PANAMA CITY — Health care positions are growing exponentially in the area, Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center CEO Carlton Ulmer said Wednesday at the Bay Economic Development Alliance (EDA) meeting.
His hospital has 45 vacancies for registered nurses and they recently have added 65 positions total. Tammy Newton, marketing vice president at Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health Systems, said that hospital always has 40 to 50 open, clinical positions at any given time.
“Those positions start at $21, $23 an hour,” Ulmer said of nurses. “That’s great for Bay County.”
Bay County’s shortage of qualified health care workers is just an exmple of a trend in Florida and the nation. Ulmer said 10 of the 20 fastest growing jobs are in health care and there is a 3.1 percent growth rate for jobs at hospitals, requiring 91,000 more physicians and about 260,000 more nurses. Home health aides and other positions are growing as much as 70 percent.
The demand for health care continues to increase. Florida’s population continues to grow by 1.3 percent, and 17 percent of the total population is age 65 or older. The Affordable Care Act has made insurance available to more patients, although Florida has yet to expand Medicaid. The number of cancer patients and survivors also continues to grow.
“We work in an industry unlike any other,” Ulmer said. “Anyone can walk off the street and into an emergency room and receive care.”
Ulmer attributed the shortage of health professionals, in part, to the competitiveness of schools and how much education is required.
“We have a shortage of physical therapists, but it’s not easy to get into those schools,” he said.
Kim Bodine with Career Source Gulf Coast pointed out that health care jobs increased during the recession.
“At Mosley (high school) we have 160 kids interested in medicine,” he said.
Ulmer pointed out that an advantage for the Panama City region is the six area counties are relatively underserved, allowing for Panama City hospitals to become a regional hub.
“We have the opportunity as a county to provide regional care,” he said. We “need to grow the potential and grow health care.”
Ulmer said there will be an increased emphasis on using technology to meet the growing demand of the industry, including using telemedicine to provide long-distance care. He also talked about medical tourism, although the Panama City region has not yet drawn medical tourism.
He suggested that the only way to increase large-scale education and training is by utilitzing a large civic center connected to a hotel, which Bay County currently does not have.
