Through the first 11 months of 2014 the first full year of Medicaid expansion in Ohio statewide employment in health care and social assistance, which includes jobs at hospitals, doctors offices and other facilities providing medical care, rose by about 7,000 positions, according to figures from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

Thats up about 1 percent from job growth in the health sector for the same period a year ago, and just slightly below the full-year forecast. The figures, however, do not reflect jobs created in other sectors that benefit indirectly from increased health care spending.

The influx of federal dollars into Ohio to fund the expansion of Medicaid was projected to boost employment in health care and other industries by at least 9,000 jobs by the end of last year, according to economic impact studies from the Urban Institute and Regional Economic Modeling Inc.

When additional funds are coming in for any particular type of programyou would expect to see job growth tied to additional expenditures in those areas, said Richard Stock, director of the Business Research Group at the University of Dayton. That would be as true for something like the Affordable Care Act and increases in Medicaid spending as for (U.S. Department of Defense) spending.

Still, its hard to say exactly what percentage of job growth can be attributed to the $2.5 billion in extra Medicaid funds Ohio accepted to expand Medicaid eligibility.

An improving economy has boosted overall job growth and is at least partly responsible for growth in the health care sector.

But the addition to Ohios Medicaid rolls of more than 450,000 residents, who became newly eligible last year under guidelines granting coverage to most adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, has created a huge group of new health care consumers who are driving hiring at local medical practices.

Over the past two years, our Medicaid volume has increased steadily.and we have services in place that required additional staffing, said Holly Card, director of oncology services at Dayton Physicians Network, the largest oncology practice in the local area.

Robin Arthur, a recent hire, said she left Five Rivers Medical Surgical Health Center in Dayton last September because of a surge in new Medicaid patients that placed increased demands on staff.

We enrolled a lot of Medicaid patients last year at Five Rivers because of expansion, and I became more of a case manager than a specialist, Arthur said. I came here (Dayton Physicians) because I wanted to be able to focus on oncology infusion.

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Health care jobs spike with Medicaid expansion