Federal projections show healthcare support and technical roles growing faster than any other occupational group through 2035. For surgery centers and outpatient facilities, allied health staffing is becoming the next pressure point.

Healthcare will add more than 2.2 million jobs from 2025 to 2035, and the fastest growth will come from healthcare support occupations, according to the latest employment projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Private healthcare and social assistance will account for about 37% of all new U.S. jobs over the decade, BLS projects. Healthcare support roles are expected to grow 13.3% and healthcare practitioner and technical roles 8.0%, making them the two fastest-growing occupational groups in the economy. Together, they will make up almost one-third of all new jobs created through 2035.

Much of that growth sits in allied health: the therapists, technicians, and assistants who keep pre-op, imaging, sterile processing, PACU, and rehab running. For facility leaders who have spent the past several years focused on nurse and physician shortages, the projections point to a second set of roles that will be harder to fill.

Allied health roles lead the fastest-growing list

Four allied health occupations rank among the 10 fastest-growing jobs of the decade: physical therapist assistants, occupational therapy assistants, psychiatric technicians, and ophthalmic medical technicians, according to BLS.

Demand for respiratory therapists is also climbing. BLS projects employment in the field to grow 9% over the decade, with about 8,600 openings each year, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Each of these roles requires a license or certification, and the credentialed talent pool in any given market is limited. Hospitals, health systems, surgery centers, and post-acute providers recruit from the same local pools, so a hire at one facility often leaves a gap at another. A national allied health shortage shows up at the facility level as a role that stays open for months.

Why the gap reaches the OR first

Patient capacity depends on every role in the care chain. A facility can add surgeons and nurses and still lose cases if its support staff can’t keep pace.

Ambulatory surgery centers feel this quickly because many run lean teams where a single certified surgical tech or PACU nurse covers a full day of cases. When that person calls out, the schedule moves: first cases get pushed, rooms sit idle, and surgeons wait. A full nursing roster doesn’t prevent it.

As outpatient volumes grow and procedures move out of the hospital, more facilities depend on those single points of coverage.

Staffing costs remain under pressure

The staffing market itself is showing signs of recovery. Staffing Industry Analysts reported this week that the U.S. staffing market is improving for the first time in three years, though margins remain compressed.

Facility leaders face the same squeeze on labor spend. Facilities that wait until an allied health gap turns urgent often pay premium rates for last-minute coverage, at a time when budgets have little room to absorb it.

Matching staffing plans to demand

The projected growth raises questions for facilities about which roles will be hardest to fill and where they lack backup coverage. The size of the local credentialed workforce, the time needed to train staff, and plans for new services or equipment can all affect how facilities prepare.

The response may depend on the type of gap. Steady growth can support a case for permanent hires, while per diem coverage may help facilities manage fluctuating volumes, seasonal demand, and leaves of absence. Cross-training and internal development offer other ways to build coverage.

Building a bench before the gap opens

Facilities that manage allied health staffing well identify which allied and support roles are single points of failure. They keep a bench of credentialed per diem professionals who have already worked shifts at their facility. And they can post a shift, confirm coverage, and track what each filled shift costs without a phone tree or a spreadsheet.

Medely’s marketplace connects facilities with credentialed nursing and allied health professionals, including the surgical techs, PACU nurses, and specialty roles that ASCs and outpatient centers rely on, so teams can build a familiar bench before a vacancy forces a rushed decision.

The BLS job-growth forecasts are a warning to plan ahead: facilities should figure out which workers they rely on and arrange backup coverage before they’re short-staffed.

See how Medely helps facilities build a per diem bench → click here to get started!