One of
fastest growing sectors of medical industry is that of home health. There are many reasons for this growth, but most important are: The number of aging and infirm citizens in country. The lower cost of care in relation to hospitals and long term care facilities.
The fact health providers consider home care to be most humane and compassionate form of care.
Because of rapid growth in this category of healthcare, a variety of employment opportunities have become available. Many hospitals are turning to home health as a method to recapture revenue that would be otherwise lost. Despite efforts of hospitals to enter home care market, private companies dominate home health. Since these are primarily businesses that have not been in existence for long, they need to hire not only for in home providers, but also for support and administrative positions.
The future demand for home care will be staggering. In 1997, over 22.4 million households provided home care to a loved one over 50. Over time, this drain on physical and emotional resources will result in a desire for outside help in home. Additionally, Medicare funding of short term home health care is projected to more than double by 2010. Meanwhile, workers employed in home health field actually dropped by 29,000 in 2000. The projected employment outlook for just home health aides leads all medical job categories at a whopping 66.8%!
One may think vast majority of home health related jobs are lower paying aide jobs. Fortunately, this is not case. As previously mentioned, private home health companies will need to increase their administrative and support positions like medical coders, accounting and billing, medical secretaries, nurse managers, shift schedulers, information technology and marketing. Working for a home health company doesn’t necessarily dictate providing direct patient care.
