The health care and bioscience industry had a $44 billion impact on the San Antonio economy in 2021, according to a new study from the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. That’s a more than $2 billion increase from the last time this study was done, in 2019. It's a nearly $15 billion increase more than 10 years ago.
San Antonio Medical Foundation President Jim Reed says one of the secrets to the sector’s growth is collaboration.
“We have Southwest Research, Texas Biomed, Biobridge Global, the (UT Health San Antonio) Health Science Center, UTSA, and the largest military health care complex in the world. And by working together, we can do some things and have proven that during the COVID years that no other city or entity can do," Reed said.
Hospitals made the biggest impact on the San Antonio economy. Physicians' offices, pharma and medical devices businesses, research and education, social services and the insurance industry also contributed to the $44 billion figure.
The San Antonio Healthcare and Bioscience Economic Impact Study also determined that one in five of the people who work in San Antonio work in the healthcare or bioscience industry, making a combined $11 billion.
The average health services salary in San Antonio was more than $63,000 in 2021. Those in the bioscience sector made an average of more than $83,000. The average salary in San Antonio across all industries is just over $57,000.
Reed would like to see more of these well paying health care and bioscience jobs go to people who are from here.
“These are health care type jobs, not just as doctors and nurses, but all the way up and down the line," Reed said. "Within the last three to five years, you're seeing real efforts for magnet type schools that focus in on what the needs are.”
In addition to local health care magnet schools, the study noted that UT Health San Antonio has expanded medical training programs in its schools of medicine, dentistry, health professions, nursing and graduate biomedical sciences in an effort to nurture local talent.
