“The threat of reform served as the catalyst for commercial payer reform. Regardless of the federal outcome, the industry has moved to incentivize more coordinated care and integration between physicians and hospitals. As a result, physicians are entering employment or affiliation agreements with health systems. This has created a significant demand for talent to build the infrastructure to support the integrated operations. The positions in high demand are physician executives, practice operations executives and case management resources.  Additionally, these advancements will require new data requirements and coordination creating the need for staff in this space as well.

Regardless of the court’s decision, healthcare has already changed and will continue to do so, as it must. Most health systems are far along the path of adhering to the new accountable care model, anticipating the influx of millions of newly insured, and complying with strict new technology and quality reporting requirements.

Healthcare hiring will remain relatively strong due to several factors, such as the aging population and the push toward accountable care, as well as a demand for leaders who can drive quality and innovation while also controlling cost. A proliferation of jobs that were non-existent five or ten years ago in certain healthcare fields will also add to the strength of the industry.

Demand for healthcare services will remain robust, costs will continue to shift to employers and individuals, and healthcare organizations will need both workers and leaders to continue the push towards lower cost and better quality of care.

Witt/Kieffer expects to see a 29% increase in its healthcare practice this year across all geographic regions, with the Midwest, West and Southeast showing particular strength, partially due to demographic and population shifts. In particular, Witt/Kieffer is seeing:

• 121% growth in Chief Medical Officer searches, and a 43% growth in MD executive searches overall;
• A large jump in healthcare IT searches, with nearly a 40% increase over last year;
• 30% growth in COO/Senior Operations searches and a 74% growth in Finance searches.”