Healthcare companies to hire veterans
Companies are joining national campaigns or starting their own
From the federal government to Wal-Mart, companies are pledging to hire military veterans, and whether signing on to national campaigns or starting their own, healthcare companies are joining the cause.
“We’re focusing on U.S. citizens who have served this country and deserve to have a good job,” said Dean Boyer, chief technical officer of Health Revenue Assurance Holdings (HRAA), a provider of revenue integrity technology solutions and services for healthcare organizations. HRAA has pledged to hire at least 30 veterans by 2014 as part of the Hiring 500,000 Heroes, a national initiative spearheaded by Capital One and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
[See also: Healthcare jobs continue to increase at start of 2013]
“I think there is a patriotic duty to being involved in this,” Boyer said.
One of the main reasons for hiring veterans initiatives is because veteran unemployment is typically higher compared to the rest of the nation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in January, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans climbed to 11.7 percent, up from 9.9 percent in December, while the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.9 percent.
“We have found that there are currently three main military populations faced with crisis-level unemployment: post-9/11 veterans, veterans aged 24 and under and military spouses,” said Kim Morton, a spokeswoman for Hiring Our Heroes, the umbrella program for Hiring 500,000 Heroes. “Veterans 24 and under face almost double the unemployment rate of their non-veteran counterparts. Military spouse unemployment in 2012 weighed in at 26 percent, more than three times the national average.”
Healthcare providers call at least once a week to sign up for one of the program’s regional hiring fairs, Morton said.
“The whole key is to raise awareness of the problem and also help them [veterans] get connected to an appropriate job site,” said James H. Duke, Jr., MD, professor of surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center and Memorial Hermann-TMC and co-founder of the Texas Medical Center’s Hiring: Red, White & You!, an initiative designed to increase hiring of military veterans.
The Texas Medical Center in Houston, which comprises 54 member institutions, has hired close to 1,000 veterans since launching its Hiring: Red, White & You! initiative last year.
“They are great hires,” Duke said. “They understand discipline, they understand being neat and punctual, they understand what a mission is and they can carry it out.”
