Among healthcare employers, home health boasted the greatest number of new jobs created in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Counting 162,000 jobs added in total across the U.S., the home healthcare sector added 3,900 of those jobs. This compares with 300 new jobs created in the nursing and residential care facilities care segment, or a loss of 4,400 jobs among hospitals during the same time period.
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare pointed to the potential negative impact on the industry of a rebasing rule proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in late June. The rule proposes rebasing home healthcare by 14% over four years, which, PQHH notes, would lead to negative margins in some areas of the country.
“The home health community is urging CMS to conduct detailed multi-year analyses about the proposed rule’s impact on patients, rural communities, small businesses and our nation’s economic recovery and employment gains,” said Eric Berger, CEO of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, following the jobs announcement. “Not only will further cuts impact the 3.5 million homebound seniors and disabled Americans who depend on the Medicare home health benefit, they will endanger jobs throughout the US.”
The sector is seen as a key driver of employment growth, the organization said.
“The home healthcare community has been a primary driver of job growth, as our nation’s elderly population continues to grow and in light of seniors’ overwhelming preference to receive the complex and chronic care they need in their own home,” PQHH writes.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
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