Northeast Ohio’s hospitals continue to boost the area’s economy with both direct and indirect employment.
That’s according to the most recent numbers from the Center for Health Affairs, a support group representing 40 of the region’s hospitals. From Ohio Public Radio Station WKSU, Kevin Niedermier reports.
The Center for Health Affairs study shows these hospitals generated about $11.5 billion to the Northeast Ohio economy in 2015. That’s up by an estimated $1.5 billion since 2010.
Center for Health Affairs official Deanna Moore, says the new figure also shows that besides the direct employment of more than 80,000 people at the hospitals, the facilities generate many other jobs.
Moore: “Because of the hospitals that are there there’s another 81,000 jobs in what we call secondary impact. So all together, all of those types of employment yield almost 168,000 jobs in Northeast Ohio.”
Moore says last year hospital construction projects accounted for about 4,300 jobs, and $7 billion in salaries and benefits.
She says another important figure is that nearly 17 percent of the patients treated at these hospital are from outside the region, bringing new money to Northeast Ohio.