Healthcare hiring pressure is not just a short-term challenge. It is becoming a long-term workforce planning issue.
On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest 2025–2035 employment projections. The agency projects that private healthcare and social assistance will add more than 2.2 million jobs over the decade, accounting for about 37% of all new jobs in the U.S. economy.
Healthcare support occupations are projected to grow 13.3%, while healthcare practitioner and technical occupations are projected to grow 8.0%. Both are well above the 3.5% projected growth rate for all occupations.
For healthcare employers, the message is clear: demand for care and talent is expected to remain strong. The best response is not to predict every opening. It is to build a staffing plan that can adjust when needs change.
Healthcare Demand Is a Long-Term Planning Issue
The BLS projections point to several forces shaping healthcare demand, including an aging population, chronic health conditions, and the continued need for behavioral health and community-based services.
Growth is expected across many types of care. The BLS projects employment in ambulatory healthcare services to rise 12.8% from 2025 to 2035. It also expects healthcare growth to extend across support, clinical, and technical roles. Medical assistants, psychiatric technicians, diagnostic medical sonographers, nurse practitioners, and several therapy occupations are among the roles projected to grow faster than the national average.
These are national projections, not guarantees for every facility, specialty, or market. Demand in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, and other Western states will vary based on population trends, local competition, licensing requirements, and access to training programs. BLS also cautions that its projections describe a potential long-term scenario rather than a precise forecast.
Still, the direction is useful. Facilities should expect continued competition for qualified healthcare professionals and prepare before a vacancy becomes urgent.
Why Waiting for a Vacancy Creates Avoidable Pressure
Many staffing problems begin long before a job is posted.
A call-out creates an uncovered shift. A leave of absence stretches the schedule for several weeks. A change in patient volume increases demand faster than a permanent hiring process can move. A hard-to-fill opening stays vacant while existing employees absorb the workload.
When every need is handled as a separate emergency, the pressure spreads. Managers lose time rearranging schedules. Full-time employees may take on more overtime. Teams have less room to respond to the next change, and continuity can become harder to maintain.
Reactive hiring also forces facilities to make decisions under tighter timelines. That can limit the candidate pool and make it harder to evaluate experience, credentials and fit.
Flexible healthcare staffing creates options before the schedule reaches that point. It does not replace a strong internal team. It gives that team added support when demand, availability or hiring timelines shift.
Match the Staffing Model to the Actual Need
The right healthcare staffing solution depends on the problem being solved. Not every gap requires a permanent hire, and not every long-term role should be covered one shift at a time.
Per diem staffing for flexible shift coverage
Per diem healthcare staffing can help cover call-outs, open shifts, short-term census increases and planned time off. It gives facilities access to qualified professionals when needs change from day to day without adding permanent headcount for a temporary gap.
Contract staffing for a defined period
Contract professionals can provide more consistent coverage during an extended leave, seasonal increase, special project or longer hiring process. A defined assignment also gives the facility and clinician clear expectations about schedule, responsibilities and duration.
Temp-to-hire staffing when fit matters
Temp-to-hire allows a facility to evaluate performance, team fit and day-to-day expectations before making a permanent hiring decision. It can be especially helpful when a resume and interview do not tell the whole story.
Direct hire for long-term roles
Direct hire is often the better choice when the need is permanent and the goal is long-term retention. A staffing partner can expand the search, help reach passive candidates and screen for both qualifications and fit.
Many facilities need more than one model. A practical plan may use per diem coverage for immediate flexibility, a contract professional for an extended absence and direct-hire recruiting for a critical permanent opening.
Build a Simple Workforce Readiness Plan
Healthcare workforce planning does not need to begin with a complicated system. Start with four practical steps.
Identify recurring staffing gaps
Review the past several months. Look for repeated call-outs, overtime patterns, difficult shifts, leaves, seasonal volume changes and roles that stay open longer than expected. Recurring pressure is a planning signal, not just a scheduling problem.
Rank critical specialties and shifts
Determine which vacancies create the greatest operational impact. Consider patient care, required coverage, employee workload and the difficulty of finding qualified professionals in your market.
Confirm credentialing and onboarding requirements
Document the licenses, certifications, health records, background checks, training and facility-specific steps required for each priority role. Clear requirements help a staffing partner identify qualified candidates and reduce avoidable delays.
Establish one point of contact and a response process
Choose who can request staff, approve candidates and confirm schedules. Agree on how urgent needs will be communicated and what information must be included. A clear process helps everyone move faster when coverage is needed.
A staffing plan should answer a simple question: if a critical gap opened tomorrow, would your team know exactly what to do next?
What Clinicians Should Take From the Trend
The projections also matter for nurses, medical assistants, imaging professionals, therapy professionals, behavioral health staff and other healthcare workers considering their next move.
Growing demand can create more options, but the best opportunity is not always the first opening or the highest advertised rate. Clinicians should also consider:
Schedule and shift expectations
Care setting and patient population
Assignment length
Commute or travel requirements
Onboarding and clinical support
Opportunities to build experience or move toward a long-term goal
Per diem work may offer schedule flexibility. A contract can provide a defined period of consistent work or experience in a new setting. Temp-to-hire gives both sides time to evaluate fit, while direct hire may be right for clinicians ready to make a longer-term move.
Prepare for Demand Before It Becomes an Emergency
The latest BLS projections do not mean every healthcare facility will face the same hiring challenge. They do show that healthcare demand is likely to remain a major part of the labor market through 2035.
Facilities that plan early have more choices. They can decide which needs require permanent hires, where flexible coverage can protect the existing team and how to respond when demand changes.
WSi Healthcare Personnel has supported healthcare facilities and professionals since 1988. We provide per diem, contract, temp-to-hire and direct-hire healthcare staffing solutions designed around the actual needs of each facility.
For healthcare facilities: Talk with WSi about a flexible staffing plan before the next vacancy or coverage gap becomes urgent.
For healthcare professionals: Explore current healthcare opportunities and find the schedule, setting and assignment that fit your goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are healthcare staffing solutions?
Healthcare staffing solutions connect facilities with qualified professionals through models such as per diem, contract, temp-to-hire and direct hire. The right option depends on the length, urgency and long-term purpose of the staffing need.
How can flexible healthcare staffing help a facility?
Flexible staffing can help facilities cover call-outs, leaves, open shifts, census changes and extended vacancies. It adds capacity without requiring every short-term need to become a permanent hire.
What is per diem healthcare staffing?
Per diem healthcare staffing provides professionals for individual shifts or short-term coverage based on facility demand. It is often used for call-outs, planned absences, high-volume periods and schedule gaps.
When should a facility use contract staffing instead of per diem staffing?
Contract staffing is generally a better fit when coverage is needed for a defined period and schedule consistency matters. Per diem staffing is better suited to shorter or changing shift needs.
How should a facility begin healthcare workforce planning?
Start by identifying recurring gaps, ranking critical roles and shifts, documenting credentialing requirements and assigning a point of contact who can approve staffing decisions. A staffing partner can then help match each need to the right staffing model.
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