from rising drug prices and labor costs as well as from treating patients with high-deductible health plans. Lower reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers also pressured the not-for-profit system, said Steve Glass, chief financial officer. Cleveland Clinic ended the first six months of 2016 with a 1.2% operating margin, compared with 5.6% during the same time last year. Glass said the system expected a smaller margin this year, especially as it made more investments in new care-delivery models, such as its Medicare accountable care organization.
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