The American Medical Association (AMA) has complied a list of virtually every licensed physician in the United States of America. And to date, that number totals more than 690,000 for medical doctors alone. As a matter of fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the healthcare industry, on a whole, provides around 11 million jobs to America’s citizens.
Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the number of healthcare related jobs is expected to increase by approximately 26 percent in the next few years. This growth can primarily be attributed to the aging American population, and as people age, the more medical attention they seek. Thus, to meet the demands of this rapidly expanding market, the industry will require many more trained healthcare professionals.
Services Needed
Obviously there is a need for more healthcare providers like doctors, dentists, nurses, medical assistants, radiologists and phlebotomists. But as the need rises, so does the necessity for those that provide services to them. This includes such skilled workers as those who can operate and service high tech medical equipment; examples of jobs in this category are X-ray, EKG, and ultrasound technicians.
In addition there is a real need for professionals that can handle the healthcare provider’s complex administrative workload. Careers provided in this area are healthcare facility office managers and appointment schedulers. Also required are medical coders, medical billers, and medical claims specialists. Fortunately, automated software solutions are greatly easing many of the burdens on the departments, and decreasing the amounts of errors that are made as well.