Health Services
Industry Basics: Health care service is one of the largest industries with more than 545,000 establishments across the country. The health services industry includes: hospitals, offices of physicians, dentists and other health practitioners, home health services, resident care centers, outpatient centers, diagnostic laboratories and mobile health care services.
Though hospitals account for only 2% of the total health care services they account for 40% of all employment in health care. This is so because private health practitioners employ only one or two assistants while hospitals provide thousands of job opportunities at different levels of healthcare service.
Advanced technology helps the health care industry employ new methods of diagnosis and enables treatment of various diseases.
Industry Outlook:
This industry includes eight occupations among 20 key occupations that are projected to grow the fastest by the year 2014. This industry will also see an increase in jobs by the year 2014 with more than 3 million jobs in the health care services industry. The industry currently accounts for more than 13 million jobs throughout the country.
Large number of expected retirements coupled with restrictive immigrant laws will reduce inflow of health care workers from other countries which indicate a high job turnover in the health care industry. Need for specialized care and advances in medical technology will also increase the number of jobs in the health care sector.
Designation and Roles:
This industry comprises of various professions and the roles are broadly classified as: professional, service related and administrative support.
Professional
- Surgeons
- Doctors
- Nurses
- Therapists
- Registered Nurses
- Dentists
- Pharmacists
Service Related
- Assistants to Health Practitioners
- Medical Transcriptionist
- Home care
- Health Service Managers
- Cafeteria Service
Administration and Support
- Billing
- Reception or Information Desk
- Secretary to health practitioner
Skill or Education Required:
Basic level of education required includes:
Specialized programs that provide a certificate or a degree at the associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level. Bachelor’s degree in area of specialization
Remuneration:
The median hourly earnings of the top jobs (by size) in health care services range between: $8.54-$25.66 in hospitals for various designations.
Conclusion:
Health care service is one of the largest industries with more than 545,000 establishments across the country
This industry includes eight occupations among 20 key occupations that are projected to grow the fastest by the year 2014
Most workers require less than 4 years of college education but medical diagnosis and health practitioners require much more education and training.
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