Health care has been the major job engine for the U.S. for a decade. The Obama folks hope this will continue as a result of the health reform law (the Affordable Care Act or ACA). Republicans believe the bill will be a job killer. White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle spoke recently about the Affordable Care Act and the 3.2 million jobs the Administration believes it will create by 2018, in part, by removing waste and inefficiency from the health care system.

The new law will likely spur demand for physician assistants, home health aides, health researchers and health IT professionals. Because the law funds community clinics and public health agencies as well as adding new patients to doctors’ offices, DeParle said job creation in health care will stimulate the entire economy. A panel discussion followed DeParle’s remarks.

The panelists emphasized:

• The need for more science and innovation and a need to be able to attract scientists to the major universities and have them know there will be funding for their discoveries to go to market. 
• A need for new models of health care delivery to improve quality and decrease cost – with a specific example of wanting to better help patients transition out of the hospital and making sure they connect with the proper people before leaving to ensure they are taken care of (much like the ACC’s H2H program)
• A trend in increasing use of and reliance on community health centers
• A trend toward more home health care providers and primary care physicians
• Health IT is predicted to greatly and positively affect the relationship between physicians and patients; many see a consumer (particularly the younger generation) drive to have EMR become available on devices such as the iPad (regardless of HIPAA laws)

It remains to be seen if DeParle’s predictions about job creation from reducing inefficiency will be realized, but if we do expand access for 35 million more people in 2014, there will be a very large number of new jobs for health care professionals.

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