Omega Healthcare ramps up US-licensed Filipino nurse hiring by 40%

Outsourced medical services provider Omega Healthcare Philippines said it will increase its workforce of United States-licensed Filipino nurses to about 40% to meet the rising demand for healthcare outsourcing services abroad.

“This reflects the increasing demand for experienced clinicians who can support overseas healthcare providers while earning competitively at global rates,” Omega Healthcare Philippines Director of Clinical Services Delivery Henriech Libay told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 4% to 4.5% of registered nurses in the United States (US) are Filipino.

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) also projects a steady demand of around 250,000 nurses annually from 2020 to 2030, largely due to the aging population and the growing technical requirements of the healthcare system.

As demand increases, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that a possible shortfall of 11 million health workers could occur by 2030.

With the projected shortage, Mr. Libay said that healthcare organizations, particularly in the US, have relied on internationally trained professionals and outsourcing clinical support teams to assist healthcare providers overseas.

“Instead of relying solely on overseas hiring, many providers are now working with partners that can deliver clinical and operational support remotely,” he said.

The company’s employment is also driven by the growing number of healthcare professionals who prefer staying close to home while working within the global healthcare system.

“Filipino healthcare workers remain among the most sought-after globally because of their strong clinical training, English proficiency, and ability to adapt to international standards,” he said.

“This approach helps meet global demand while also giving Filipino professionals more flexible career options without the need to migrate,” he added.

AI IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR
According to Mr. Libay, Filipino healthcare professionals have “adapted well” to the changes brought by artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare operations globally.

“Many roles today require not only medical knowledge but also familiarity with digital platforms,” he said. “Rather than replacing clinicians, AI is making their roles more specialized and increasingly dependent on experience and critical thinking.”

He added that nurses with bedside experiences and who are open to learning new systems are transitioning well into “technology-enabled” roles brought by AI. “This is one of the reasons Filipino clinicians continue to be in demand even as the healthcare industry evolves.”

Among the new technology-enabled roles in the sector are those under Utilization Management, Case and Disease Management, Population Health Management, and Provider Support.

As AI slowly integrates into the healthcare system, the risk of sensitive data exposure also increases.

Data from the Healthcare Cybersecurity Report 2026 by Netskope Threat Labs revealed that the healthcare sector accounts for 89% of all data policy violations occurring in the context of genAI usage, significantly higher than the cross-industry average of 31%.

The report also added that 43% of healthcare workers globally use personal generative AI (genAI) accounts at work, which are not properly monitored by security teams.

To address this challenge, organizations have deployed “company-approved genAI applications with security controls. Healthcare workers using organization-managed genAI tools rose from 18% to 67% in the past year, outpacing cross-industry averages of 26% to 62%.

“While building defenses against external threats is essential… addressing internal risk is equally important, especially in such a highly-regulated industry and a context of fast-paced cloud and AI adoption,” Ray Canzanese, director of Netskope Threat Labs, said in a statement.

“Deploying company-approved applications… along with relevant security tools, should be a high priority for healthcare organizations to strike a balance between modernization and security,” he added. — Almira Louise S. Martinez