Mass. healthcare employment drops below national average as patients forego services
Image | WBJ Source: Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
Unemployment claims in health and social assistance jobs rose throughout the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Massachusetts healthcare industry hasn't taken as big of a hit in job losses than the whole economy, but has suffered worse than the national average, according to federal data analyzed by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.
The industry, one of the largest in the state, has lost 5.1% of its workforce in the six months ending in August, a time corresponding with the worst of the coronavirus pandemic in Massachusetts and a period of some economic recovery over the summer. That compares to a national average of 3.8%.
Some parts of healthcare have been hit harder than others. Jobs in nursing and residential care facilities and home health care have plunged by 9.4%, almost double the national average. Physician offices and outpatient care centers have shown bigger drops than average. Hospitals, on the other hand, have had a drop of 0.7%, about one-third as bad as the national average.
Those job losses come as long-term care facilities have borne the brunt of the pandemic with more than 60% of the state's 10,000-plus coronavirus deaths, and as hospitals have had to balance virus safety with ensuring patients continue to seek care for other needs. Inpatient volume and emergency department visits both remain below their pre-pandemic levels, according to Health Policy Commission data. Inpatient volume, which fell more than 30% in late March, remains down more than 10%. Emergency room visits fell by nearly half at one point and remain down roughly 20%.
Other hospital-use data shows the public has stayed away from acute care facilities during the pandemic.
Discharges for heart failure, for example, fell by more than half in April and remained down by more than a quarter in June, according to the most recent state data. Inpatient procedures are also down: hip replacements, for example, dropped by 84% in April and remained down 29% in June. Only in behavioral health, where telehealth appointments can allow a close facsimile to in-person visits, has patient volume been close to pre-pandemic levels.
The 15 hospitals statewide sampled for patient services data included UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Marlborough Hospital, HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital and Harrington Hospital in Southbridge.
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