Why This Story Matters:
In 2022, nearly 15 million people were employed in the healthcare industry, accounting for almost 10 percent of total employment. The healthcare industry continued to accelerate in 2023, increasing by 688,000 jobs after rising by 572,000 jobs in 2022. Healthcare background checks help ensure workers in this fast-growing industry are qualified and trustworthy.
The Fast-Growing Healthcare Industry
Healthcare is vital to America’s well-being and has some of the fastest-growing occupations in the United States. In 2022, 14.7 million people were employed in the healthcare industry, accounting for 9.3 percent of total employment, according to a Spotlight on Statistics for Healthcare Occupations published in June 2023 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The largest of these occupations in the healthcare industry was registered nurses, who numbered 3.4 million in 2022, or more than one out of every five healthcare workers. Personal care aides and nursing assistants held the number two and three spots in terms of the sheer number of healthcare workers. The top five healthcare occupations were:
- Registered Nurses: 3,363,000 Workers
- Personal Care Aides: 1,407,000 Workers
- Nursing Assistants: 1,236,000 Workers
- Physicians: 933,000 Workers
- Home Health Aides: 617,000 Workers
“Healthcare occupations vary widely in terms of skills and formal education required. They include healthcare practitioners such as physicians, registered nurses, laboratory technicians, and pharmacists; and people who provide healthcare support, such as nursing assistants, personal care aides, and home health aides,” the BLS reported.
Healthcare employment gains continued to accelerate in 2023, increasing by 688,000 jobs over the year after rising by 572,000 jobs in 2022, according to a Monthly Labor Review published by the BLS in June 2024. The healthcare industry’s employment gains were concentrated in ambulatory healthcare services, which added 345,000 jobs in 2023.
Healthcare Industry Worker Characteristics
What exactly are the demographic characteristics of workers in healthcare occupations? The Spotlight on Statistics for Healthcare Occupations from the BLS examined the demographic and job characteristics of the 25 largest healthcare occupations as measured by employment in over 50 detailed occupations in the healthcare field.
In 2022, about 8 in 10 workers in all healthcare occupations were women, much higher than for overall employment, where women made up nearly one-half of all employed workers. Healthcare occupations with particularly high concentrations of women included speech-language pathologists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, and nursing assistants.
In 2022, among healthcare occupations with lower levels of education, 60 percent of home health aides, 49 percent of personal care aides, and 47 percent of nursing assistants had a high school diploma or less. Among healthcare occupations with higher levels of education, all physicians and nearly all nurse practitioners held advanced degrees.
In 2022, 18 percent of all employed people in America were born outside of the United States. Relative to their share of employment overall, people born outside of the U.S. were highly represented in healthcare occupations, making up 40 percent of home health aides, 28 percent of personal care aides, and 27 percent of physicians.
Healthcare Background Checks
Healthcare background checks help ensure that healthcare workers are qualified for their roles and are trustworthy because they interact with children and vulnerable adults. The depth of the background check may vary based on the role of the worker and the employer’s policies. A healthcare background check may include, but is certainly not limited to:
- A Social Security Number (SSN) Trace to find potential names, aliases, and address records.
- A Criminal Record Search for criminal convictions at county courts and in multi-jurisdictional databases.
- A Sex Offender Search that provides access to sex offender data nationwide.
- A Drug Test to help protect patients and prevent post-hire drug abuse.
- An Education Verification that confirms degrees to verify claims made on a resume.
- An Employment Verification that confirms job history to verify claims made on a resume.
- A License Verification to confirm the appropriate, current, and valid credentials and licenses.
- A Federal Exclusion Search to access U.S. Government lists of prohibited healthcare workers.
- A Global Background Check for healthcare workers who have lived outside of the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has the authority to exclude individuals and entities from Federally funded healthcare programs for many reasons, including Medicare or Medicaid fraud. The OIG maintains a list of all currently excluded individuals and entities called the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE).
ClearStar Offers Healthcare Background Checks
ClearStar – a global workforce screening provider specializing in Background Checks, Drug Testing, and Occupational Health Screening – offers Healthcare Background Checks that meet strict requirements and high standards. Healthcare is one of the most critical and important sectors of the economy and these checks are vital to patient safety and business growth.
- Full suite of services including drug tests, vaccinations, titers, and physicals.
- Single candidate invite for all services via text or email.
- Candidate-friendly mobile solutions provide a quick and positive experience.
- ClearID helps mitigate risk by positively identifying the candidate.
- ClearMD streamlines the drug and clinical test ordering process.
- ScreenMeNow gives the caregiver ownership of the screening process.
- Global Screening in over 230 countries for increased worldwide recruiting.
- Full integration with many homecare management solutions.
- Personalized, solution-oriented, U.S.-based client service.
ClearStar’s certifications help ensure the privacy, security, and confidentiality of all sensitive personal data used during the background screening of healthcare workers. Thousands of employers in industries all over the world trust ClearStar to manage the background screening of their workforces. To learn more about Healthcare Background Checks, contact ClearStar.
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Thomas Ahearn - Digital Content Editor
Thomas Ahearn is a Digital Content Editor at ClearStar, a leading Human Resources (HR) technology company specializing in background checks, drug testing, and occupational health screening. He writes about a variety of topics in the background screening industry including Artificial Intelligence (AI), "Ban the Box," class action lawsuits, credit reports, criminal records, drug testing, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Form I-9, identity theft, privacy, social media screening, and workplace violence.
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