Healthcare Job Growth Accelerating

The physician-employee model is also driving hospital employment.

"More and more physicians are looking to be employed versus out there in private practice," Rowan says. "Using CHI as an example, we have hired more than 1,000 additional physicians over the last 24 months."

Another driver is the demand for administrators who can help hospitals and health systems navigate through new federally mandated payment models. "With the move from volume-based fee-for-service reimbursement to going at risk for episodes of care and the like and population health management, all of that is calling for some new competencies related to risk and insurance," Rowan says.

"Those are not skill sets that most hospitals and health systems have. So, we are hiring people with that background and expertise. It's not at the level that you see for IT and physicians, but it is still significant."

Kleinke says the high demand for technicians to install and operate complex electronic medical records systems are creating new opportunities for American workers who've been left behind in the recession and changing economy.

"It's a perfect job in the new economy for somebody who used to work in an assembly plant or a service job or used to do something that's been off-shored," he says. "It is something you can learn to do in a couple of years at a technical school. There are federal grants available for that and the jobs are there and the jobs are good."