In Brief: State Could Lose 50,000 Healthcare Jobs Next Year If Sequestration Stands

The California Hospital Association predicted that the state could lose 50,000 healthcare jobs – about 10% of the overall total – in 2013 if Congress does not take any action on the planned sequestration of 2% of Medicare revenue starting on Jan. 1.

Altogether, a total of 78,000 healthcare jobs could be lost statewide by 2021 if the sequestration – part of the federal Budget Control Act passed last year in a deal to raise the debt ceiling – is not mitigated before it takes effect.

“California hospitals already lose billions of dollars each year treating Medicare

beneficiaries,” said CHA President C. Duane Dauner. “Another 2% payment reduction may not seem like a big number, but these cuts would be in addition to more than $17 billion in slashed Medicare payments California hospitals are already scheduled to absorb by 2020 as a result of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”

According to a study undertaken by the Tripp Umbach consulting firm on behalf of the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association, more than 760,000 jobs could be lost nationwide if Medicare sequestration remains in place.