Growth spurt for health sector - Fundamental changes are happening as it becomes a major area of economic gain

Growth spurt for health sector - Fundamental changes are happening as it becomes a major area of economic gain

Health care is shaping up to be one of the key growth sectors for Capital Region jobs, but where people go for care is changing.

As hospitals and nursing homes face calls for consolidation, outpatient care centers are booming.

"Not only locally but nationally, the health care sector has been a major part of economic growth," said Kajal Lahiri, a professor of economics at the University at Albany.

Between October 2005 and October 2006, outpatient health care was among the top three growth areas for new jobs in the Capital Region. Only management positions and transportation and warehousing jobs grew at a faster pace.

David Wardle, director of information services for the Capital District Regional Planning Commission in Colonie, said the places patients go will change, but the need for medical care will continue to grow.

"Older people need more health care," he said. "Will it be provided by hospitals? Not necessarily. Hospitals may begin a slow decline. It's less expensive to provide the service and it makes a good profit for the community health clinics."

Since 1990, the number of health care jobs in the Capital Region has grown by some 16,000, said St. Peter's Hospital spokesman Elmer Streeter, citing state Labor Department statistics.

During that same period, however, only 300 jobs were added at the region's six hospitals.

The signs are everywhere: From the packed parking lot at the Bone & Joint Center on Washington Avenue Extension in Albany to the medical centers being built in Schodack, Colonie and elsewhere in the Capital Region, medicine is moving closer to your home.

Northeast Orthopaedics founded in 1995 when four practices with seven doctors combined. Today, it has 16 doctors and 80 employees in six locations: Albany, Troy, Clifton Park, East Greenbush, Delmar and Latham.

"We've also added services to provide a one-stop shop for our patients," said Alan Okun, practice administrator. The practice is in the midst of building a new clinical center on Everett Road in Colonie.

There, patients will be able to get an MRI to visualize the body's organs, or a DEXA scan to look for signs of osteoporosis. They can have surgery nearby at a facility in Executive Woods.

Northeast Health, a regional health care network in Troy, runs both hospitals and outpatient facilities including Albany Memorial Hospital, Samaritan Hospital, The Eddy and various medical offices; it also has a new affiliation with Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady. Northeast Health has grown from 2,900 employees a decade ago to 4,300 today.

"We've been growing at a steady clip, both within our facilities and affiliates, and we have been adding service in home care as well as independent housing," said Barbara McCandless, vice president of corporate human resources at Northeast Health.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care is the nation's largest industry, with eight of the 20 fastest-growing occupations.

"It has been a significant part of growth here," said James Ross, Capital Region labor market analyst for the state Department of Labor. "It is one of the reasons we have a stable job market."

"You don't get a lot of down times in health care," he added. "The economy may turn down, but people still get sick."

The number of area residents working in local hospitals, doctor's offices and other medical facilities rose from 49,200 in 1995 to 54,700 in 2000 and to 57,400 in 2005, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. Those statistics cover Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.

St. Peter's Streeter said the hospitals are being left to care for those who cannot afford other choices.

A state commission in November called for the closure of nine hospitals statewide and changes at others. Bellevue Woman's Hospital in Niskayuna was targeted for shutdown and two Schenectady hospitals, Ellis and St. Clare's, were recommended for merger. The so-called Berger Commission echoed Streeter's concerns.

"The area has a large niche market of outpatient and ambulatory surgery centers that compete for the best patients, both in terms of ability to pay and outcomes," the report states. "This has left hospitals saddled with high-cost, low-paying patients."

But Lahiri, the UAlbany professor, said the shifting of jobs doesn't have to mean lesser care.

"Closing a hospital doesn't mean it will damage a community if the place was operating at a loss," he said. "You could enhance the efficiency. In fact, given a couple of years, it can revive a community."

For nurses, the new workplaces can mean a change in their working lives. Once serving routine double shifts, they can now choose to work for physicians' groups or insurance companies with weekday business hours and weekends off.

"They are using their nursing talents but there are many different settings in which nurses are employed, dramatically so the last 10 years," Northeast Health's McCandless said. "We're 24/7, and the medical facilities are typically closer to business hours."

Nationally, she said, there will be a need for 700,000 more nurses in the next seven years. With retirements looming, 1.2 million new nurses will be needed by 2014.

Northeast Health runs nursing schools at Albany Memorial and Samaritan hospitals and tries to recruit new students. It also reaches out to middle and even grade schools to plant the idea of nursing as a career choice. The growing variety of jobs, along with the increased use of technology, may help attract men and younger people to the profession, McCandless said.

"Nursing is a demanding career, but it's exciting, it's rewarding, particularly for the next generation coming up who are more computer and technology literate," she said.