As hospitals prepare for an additional 16 million newly insured patients in 2014, new research in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests they should be concentrating on adding more support staff rather than physicians and nurses to handle the burdens of health reform.
Analyzing the healthcare situation in Massachusetts--a model for the national reform legislation--researchers found the state saw significant growth in administrative occupations post-reform, 18.4 percent from 2005-2006 to 2008-2009, compared with the rest of the United States at 8.0 percent.
Meanwhile, jobs for nonadministrative healthcare workers, including physicians and nurses, only rose 9.3 percent after reform, similar to the of 8.6 percent growth seen in the rest the country.
Such findings imply that to successfully implement the various reform provisions, hospitals will need more staff that support physicians and nurses, such as those in management, business and financial operations, and office and administration (including health information technicians).
The reasoning is that aside from providing care to newly insured patients, hospitals will need support staff to process applications, file insurance claims, submit data for regulatory compliance, and perform other administrative duties, according to the study.
Although this may alleviate worries associated with the ever-looming physician shortage, it still requires the hiring and training of additional support staff.
However, the study notes that while the demand for administrative support may be large once further reform provisions kick in, they would lessen over time as the associated administrative processes are refined.
To learn more:
- read the NEJM article
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