On Thursday, Seton Family of Hospitals will hold a state-fair-themed job fair, with extra lures for prospects — chances to win iPods and gift cards worth up to $1,000. Later this month, St. David's HealthCare will host an event at Dave & Busters in North Austin for recently graduated registered nurses, with interviews on the spot for jobs at its five area facilities. At Fort Hood, physician assistants can get $15,000 signing bonuses if they go to work at a new brain injury treatment clinic.

"There's a large shortage of health care providers in a multitude of specialties," said Tracy Young, vice president of marketing for Spectrum Healthcare Resources, a military contractor helping fill the jobs. "To find and identify providers, we need to be competitive."

Health care is a booming sector of the Austin economy, reflected in a tight job market where salaries and incentives are rising.

As the region's population grows and ages, health care providers are rushing to add facilities and services, and struggling to find the employees to staff them, everything from medical clerks to administrators and technicians to operate sophisticated diagnostic and treatment equipment.

The region gained two new hospitals this year, and a surge in construction will add at least nine more facilities with about 900 beds by 2012.

Medical office space is sprouting near the hospitals, including a $30 million to $40 million project planned for Round Rock's emerging medical corridor along University Boulevard. Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas has attracted several major facilities, including a three-story medical office campus set to open next year and Strictly Pediatrics, a children's surgery center.

Physicians are opening new speciality centers for everything from cancer treatment to cosmetic surgery.

"Demand for health care is rising across the state," said D'Ann Petersen, associate economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "Health care demand is rising nationwide as the baby boomers age and new technology changes the delivery of medical services. The state's rapidly growing population is another driver for health care employment, and Austin is no exception."

Employers say their most urgent need is for nurses. By 2010, the region will need another 8,000 nurses to fill new jobs, plus more to replace those who retire, according to the Health Industry Steering Committee, a collaboration of major providers focused on the staffing shortages in the Austin area.

A Seton study found that the region will have a shortage of 168 specialists and 206 family practice and internal medicine doctors by next year alone.

Given a nationwide shortage, that means Austin will have to compete with many other cities to attract physicians to move here.

Employers and universities are moving as fast as they can to address the nursing shortage.

The University of Texas and Austin Community College nursing programs graduate about 300 nurses a year. Both programs added student slots this year.

Concordia University and Texas State University have programs planned that combined could produce another 200 graduate nurses a year by 2010. The St. David's School of Nursing is set to open at Texas State's Round Rock campus that same year.

At its Clinical Education Center at Brackenridge Hospital, Seton is providing mentoring and training for new graduates as they transition to the work force. Seton has an uphill climb. The hospital system has 3,000 nurses but needs to hire 2,000 more in the coming years.

"It's a very competitive market for new graduates as well as experienced nurses," said Joyce Batcheller, senior vice president and chief of nursing for Seton. "So retention is a critical tool. It's something that we constantly pay attention to."

In June, Seton hosted a "Nurse Jam," with a goal to hire 100 nurses in 30 days. The hiring spree included referral bonuses of $2,000 for Seton nurses who brought in an applicant and a grand prize of $10,000.

Solving the doctor shortage is a tougher proposition. The long-term answer, a local medical school, is several years away.

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center is expected to open a clinical campus next summer in Round Rock and could build a permanent campus in the future.

The University of Texas is building the Dell Pediatric Research Institute near the children's hospital, which could evolve into a medical school, although UT System regents and the Legislature would need to approve the facility.

cgrisales@statesman.com, 912-5933

Health care building boom

New hospitals and expansions planned in Central Texas in the next five years

1.Seton Medical Center Williamson

First phase of new hospital will have 181 beds, cancer center, medical offices.

Completion: Early 2008

2.Cedar Park Regional Medical Center

151 beds

Completion: January 2008

3.St. David's Round Rock

Expansion of facilities for newborn care

Completion: Early 2008

4.St. David's North Austin Medical Center

New hospital for women, expansion of obstetrics facilities

Completion: March 2009

5.Seton Medical Center

Five-story addition, including expanded obstetrics facilities

Completion: December 2008

6.Seton Medical Center Kyle

210-bed hospital, medical offices

Completion: 2012

Scott & White

U.S. 281 and U.S. 81, south of Marble Falls

120-bed hospital as part of Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center

Completion: 2009

Smithville Regional Hospital Bastrop

Downtown Bastrop

Future hospital to be built on 28 acres

Central Texas Rehabilitation Hospital

Location to be determined

76-bed facility; 20-bed interim facility opened in August at Seton Medical Center

Completion: 2009

Central Texas Specialty Hospital

Location to be determined

40-bed facility

Completion: 2009

New this year

A. Dell Children's Medical Center of Texas

169-bed hospital opened in June

B. Scott & White Hospital at University Medical Campus

72-bed hospital opened in July