An article in Crain's New York Business on April 4 outlined how New York City has managed to keep job losses below the national rate - thanks to the health care industry. Contrary to warnings and predictions, the city's health care industry is pumping out jobs, just as it had in previous recessions. The needs of an aging population, the rise of new medical technologies, an expansion in the number of insured Americans, and the ramifications from the recently passed health care reform will boost demand for health care services across the board.
While the city has seen an overall loss of 2.7% of its jobs as of January, the health care industry has added more than 11,000 positions, or 2.7% over the same period. It is predicted that by 2016 the number of health care jobs will increase by over 15% with home care, out patient and ambulatory care leading the boom.
As the economy improves, it is hoped that the New York State fiscal crisis will ease, and that expected cuts from Albany relating to hospital and nursing home reimbursement will be lessened or avoided. Howard Berliner, from SUNY Downstate argues that "the main industry of New York is health care. It employs to many people and it's too big a part of what we do for it to get much smaller."
Therapeutic Resources will keep our eye out for trends in the state which could impact our professions. Keep checking in with the blog for more articles about how health care reform and budget cuts might effect us all.
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