REGIONAL HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE DATA
Collecting, analyzing, and sharing actionable healthcare workforce data
Healthcare workforce data from The Health Collaborative
For more than two decades, The Health Collaborative has been collecting and analyzing healthcare workforce data in the Cincinnati region to help healthcare employers make informed workforce decisions.
We publish two Employer Workforce Survey reports each year that reveal current data on the health systems’ workforce vacancies and retirement rates, along with age distributions for key positions.
These bi-annual reports provide us and our regional partners with value-driven data to inform and align healthcare workforce development efforts, evaluate progress, and to meet future demand.
2023 Employer Workforce Survey highlights
In our 2022 year end survey, our regional health systems’ vacancy rates remain very high. Our survey shows a vacancy rate of 10.4% for total health care organization positions, down just .1% compared to the 10.5% vacancy rate in 2021.
Greater Cincinnati Health System Year End Vacancy Rates
Health system vacancy rates
A healthy vacancy rate for our health systems is about 5%. However, among Cincinnati’s regional hospitals, a record 22 different job titles show vacancy rates exceeding 10% at the end of 2022. An additional five job titles report vacancy rates of 8-10%.
This data informs where to prioritize efforts to reduce vacancy rates and fill critical workforce gaps.
Registered nurse vacancy rates
Registered nurses saw a continued increase in the full-time vacancy rate to 14.4%, which is up from 13.7% in 2021. This is the highest RN vacancy rate in Greater Cincinnati since 2003. Additionally, the average-time-to-fill for registered nurses across all health systems in Greater Cincinnati was 85 days, significantly higher than the 2021 figure of 64 days.
The growing deficit in nurses continues to fuel The Health Collaborative’s workforce efforts, including our regional and statewide efforts to reduce the deficit of this critical healthcare position.
Additional data surveys for healthcare members
Members interested in learning how we can help your compensation and benefits teams, please reach out to Jason Bubenhofer for more information.
The following chart identifies the 31 job titles with the highest vacancy rates in the Greater Cincinnati region – with each job title having a greater than 7% vacancy rate. In more than 15 years of conducting this survey, our region has never experienced such a wide range of job shortages across all healthcare job categories as we have seen since the beginning of 2021. For comparison purposes, in a typical year with a healthy labor environment in healthcare, most job titles would have vacancy rates of approximately 5%.
| All Openings by | Total Employees as of 12/31/22 | VACANCY RATE Data Effective 12/31/22 | ||||
| Job Title | Head Count | FTE | Head Count | FTE | Head Count | FTE |
| Physician Assistant – (PP) | 17 | 16 | 23 | 23 | 42.5% | 41.8% |
| Laboratory Services Representative | 25 | 21 | 71 | 65 | 26.0% | 24.0% |
| Paramedic | 25 | 14 | 71 | 57 | 26.0% | 20.1% |
| Mammography Tech (Registered) | 25 | 20 | 91 | 76 | 21.6% | 21.3% |
| Nurse Practitioner | 57 | 45 | 226 | 209 | 20.1% | 17.8% |
| Monitor Tech | 48 | 29 | 207 | 141 | 18.8% | 16.9% |
| Registered Nurse – All PRN Employees | 479 | 373 | 2,218 | 133 | 17.8% | 73.7% |
| LPN | 67 | 55 | 317 | 274 | 17.4% | 16.8% |
| Surgical Technician (Certified) | 42 | 38 | 204 | 185 | 17.1% | 17.1% |
| Patient Representative | 54 | 43 | 275 | 254 | 16.4% | 14.5% |
| Respiratory Therapist (Registered) | 112 | 77 | 616 | 510 | 15.4% | 13.1% |
| Medical Technologist I | 38 | 33 | 211 | 179 | 15.3% | 15.6% |
| Radiology Tech (Registered) | 63 | 50 | 350 | 301 | 15.3% | 14.2% |
| Registered Nurse – All RN Employees | 1,775 | 1,377 | 9,979 | 8,178 | 15.1% | 14.4% |
| PCA/Nurse Assistant – Total Employees | 344 | 251 | 2,037 | 1,355 | 14.4% | 15.6% |
| Medical Assistant (Certified & Non-Cert Combined) | 156 | 126 | 937 | 864 | 14.3% | 12.7% |
| Echocardiograph Technician (Registered) | 16 | 15 | 110 | 102 | 12.7% | 12.9% |
| Central Supply Tech/Sterilization Tech | 38 | 35 | 271 | 264 | 12.3% | 11.8% |
| Medical Assistant (Certified & Non-Cert Combined) – (PP) | 70 | 61 | 550 | 522 | 11.3% | 10.5% |
| CAT Scan (CT) Technician (Registered) | 29 | 26 | 244 | 219 | 10.6% | 10.4% |
| Medical Lab Tech (MLT) | 37 | 35 | 331 | 300 | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| Registered Nurse – (PP) | 41 | 32 | 369 | 328 | 10.0% | 8.9% |
| Patient Transporter | 25 | 16 | 235 | 193 | 9.6% | 7.5% |
| Physical Therapy Assistant | 6 | 5 | 59 | 54 | 9.2% | 7.7% |
| Phlebotomist | 38 | 30 | 381 | 329 | 9.1% | 8.3% |
| Food Service Worker (Entry) | 39 | 32 | 410 | 348 | 8.7% | 8.5% |
| Admitting Clerk | 48 | 40 | 522 | 440 | 8.4% | 8.2% |
| Pharmacy Technician | 39 | 29 | 452 | 412 | 7.9% | 6.7% |
| Environmental Services Worker (Entry) | 47 | 46 | 586 | 566 | 7.4% | 7.4% |
| Pharmacist (Registered) | 44 | 35 | 550 | 504 | 7.4% | 6.5% |
| MRI Technician (Registered) | 12 | 10 | 156 | 136 | 7.1% | 6.7% |
Workforce Survey December 2022
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