Hospitals lost 7,100 jobs last month, the first time they have posted an employment loss since February, according to the most recent jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The job losses in hospitals and nursing care facilities (-5,900) offset the major job gains made by ambulatory care settings, which added 21,300 jobs last month.
The healthcare industry has a whole added 7,000 jobs in July.
These numbers represent a major slowdown from earlier in 2014, as healthcare had added an average of 18,000 jobs each month through June.