Quality healthcare is a vital asset that allows us to compete for economic development investment, which means jobs.
The shortage of physicians in South Carolina means that our state ranks 43rd in the nation for primary care physicians per 100,000 residents. We are falling behind the nation and our Southeastern state neighbors.
Our state isn’t just short of physicians. We need more nurses, pharmacists, EMTs and paramedics.
We need to build a pipeline that we can supply to prepare our future workforce. The Medical Experience Academy will be a key component in helping to make that happen.
National importance
Healthcare is the largest industry in the U.S. and the second-largest employer, with more than 11 million jobs.
Virtually all new private-sector jobs over the past five years came from healthcare.
Supply and demand
The United States faces a looming shortage of many types of healthcare professionals within the next 10 years.
The growth of the American population and the aging of the baby-boomer generation will continue to increase the demand for healthcare services and providers.
More than 10 million people in America already have chronic illnesses or suffer from degenerative conditions.
Over the next decade, we will need at least 20,000 more physicians specifically trained to care for elderly patients.
We will need 3.5 million more healthcare workers to meet the increasing demand in addition to the two million who will leave healthcare.
Education and training
Advances in fields such as genetics and information technology will create additional workforce requirements that we cannot even begin to estimate.
We will need more and different kinds of practitioners and technicians.
The hurdles to degrees in the health professions include extensive math and science training, advanced education, daunting debts, and lengthy training periods.
The future healthcare workforce will come largely from generations X and Y, who appear more interested in work that can accommodate their families and personal lives.
Our country faces increasing shortages of faculty members in the health sciences. This will have a direct effect on filling health care workforce needs.
Workforce Planning (practitioners and academicians)
The crucial factor facing the healthcare workforce is a lack of comprehensive workforce planning in parts of academe, government, and the healthcare professionals.
Shortages in the healthcare workforce are not local or isolated issues; they require attention at all levels.
The institutions that educate the nation’s future healthcare professionals must work together to devise innovative solutions.
Alarming disparities in health status continue to plague our nation, a diverse workforce is needed to address the issues.
The workforce shortfall in health care cannot be resolved in the marketplace alone; it is time for organized action.
