Industry group, 6221
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
6,151,560 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $89,620 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 3.4 billion hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 42%
- 9%
- 49%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 23% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 24% within reach now and 39% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 24%. Today's estimate: 27%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 80% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | 1,902,960 | 21% | 827 million | $100K |
| Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants | 221,430 | 87% | 402 million | $47K |
| Nursing Assistants | 442,820 | 15% | 140 million | $42K |
| Medical Assistants | 133,400 | 41% | 114 million | $47K |
| Nurse Practitioners | 73,610 | 64% | 98 million | $136K |
| Medical Records Specialists | 51,740 | 89% | 96 million | $59K |
| Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan | 61,700 | 74% | 95 million | $46K |
| Radiologic Technologists and Technicians | 135,290 | 27% | 75 million | $81K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 52,720 | 67% | 73 million | $46K |
| Pharmacists | 95,760 | 35% | 71 million | $157K |
| Billing and Posting Clerks | 35,330 | 77% | 56 million | $49K |
| Receptionists and Information Clerks | 32,250 | 83% | 56 million | $40K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 357 smaller jobs (1,241,800 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 99% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Perform administrative or managerial functions, such as taking responsibility for a unit's staff, budget, planning, or long-range goals.Registered Nurses531 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Work with individuals, groups, or families to plan or implement programs designed to improve the overall health of communities.Registered Nurses260 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.Registered Nurses218 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Order, interpret, and evaluate diagnostic tests to identify and assess patient's condition.Registered Nurses113 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients' responses and conditions.Registered Nurses103 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Engage in research activities related to nursing.Registered Nurses94 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Perform bookkeeping duties, such as credits or collections, preparing and sending financial statements or bills, and keeping financial records.Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants89 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Provide or arrange for training or instruction of auxiliary personnel or students.Registered Nurses60 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Operate office equipment, such as voice mail messaging systems, and use word processing, spreadsheet, or other software applications to prepare reports, invoices, financial statements, letters, case histories, or medical records.Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants49 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge.Emergency Medical Technicians44 million hours99% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works