Healthcare Administrators

240,000 or one of every nine Colorado employees are in the health care and social services sector. The demand for health care services will continue to sharply increase due to population growth (100,000 per year new Colorado residents), an over 65 population that will nearly double to 900,000+ over the coming decade, and increased access to health care due to emerging health system reforms.

However, just as the demand for health care services will be accelerating, health care employees will be retiring in unprecedented numbers. In 1993, 8 percent of the hospital workforce was 55+; in 2008 it was 19 percent. As only one example, 32 percent of the state's 61,000 licensed registered nurses are over the age of 55; 2,000 of these 20,000 nurses are expected to retire each year. As a result, 85 percent of the graduates of the state's schools of nursing will be required just to 'stay even' with our current nursing workforce, let alone respond to any increases in the need for health care.

Using conservative assumptions, Colorado will need to recruit and educate an average of over 6,000 health care employees each year over the coming decade just to stay even with retirements, health reform and population growth. To achieve this level of workforce education will require a concerted effort by public, private and educational institutions.