At a time when many professionals with healthcare experience on their resumes are worried about job security, hospital and nurses groups are urging the congressional committee in charge of curtailing government spending to spare any additional cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. The American Hospitals Association (AHA) and the American Nurses Association (ANA) have sent a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction asking members to reject any proposals that would affect the nation's medicare program, saying further cost cutting measures could lead to losses of approximately 200,000 industry jobs. According to the letter, the groups state that "While we recognize the serious fiscal pressures facing our nation, we feel it is counterproductive to target hospitals and the health care field for significant spending reductions at a time when we are providing economic stability and job growth in a sluggish economy." If passed, the groups said that the cuts could result in $41 billion payment losses for hospitals, which would have a domino effect on the economy. Nationwide, hospitals support 1 in 10 jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that job opportunities for registered nurses are expected to grow by 22% through 2018. |