Dive Brief:
- A new study by AMN Healthcare has found that the vacancy rate for doctors at hospitals climbed to about 18% for this year, while nurse vacancy rates rising to 17%; nursing vacancy rates have tripled since 2009, and doctor vacancy rates shot up from 10.7% over the last four years.
- Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are also in demand, with a vacancy rate of 15%, the survey found.
- These vacancies are driven, in large part, by an expected surge of newly-insured patients entering hospitals, researchers said.
Dive Insight:
Something's not quite right with this picture. Hospitals are obviously aware of the ACA, and that patient flow should increase to some degree. Still, given the high deductibles most of these policies impose (an average of about $2,500 according to one source) and extremely high co-insurance (patients may have to pay 60% of inpatient charges), we're not talking about a fat new source of income for hospitals. Many patients will continue to avoid care they cannot afford, and come to the ED when they're desperate. If the hospitals are staffing up under these circumstances, they're just not on top of things.