Supporting Healthy Communities
GEORGIA CHAMBER FOUNDATION
2025 Economic Reports: What to Expect
The Georgia Chamber Foundation is excited to continue to produce tailored insights on issues of the utmost importance to the statewide business community. These reports will align with the five Prosperity Pillars that comprise the Georgia Chamber’s new strategic plan: GEORGIA|2050.
More information about GEORGIA|2050 and the focus pillar of this report, Regional Prosperity and Healthy Communities, is included below. The data included here illustrates opportunities in Georgia, as well as actionable solutions to enhance prosperity for Georgians.
GEORGIA|2050 is built to help our businesses navigate the fastest economic transitions in Georgia history.
For decades, Georgia has thrived on a foundation of steady, pro-business policies and under sound political leadership. This stability has sent a clear message to both global and local businesses that Georgia is committed to their success. Georgia has proved itself to be state that listens, acts, and partners with businesses to meet their challenges and cultivate a future of shared growth. This reliable environment has drawn quality investment, creating jobs and opportunities for generations to come.
However, as we look to the future, we recognize that this stability may face challenges. Political landscapes evolve, disruptions arise, and new risks emerge. GEORGIA|2050 is the Georgia Chamber’s bold initiative to anticipate risks and equip leaders with the tools they need to sustain Georgia’s record-breaking economic success. GEORGIA|2050 offers forward-thinking solutions to mitigate risk and capitalize on opportunities in an increasingly complex and interconnected global economy.
GEORGIA|2050 is a plan with a clear purpose: to continue convening, educating, equipping, and empowering our members, investors, and legislative partners with a foundation and blueprint for long-term economic policymaking.
Georgia’s future depends on the strength of its partnerships. From main street businesses to corporate giants, local and state leaders, regional chambers and beyond. GEORGIA|2050, will elevate these partnerships, fostering a culture of corporate citizenship, free enterprise, and collaborative servant leadership.
Regional Prosperity and Healthy Communities
Regional Prosperity and Healthy Communities is one of the five Prosperity Pillars of GEORGIA|2050. Regional prosperity ensures that every community— urban, hub, and rural—has access to economic opportunity. We will continue the work out of the Georgia Chamber’s Center for Rural Prosperity and the Hub Chamber Council to strengthen the economy in every corner of the state. Georgians need access to quality healthcare to sustain vibrant communities with a quality of life that attracts and retains the next generation of talent.
Top Challenges
Healthcare needs continue to intensify due to an aging population and talent shortages. This means that the state’s healthcare workforce also must increase to meet growing demand. Low reimbursement rates, increased regulation, and uncompensated care have caused many hospitals to struggle financially, and in rural communities, lower patient density amplifies these issues.
Top Opportunities
While these are significant challenges, utilizing inn ovative programs such as Georgia Access and Pathways to Coverage provide strong solutions to decreasing the state’s uninsured population, which could help reduce uncom pensated care of healthcare systems. Georgia is continuing to invest in the medical talent pipeline, establishing the new University of Georgia School of Medicine and a new dental school at Georgia Southern University. These programs, along with other professional healthcare programs at Georgia’s post-secondary institutions, will be essential to increasing Georgia’s number of healthcare workers. The advancement of technology continues to drive flexible solutions to address quality care needs, and rural communities con tinue to lean into partnerships to bolster local providers.
Georgia’s Healthcare Industry
Georgia’s Healthcare and Social Assistance industry is one of Georgia’s largest, supplying well over 500,000 jobs across the state1. This industry encompasses healthcare systems and hospitals, private offices, outpatient and residential care facilities, rehabilitation and family services, and other essential workers who keep Georgia’s communities healthy.
Healthcare Fast Facts
• Georgia is home to 182 hospitals and 34 designated trauma centers
• Georgia’s healthcare industry supports 570,000 jobs with 14% historic job growth
• Average earnings per worker tops $77,000
• Industry value added exceeds $53 billion
• Georgia hospitals provide over $2 billion in hospital uncompensated care
• The state of Georgia has the 3rd highest percentage of uninsured residents
Despite strong job growth – with a 14% increase in the total number of jobs in Georgia over the last five years – the number of employees in the state is, and is expected to remain, lower than comparable regions. This lower talent supply could make it more difficult for employers to find employees despite salaries and job postings being competitive with other regions2
Georgia’s major hospital systems continue to face challenges related to uninsured patient care3 . While experts predict that technology solutions and adoptions will continue to improve care quality and lower costs4, increasing the number of insured individuals in the state is critical to ensuring a self-sustaining healthcare system.
Additionally, emerging national trends suggest that specialized medical care and specialty pharmaceutical practices will become more prevalent as patient expectations evolve5. This will require further adaptability of our healthcare systems and threaten those that may already lag behind more-resourced healthcare systems.
Top Trends Impacting Georgia’s Ability to Support Healthy Communities
Addressing Demographic Shifts
Healthcare needs continue to intensify due to an aging population and talent shortages. This means that the state’s healthcare workforce also must increase to meet growing demand. Low reimbursement rates, increased regulation, and uncompensated care have caused many hospitals to struggle financially, and in rural communities, lower patient density amplifies these issues.
Top Opportunities
It is no secret that the United States’s population is aging. Much like in other developed countries, birth rates have declined, and people are living longer. This will be particularly noticeable in Georgia’s rural and small metropolitan regions, which continue to retain and attract retirees. Georgia’s population of individuals 65 years and older is expected to increase by 1.2 million individuals over the next 25 years, compared to a 610,000-person increase of people aged 40 to 64 6 . In fact, the age group of those over 65 years old is the fastest growing population group in the state.7 This shift means that by 2050, 20% of Georgia’s population will be over the age of 65, greatly impacting the needs of our healthcare systems.8
Increased Age is Associated with Greater Per-Capita Demand for Healthcare
Nationally, those 65 and older account for 36% of all healthcare spending, despite making up only 18% of the population.9 Healthcare spending of those under 64 is more concentrated to specific groups, but there are more 64+ year-olds needing greater levels of healthcare, compared to their younger counterparts. While this is not a new development, it does mean there will be increased needs and demands on our healthcare infrastructure, especially as the state’s population also continues to grow over the next 25 years.
Georgia’s Healthcare Workforce
The healthcare industry encompasses a wide range of occupations and workforce needs.
From 2022 to 2032, Georgia is expected to add 66,000 new positions and lose 173,000 workers to exits, including retirements and individuals choosing different professions. This leaves a gap of over 239,000 workers . 10
As technology continues to be incorporated into the healthcare industry, workers will require upskilling and additional training, and the healthcare IT sector will continue to grow.11 One challenge to this growing healthcare workforce need is that Georgia already faces challenges to retaining healthcare faculty, in many cases limiting class offerings in educational programs. Additionally, an increased desire for specialty training may limit or dictate where the workforce is flowing, rather than salary or need alone.12
TOP SKILLS REQUIRED AMONG TOP JOB POSTINGS
Nursing and Nursing Care
Home Health Care
Care Coordination
Geriatrics and Pediatrics
Georgia’s Nursing Shortage
Registered nurses and specialty or support nurses continue to be the top-posted occupation from 2022 through 2024.13 Georgia is not alone in facing nursing staff shortages, though it is an outlier compared to neighboring states like South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee, which maintain closer to 10 nurses per 1,000 people, compared to Georgia’s seven nurses per 1,000 people.
Low nursing ratios are associated with elevated errors, mortality rates, heightened burnout, and even hospital closures.14
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS BY JOB POSTINGS
Physicians’ Office
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
Home Health Care Services
Several compounding factors contribute to this gap. The nursing industry continues to recover from the many early retirements that took place in 2020, and the wave of burnout that followed. Georgia’s many talent pathways produce strong talent, but attracting nursing faculty and providing training slots can be difficult when wages of practicing nurses are much higher, which constricts the flow of talent through pipelines15 .
However, Georgia experienced an increase in the nurse rate per 100K residents from 2020 to 2023, as well as a slight decline in average age.16 This is a promising sign that the worker pool is attracting and retaining more young healthcare professionals than in prior years. Furthermore, flexible solutions such as adjunct faculty who are also engaged in the workforce may aid in both faculty and worker retention. Continued investment in faculty attraction and retention will continue to bolster the sector and can protect against widening gaps.
At the doctorate level, Georgia retains a higher share of medical residents than most Southeastern and neighboring states. Fifty-nine percent of medical residents who study in Georgia remain to practice in the state, which is above the state average of 54.9%.17
However, gaps among specialties and practice location still present challenges. The American Hospital Association notes that Georgia suffers talent gaps, particularly in pediatric and family medicine, and that Georgia is among the top five worst in the nation.18
Professional expectations at the physician level may also influence talent shortages regionally. Oftentimes, specialization is considered more prestigious than general medicine practice. 19 Not only does this cut the pool of general practitioners, but it limits talent to offices with hyper-specialized focuses - generally in larger metropolitan areas with large populations or research centers.
Workforce Gaps in Georgia
In 9 counties in GA, there is no physician.
In 40 counties, one fourth of all GA counties, there is no internal medicine physician.
In 65 counties – more than a third – there is no pediatrician. In 82 counties – more than half – there is no OB-GYN.
In 90 counties, there is no psychiatrist.
The Future of Georgia’s Healthcare Facilities and Closing Pay Gaps
Since 2013, 18 hospitals have closed across Georgia , with closures split between rural and urban areas. 20
Low reimbursement rates, increased regulation, and uncompensated care have caused many hospitals to struggle financially, and low patient volumes amplify these issues in rural communities.21
Georgia’s Hospitals Provide Significant Levels of Uncompensated Care
Another notable challenge to healthcare access and affordability is the level of uncompensated care provided by Georgia hospitals. Georgia hospitals provide over $2.7 billion in uncompensated care, $1.8 billion of which does not include charity care.22 This is due in large part to the number of uninsured people in the state – over 280,000 Georgians. 23 When hospitals cannot properly collect compensation for care, hospitals must then balance losses with commercial payers in order to continue to provide service.24 In severe cases, this can result in the closure of entire departments and hospitals, leaving significant gaps in communities that often already struggle to access and maintain healthcare services.
Rural Georgia’s Hospitals
Georgia’s rural healthcare systems are disproportionately affected by low reimbursement and high uncompensated care rates. These systems rarely have substantial enough patient volumes to balance such losses and are more likely to have a higher rate of uninsured patients.
Promisingly, as of January 2025, 29% of Georgia’s rural hospitals are at risk of closing, down from prior year estimates of upwards of 43%.25 Unfortunately, some hospital systems closed departments to mitigate closure risk26, and 41% of Georgia’s rural hospitals are continuing to operate with losses on services.27
Rural hospitals are integral to the communities they serve. They offer quality employment and affect the region’s ability to attract economic development. Rural communities have higher rates of population in professional healthcare shortage areas, at 64% compared to 27% in Metro Atlanta, and a higher population of persons in poor health.28 The services that rural hospitals provide are critical in maintaining the health of rural communities where solo health practitioners may be more scarce.
The largest group of uninsured Georgians below 100% FPL is between the age of 19–64
A Georgia rural hospital generates an estimated $7.5 billion in economic impact on a single rural community.
Advancing Actionable Solutions
Industry Solutions
Expanding Insurance Awareness and Accessibility
• Promote the Georgia Access and Pathways to Coverage program, which plays a vital role in connecting all Georgians with health coverage. For additional details on a ccess and eligibility, visit the Department of Community Health Page
• Expand the roles of community health workers to improve care coordination and reduce costs associated with emergency medical care— especially in underserved areas. These professionals act as liaisons between patients and providers, helping individuals navigate the complexities of the healthcare system while promoting preventive care. Targeted funding and career training programs serve as pathways to integrate community healthcare workers further into Georgia’s healthcare framework.
Investing in Health IT Platforms and Developing Technologies
• Investing in health IT infrastructure can streamline access to services, reduce administrative burdens, and enhance regular patient engagement.
• Expanding the use of telemedicine, especially in rural communities, ensures that individuals receive timely consultations without extensive travel.
• Supporting the further development and expansion of interoperable health record systems can improve care coordination between providers and reduce duplication of services.
Rural Solutions
Supporting Rural Hospitals
• Rural healthcare stabilization grants represent an option for at-risk facilities to maintain essential services while improving operational efficiency.
• More coordination and emphasis on regional healthcare hubs can reduce strain on smaller hospitals and ensure access to specialized care among all geographic areas of the state.
Bolstering Economic Vitality and Confidence in Communities and Local Health Providers
• Strengthening economic opportunity in a community may also strengthen healthcare systems while attracting and retaining the patient base needed to operate.
• Targeted Talent Recruitment and Retention Strategies State supported rural healthcare fellowships can assist in incentivizing new physicians and medical professionals to train and establish practices in underserved regions.
• Partnerships with local education systems offer a way for rural hospitals and communities to meet workforce needs with members of their own community.
Workforce Solutions
Partnership-Driven Workforce Initiatives
• Strengthen collaboration between medical schools, nursing programs at universities and technical colleges, hospitals, and their communities to increase the number of graduates ready to enter the healthcare workforce.
Private and State-Backed Incentive Programs
• Tuition reimbursement or loan forgiveness for healthcare professionals who commit to working in rural or underserved areas, and in fields facing shortages can address immediate staffing needs and long-term workforce sustainability.
Currently, Georgia offers loan repayment programs in several different industry sectors. More information about Georgia loan repayment programs can be found HERE
Solution Spotlight: Phoebe Putney Living and Learning Community
Phoebe’s Living & Learning Community is an innovative project that addresses the critical shortage of nurses, which is especially severe in Georgia. Phoebe Putney Health System has become a nationwide leader in healthcare workforce development, and the Living & Learning Community is the centerpiece of Phoebe’s efforts to work with education partners to vastly expand the pipeline of nurses and other healthcare professionals in southwest Georgia. It is also giving the region an economic boost by bringing development to the Jefferson Street corridor leading to downtown Albany. This unique 130,000 square-foot medical education and housing complex opened in August 2024 on the site of a former public school where generations of Albany students were educated.
The education space on the first floor of the Phoebe Living & Learning Community includes telehealth-enhanced classrooms, skills labs, meeting rooms, a library, a health career education center and social amenities. In addition to the registered nurse and licensed practical nurse programs, the facility is also home to Albany Technical College’s certified nurse aide and phlebotomy programs. The second and third floors of the Living & Learning Community include 80 apartments, as well as common areas to encourage social interaction and collaboration. The Albany Tech Foundation Housing Scholarship and the Phoebe Work Commitment Program provide housing assistance to ensure equal housing opportunities for interested students.
To learn more, read HERE
1 Georgia Department of Labor, Non-Agricultural Employment Reports
2 Lightcast, Healthcare and Social Assistance Industry Report. Accessed 2.2025
3 Georgia Hospital Association
4 McKinsey, What to Expect in US Healthcare in 2024 and Beyond
5 McKinsey, What to Expect in US Healthcare in 2024 and Beyond
6 Georgia Office of Planning and Budget, Residential Population Projections
7 Georgia Department of Community Health, Healthcare Workforce Commission Final Report
8 Georgia Office of Planning and Budget, Residential Population Projections
9 Peterson – KFF, Health Systems Tracker Dashboard
10 Georgia Department of Community Health, Georgia Healthcare Workforce Commission: Final Report
11 McKinsey, What to Expect in US Healthcare in 2024 and Beyond
12 Duquesne University. (2023). The Shortage of Healthcare Workers in the U.S. Article, Retrieved from: The Shortage of Healthcare Workers in the U.S.
13 Lightcast, Region and Industry Reports, Accessed 2.2025
14 U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Data Deep Dive: A National Nursing Crisis
15 U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Data Deep Dive: A National Nursing Crisis
16 Georgia Board of Healthcare Workforce, State of Georgia Nursing Workforce Dashboard
17 Association of American Medical Colleges, Report on Residents, Table C6. Accessed 10.2024
18 American Hospital Association, 5 Health Care Workforce Shortage Takeaways for 2028
19 Duquesne University. (2023). The Shortage of Healthcare Workers in the U.S. Article, Retrieved from: The Shortage of Healthcare Workers in the U.S.
20 Georgia Hospital Association, Advocacy: Hospital Closures List 21 Rural Health Information Hub, Rural Hospitals Overview
22 Georgia Hospital Association, Annual Economic Impact Report
23 Georgia Department of Community Health, Georgia Uninsured and Marketplace Population Data
24 Georgia Hospital Association, Presentation 2.23.2024
25 Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform, Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closing. Report accessed 2.2025
26 Atlanta Journal Constitution, Georgia’s Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closure Report Finds. April 11 2024
27 Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform, Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closing. Report accessed 2.2025
28 Rural Health Innovation Center, Rural Data Explorer: Health Care Professional Shortage Areas