Hospitals' impact

Missouri's hospitals produce many quality employment options and are a strong economic driving force for local communities.

A recently released report from the Community Policy Analysis Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the Missouri Hospital Association noted that health care expenditures accounted for 17.6 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2009.

The report says that the health care and social assistance sector provided about 10 percent of Missouri's total jobs in 2008, and in 2009 it became the leading private sector employer. Since 2006, 31,500 health care sector jobs have been added in the state, while total nonfarm employment dropped by 151,200 jobs.

Hospitals are a major component of health care employment. In 2009 payrolls for Missouri hospitals totaled $6.79 billion. Hospitals in Southeast Missouri accounted for nearly $350.5 million of the payroll and benefits total. In the same year, about 8,500 individuals in Southeast Missouri were employed, either full or part time, by the region's hospitals.

The impact hospitals have on a region goes beyond direct employment. The report highlights about one-eighth of our state's economy can be attributed to its hospitals.

Thanks to our local hospitals' and medical professionals' good reputations and regional accessibility, Cape Girardeau is the beneficiary of quality health care and an economic engine that affects a wide range of industries.