Futuro Health Announces Six New Partners to Tackle Health Worker Shortage Worsened by Coronavirus

Partners combine strengths to fortify the healthcare workforce with adults whose employment is disrupted by the pandemic

News provided by

Futuro Health

Mar 26, 2020, 11:00 ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Before COVID-19, California had a projected need of approximately 500,000 allied healthcare workers by 2024, according to Public Policy Institute of California.

The pandemic has exacerbated this need. To ramp up efforts to address this critical demand, Futuro Health today announced six new partners in its quest to produce more credentialed healthcare workers for the state and nation.

"The pandemic is bringing to light the importance of the health workforce," said Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. "With our partners, we will work to fortify the care teams at the front line and help redeploy talent sidelined by the pandemic. Our combined efforts can accelerate the transition of individuals into healthcare roles, as well as equip current workers with skillsets needed for this moment of crisis."

Futuro Health is a new nonprofit focused on improving the health and wealth of communities by growing the largest network of credentialed allied healthcare workers in the nation, starting in California. The nonprofit launched in January 2020 through a $130 million commitment by Kaiser Permanente and the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW). Allied health roles comprise a wide range of clinical, administrative and support functions, such as medical assistants, care coordinators, heath IT specialists and others.

Bay Area Medical Academy; California Community Colleges' California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative; InsideTrack; MTI College; Pima Medical Institute; and Voxy join Futuro Health to expand healthcare education programs across California. Western Governors University was previously announced as a partner.

"We are watching Futuro Health reshape the learning ecosystem and bring together quality partners intent on improving the adult student journey toward a credential helpful to our nation's healthcare system," said William D. Hansen, CEO of Strada Education Network. "It's now clearer than ever that a strong healthcare workforce is vital to our national safety and security. We are proud that the student success experts at InsideTrack, a Strada affiliate, are a part of the ecosystem of support that Futuro Health has assembled."

To be considered for Futuro Health courses and programs, visit futurohealth.org/allied-health programs/.

To receive email updates from Futuro Health, subscribe at futurohealth.org/connect-with-us/.

About Our Partners

Bay Area Medical Academy (BAMA) has been a leader in healthcare workforce training in the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years, providing customized training programs for healthcare employers for up-skilling and re-skilling of their workforce. An award-winning social enterprise, this community-based school offers scholarships to individuals and discounted tuition to non-profits and organizations working to alleviate poverty. BAMA offers quality academic instruction and job-oriented, skills-training in Medical Assisting, Phlebotomy, EKG, Pharmacy Technology and Nursing Assisting. We strive for a community where everyone is given equal opportunities to succeed and we believe that education is the best way to empower individuals to move up the economic ladder.

California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative (CVC is a state-wide initiative providing online infrastructure, support services, and an inventory of course and program offerings from California Community Colleges. To ensure that significantly more students are able to complete their educational goals, CVC focuses on increasing access to and success in high-quality online courses through the CVC Exchange, which helps students search for and enroll in online classes across California Community Colleges.

InsideTrack partners with colleges, universities and others to improve student enrollment, completion and career readiness. Since 2001, InsideTrack has directly supported more than 2 million students and currently works with more than 4,000 academic programs nationwide. InsideTrack also supports employers in maximizing the value of their employee education benefits.

MTI College was voted the best vocational school in Sacramento and understands the needs of its students both educationally and financially. Regionally accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, MTI offers high-quality, hands-on learning at low tuition rates with easy access to government grants and loans to those that qualify.

PIMA Medical Institute Founded in Tucson in 1972, PMI has built a reputation as one of the best medical career colleges in the Western United States. Pima Medical's mission is to improve the quality of people's lives by providing the best value in medical career education. PMI offers certificate, associate and bachelor's degree programs – all in the healthcare field. It also has a robust online learning division. Programs focus on medical, dental and veterinary careers.

Voxy is a digital English program that harnesses AI to create the most effective approach to adult language learning. Its task-based, industry-specific courses support equitable and inclusive talent development in the healthcare sector and enable new and flexible career pathways for immigrant and refugee allied health workers.

About Futuro Health:

Futuro Health improves the health and wealth of communities by growing the largest network of credentialed allied health care workers in the nation. We believe investing in education and skills training and retraining results in better-paying jobs for workers, better service for patients and better workers for businesses to hire. Kaiser Permanente and Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) partnered to establish Futuro Health in January 2020 with a $130 million commitment to grow the largest network of credentialed allied healthcare workers, starting in California, and scaling throughout the nation. More information on futurohealth.org.

Contact: Celina Shands (858) 735-2883

SOURCE Futuro Health