Healthcare has been deemed the fastest-growing industry over the next decade, demanding accelerated workforce upskilling and certificate development

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The American healthcare industry is the lifeblood that protects the American people. This is the fastest-growing American industry and is expected to see exponential growth over the next decade.

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According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the healthcare industry is projected to grow 13% from 2021 to 2031, far greater than the average for all occupations. The increase is expected to result in approximately 2 million new jobs over the next decade. In addition to new job growth, there is a need to replace workers who have left their healthcare occupations permanently. On average, there are about 1.9 million openings each year of new growth and replacements.

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Elsevier’s 2022 report on the Clinician of the Future, notes that the pace of change in healthcare is accelerating around the world. Global healthcare is on the path to a fundamental shift away from focusing on illness and moving towards a total health, patient-centered, digital approach to wellbeing. As with many other industries, the technological transformation in healthcare has taken hold, health inequities have never been more evident, and the need for leadership has never been more pressing. In their findings, of the thousands of doctors and nurses surveyed regarding the future role of technology in healthcare, 88% of clinicians agreed that tech-savviness will be more important in a clinician’s daily work compared with 10 years ago. According to the report, 69% of clinicians are currently dealing with an overwhelming load of patient data. In addition, 81% of clinicians identified health inequity as a driver of change in health care.

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In Deloitte's 2022 report on the Future of Health, COVID-19 revealed just how vulnerable the healthcare industry is to change and its need for structural and technological transformation. In their report, there are six key areas of focus — data sharing, interoperability, equitable access, empowered consumers, behavior change, and scientific breakthrough—to collectively transform the existing health system from treatment-based reactionary care to prevention and well-being. The traditional boundaries of the industry will dissolve, and new roles will emerge in the future of health as exponential innovation propels the industry towards 2040.

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Modern healthcare relies on the ability to best interpret available data that may originate from a number of sources, including healthcare professionals, patients, and medical devices. Biomedical and health informatics as a discipline is broadly concerned with the effective use of data, information, and knowledge to improve human health. Health informatics is a fast-emerging field in higher education and industry that is a driving force in the transformation of global healthcare. As with sustainability and DEI, there are now thousands of health informatics jobs; it is a skill and it is also a new job field.

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The rapid changes of the American healthcare system require new leaders and paradigm shifts. According to the NEJM Catalyst Journal in 2020, as the healthcare industry undergoes rapid change, new challenges like navigating technology, reducing employee burnout, changing old ways of communicating and decision-making, focusing on professional development, and many other factors are occurring that require system level resilience and enhanced needs for leadership effectiveness.

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It's time to start upskilling the American healthcare industry. Join the cause and protect our country.

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