Does Place Still Matter? Rebundling Higher Education for an Unbundled World
By Van Ton-Quinlivan
In preparing for a recent lunchtime panel with the American Council on Education and its 800+ conference attendees—titled “Unbundled. Accelerated. Aligned.”—I found myself returning to a deceptively simple question: What is the value of “place” today, when learning can happen anywhere?
On my panel were executives from Coursera and edX, platforms that collectively reach hundreds of millions of learners worldwide. We were preparing for a provocative discussion—one that would challenge long-held assumptions about the primacy of the physical campus.
For more than a century, colleges and universities have earned public trust by bundling multiple functions into a single, cohesive experience: content, instruction, assessment, credentials, learner support, and community. This campus-based model didn’t just deliver education—it expanded access, fueled innovation, and helped build the American middle class. “Place” mattered because it concentrated opportunity. It signaled quality. It created belonging.
But that bundle is no longer fixed.
With the rise of online platforms, alternative credential providers, and employer-led training, learners now assemble their own pathways from a growing marketplace of options. AI will only accelerate this shift—lowering the cost of content, personalizing instruction, and reshaping assessment in ways we are only beginning to understand. The result is not just more choice, but more fragmentation. The bundle has been broken apart.
And yet, higher education’s role is not diminished—it is being redefined. The central question is no longer whether institutions will unbundle, but how they will rebundle in ways that are meaningful, differentiated, and aligned with today’s learners.
Rebundling higher education for today requires clarity of purpose.
As colleges and universities look to recruit beyond a shrinking pool of traditional high school graduates, they must decide which elements of the bundle are essential—and which can be partnered, outsourced, or reimagined.
Relevance becomes the first test.
What does it mean for learning to translate into economic mobility? Learners are increasingly pragmatic. They are asking: Will this program lead to a job? Will it help me advance? Institutions that can clearly connect learning to labor market outcomes—without reducing education to mere job training—will stand apart.
Human well-being is the second anchor.
If AI and automation reshape work, then distinctly human capabilities—communication, empathy, ethical judgment, resilience—grow in importance. This is where higher education has always had a quiet advantage. The question is whether institutions will lean into it more intentionally. Supporting the “whole learner” is not ancillary; it is central to long-term success in both life and work.
And then there is a third, often underappreciated function: the transfer of values.
As Joshua Travis Brown of the Johns Hopkins University School of Education shared with me on his recent appearance my on WorkforceRx podcast, colleges are not just sites of knowledge transmission—they are sites of values formation. Whether through athletics, service, religious life, or civic engagement, institutions pass along norms, identities, and a sense of shared purpose. In a distributed, digital-first world, this function becomes harder to replicate—and arguably more important.
Which brings us back to “place.”
If content can be accessed anywhere, then the value of place shifts from delivery to experience. Place becomes less about where you sit in a classroom and more about where you are known, challenged, and transformed. It is where relationships form—between peers, mentors, and networks that endure well beyond graduation. It is where learners test ideas, encounter difference, and develop a sense of self.
The future, then, is not a binary choice between physical campuses and digital platforms. It is a more intentional integration of both. The institutions that thrive will be those that stop trying to preserve the old bundle intact—and instead design new ones: modular, flexible, and deeply aligned to learner goals, while still preserving what only they can uniquely provide.
In a world of abundant access, place still matters.
But only if it stands for something unmistakably valuable
Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan is a nationally recognized expert in workforce development. Her distinguished career spans the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She is a White House Champion of Change and California Steward Leader and formerly served as Executive Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
Rebuilding Trust in Higher Education
By Van Ton-Quinlivan
Recently, I attended the Ditchley–Lumina Summit, Redesigning Higher Education for the 21st Century, where an urgent question framed the conversation: how does the United States move from roughly 55 percent of adults holding a degree or credential of value to 75 percent
The Ditchley–Lumina Summit convened leaders from across the learning and workforce ecosystem — including Futuro Health, the Gates Foundation, Strada Education Foundation, ECMC Foundation, the American Council on Education, academics, think tanks, and student leaders — all committed to reimagining the #FutureOfLearning.
In the room were long-standing leaders of higher education — individuals who have devoted decades to strengthening our institutions — alongside newly minted college graduates. The student voices mattered deeply. They brought perspectives shaped not by policy debates or institutional legacy, but by lived experience. What I heard gave me pause.
In their words, trust in higher education is no longer assumed. As teenagers, they had known only polarization and sustained skepticism toward major institutions — including higher education. They questioned whether taking on heavy student debt is worth the risk.
Their reflections are a signal — and an invitation.
Design for the skeptical learner, not the ideal one
When trust erodes at this scale, the responsibility shifts to institutions to demonstrate value clearly, consistently, and transparently. Higher education must re-earn its place in people’s lives.
I found myself thinking about adults who have not yet reached higher education’s door — or who no longer believe college is meant for them. To reach the 75 percent aspiration, we must design for learners like those featured in a Strada Education video: working adults who are time-starved, balancing family and financial responsibilities, often cash-constrained, sometimes carrying eroded confidence in their ability to learn — yet keenly aware that they must keep pace in a rapidly changing world of work.
These learners remind me of Futuro Health Scholars. Their life circumstances are complex. Yet across our 41 education partners and 17 programs of study, they complete their allied health credentials at an 83 percent rate. The difference is not motivation. It is intentional design — structured supports, employer alignment, and clear pathways to good jobs.
When we design for the realities of learners’ lives, trust follows.
Accept partial trust — and build from there
Important policy reforms are underway — new accountability tools such as scorecards, and financing models that shift risk by requiring loan repayment only when graduates earn above a defined income threshold. At the same time, the higher education community continues to wrestle with longstanding debates — liberal arts versus career education, rather than “and” — while navigating institutional constraints.
Perhaps the more pragmatic path forward is not restoring blanket trust overnight, but building trust in specific, demonstrable ways. For working adults like those in the Strada video, trust may need to be earned for particular use cases, populations, or outcomes. For example:
“We may not yet be trusted for social mobility writ large, but we can be trusted for helping working adults become occupationally relevant within 12 months.”
This would require making the norms of effective career education more visible and portable across institutions — whether learning occurs in a community college or a liberal arts university. These norms include deep employer partnerships, employer-valued credentials, “soft”/essential skills development, competency-based technical training, work-integrated learning (clinicals, internships, co-ops, apprenticeships), credit for prior learning, stackable credentials, and sustained career navigation supports.
When these elements are transparent and consistently delivered, trust becomes earned rather than assumed.
Lower the cost of being wrong
One of the strongest signals of trustworthiness is lowering the cost of being wrong.
In both AI and higher education, the most credible systems are not those that promise perfection. They are the ones that make experimentation safe, mistakes visible, and course correction possible — without catastrophic downside for the learner.
This is why the challenge before us is larger than any single institution. It is about strengthening the category itself — redesigning learning so that people can enter, exit, and re-enter across their lives without incurring unmanageable debt or irreversible consequences.
What society needs is an intentional learning system that supports continuous transitions over a 30-plus-year work span — not only early-career education, but accelerated pathways into mid-career mastery as AI reshapes entry-level roles. A system people can rely on not once, but repeatedly.
Trust, in this sense, is not restored through persuasion. It is rebuilt through use. When people come back a second time—and a third—that is legitimacy.
Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan is a nationally recognized expert in workforce development. Her distinguished career spans the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She is a White House Champion of Change and California Steward Leader and formerly served as Executive Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
Keeping the Ladder Up: Ensuring Allied Health Workers Can Keep Climbing
By Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health
Over the past five years at Futuro Health, I have watched thousands of our Scholars step into healthcare through allied health roles — Medical Assistants, Phlebotomists, Sterile Processing Technicians, Community Health Workers and more. For many, allied health is not the final destination. It’s often the first rung on a ladder toward a career in nursing, advanced clinical, or other higher-level credentials. Justice J. and Carsyn P. are just two of many Futuro Health Scholars who aspire to advance in their careers by becoming RNs. Their journeys, which began in allied health, were recently featured in a BBC documentary presented by the International Council for Nurses. Their stories are a powerful reminder of how critical these pathways can be. You can watch their inspirational stories here.
Recent reports in the news highlight a troubling shift that could make that healthcare career ladder harder to climb: the federal government’s decision to remove nursing from the list of recognized “professional degrees.” This technical change has sweeping consequences. Graduate-level nursing students — pursuing MSN, DNP, NP or similar paths — will now face dramatically lower federal borrowing limits. The generous caps that once recognized nursing as essential to the nation’s workforce have been replaced with a ceiling of $20,500 per year and a lifetime maximum of $100,000. Even more concerning, the Grad PLUS loan program, which thousands of nurses relied on to bridge tuition and living costs during clinical training, is being phased out for these programs.
The impact is immediate and deeply inequitable. Advanced nursing education may simply become unaffordable for working adults, single parents, career changers, and those from low-income or underrepresented communities. These are the very people who have historically used allied health roles as steppingstones to upward mobility. When financing collapses, the pathway collapses with it.
That worries me, because at Futuro Health we have seen firsthand how powerful these pathways can be. Many Futuro Health Scholars (like Justice and Carsyn) begin as MAs or CHWs, gain confidence and income, and later pursue LVN-to-RN bridges, BSN programs, or behavioral health degrees — each step transforming their careers and their families’ futures. Allied health roles work as launch pads. They bring talented people into the system, help them build experience, and prepare them for more advanced roles.
But if the federal ruling signals that nursing is no longer treated as a profession worthy of investment, we risk discouraging people not only from pursuing advanced degrees — but from entering allied health altogether. Without clear, affordable next steps, early-career roles may feel like dead ends rather than ladders.
Since our 2020 launch, throughout the pandemic – and every workforce challenge since – Futuro Health has stayed focused on expanding opportunities: tuition-free or low-cost training, flexible schedules, coaching, and partnerships that lead to real jobs. We will continue doing that, because the future of healthcare depends on widening, not narrowing, the pathway for those who want to serve.
This is a moment that calls for courage and collaboration. Let’s work together — policy leaders, educators, employers, and communities — to keep pathways intact that allow working adults to advance in their careers. The future of our healthcare workforce depends on the decisions we make today. We owe it to every aspiring caregiver to keep each important step of the ladder intact and ensure the climb is still possible.
Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan is a nationally recognized expert in workforce development. Her distinguished career spans the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She is a White House Champion of Change and California Steward Leader and formerly served as Executive Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
A Letter of Gratitude; Reflections of Futuro Health’s Mission
By Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health
One of the greatest privileges of my work at Futuro Health is hearing directly from our Scholars—each with their own story of perseverance, hope, and transformation. Their journeys remind us why we exist: to expand opportunities for adults who want to serve in healthcare but need a bridge to get there.
Recently, I received a letter from Futuro Health Scholar Shiela M., whose journey captures the very heart of our mission. Her story is one of courage in the face of setbacks, and her words moved me deeply. With her permission, I’d like to share her letter here in full.
Letter of Gratitude and Reflection
This milestone means so much to me because the road to this achievement has not been an easy one. After completing my nursing degree in the Philippines, life took me on a detour that placed my NCLEX-RN dreams on hold for years. There were times I felt uncertain, as if the momentum I once had was gone.
But in the midst of those challenges, Futuro Health became a beacon of hope. Through their scholarship and unwavering support, I was given the chance to refresh the knowledge I feared I had lost and to rebuild my confidence. That opportunity made all the difference. Because of Futuro Health, I was able to give my best in the VN program, graduate as valedictorian and summa cum laude, and most importantly—believe in myself again.
I cannot express enough how deeply grateful I am to Futuro Health for investing in students like me. Their commitment to uplifting and empowering aspiring healthcare professionals is life-changing. They didn’t just provide financial assistance; they gave me the courage to continue pursuing my calling, even when the path seemed uncertain.
Passing the NCLEX-PN is another milestone that reassures me that it’s never too late to rise again and follow our dreams. With this accomplishment, I now look forward to preparing for the NCLEX-RN with renewed determination, knowing that Futuro Health has helped me lay a strong foundation for this next step.
As I look toward 2025, I am filled with gratitude and pride, ready to finally say: I’m officially a Nurse – LVN. This achievement is not mine alone —it belongs to every person and every program, like Futuro Health, that chose to believe in me when I struggled to believe in myself. Thank you for choosing me.
To anyone who feels their journey has been delayed: please don’t lose hope. Delays are not denials. Your moment will come, and with the right support, you will find your way. I am living proof of that truth, and I owe so much of it to Futuro Health’s guidance and generosity.
From the bottom of my heart-thank you, Futuro Health, for opening doors and helping me reclaim my dream.
With endless gratitude and determination,
Shiela M.
Licensed Vocational Nursing Program | Futuro Health Scholar | Valedictorian, Unitek College
Reading Shiela’s words fills me with both pride and humility. Her letter beautifully illustrates what we hope every Futuro Health Scholar experiences—a renewed sense of purpose and belief in their own potential.
At Futuro Health, we know that the path to a healthcare career is rarely a straight line. Life happens—detours, financial strain, caregiving responsibilities, and moments of self-doubt can make the dream of becoming a healthcare professional feel distant. That’s why we’re here: to meet learners where they are and walk alongside them as they reclaim that dream.
What moves me most about Shiela’s journey is her message to others: “Delays are not denials.” Those four words capture the spirit of thousands of our Scholars—individuals who persevere through challenge and emerge stronger, ready to serve their communities.
As we look back on 2025, I’m reminded that every milestone—every certification earned, every new healthcare role filled—represents not just a personal achievement, but a community impact. Each scholar we support strengthens the health and resilience of families and neighborhoods across our nation.
Thank you, Shiela, for sharing your story and for embodying what Futuro Health stands for: hope, opportunity, and the power to rise again.
Connected by Purpose: How We Built a Culture of Belonging from Miles Apart
By Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health
At a time when organizational leaders are wringing their hands over the future of remote work, our Futuro Health team has built something extraordinary — a culture that’s warm, inclusive, mission-driven, and deeply authentic, all without physical offices. This internal culture matters deeply, because it shows up in how we support the thousands of Futuro Health Scholars we serve — adults across a wide-range of communities who attend tuition-free to earn the credentials and qualifications they need to begin or advance their careers in healthcare.
By Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health
The U.S. is in the midst of a deepening mental and behavioral health crisis, with soaring rates of anxiety, depression, addiction, and trauma. But there’s a rising threat that’s often left out of the conversation as I have learned from my recent G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit participation: gambling addiction.
What was once limited to casinos is now as close as your smartphone. Americans are wagering nearly $1 billion a day on platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel. In 2024 alone, U.S. bettors spent an estimated $150 billion—a number driven higher by aggressive advertising and legalized sports betting in 39 states and D.C.
This surge is not without consequences. An estimated 2 to 4 million Americans will experience gambling disorder in their lifetime. One in six problem gamblers will attempt suicide. In Texas, despite strict gambling laws, calls to 1-800-GAMBLER are second only to California. In Pennsylvania, residents lost $238 million to online casinos in a single month.
And yet, gambling addiction remains a footnote in mental and behavioral health strategies, siloed from broader behavioral health initiatives.
A Workforce Ill-Equipped to Respond
The mental and behavioral health workforce is already stretched thin. According to Mental Health America, the U.S. has just one mental health provider per 350 people, and more than 152 million Americans live in designated shortage areas. This shortage is especially acute in rural and underserved communities.
When it comes to gambling-specific treatment, the numbers are even more alarming:
- Minnesota has just 8 certified therapists to serve an estimated 250,000 residents with gambling issues.
- Texas, home to 30 million people, has only three certified gambling counselors in spite of having the second largest call volume into 1-800-GAMBLER.
We need a workforce strategy that reflects the full landscape of mental and behavioral health, including gambling-related harm. And, we need to strengthen the pipeline not only for licensed professionals but also for the vital certificated roles that provide upstream prevention and support in mental and behavioral health.
What Can Be Done?
At Futuro Health, we work with states to strengthen the behavioral health talent pipeline, especially in under-resourced communities. Here’s what we advocate for mental and behavioral health workforce development:
- Upskill existing clinicians by embedding gambling-specific training into continuing education. Certifications like NCGC-I/II are already available and should be scaled.
- Grow certificated roles like Peer Support Specialists, Community Health Workers, Substance Used Disorder Specialists, and addiction-informed financial counselors. These roles can be trained faster and play a vital role in detection and early intervention.
- Grow talent from affected communities—especially rural, low-income, and minority populations where gambling harm is often highest.
A Call to Action
As was highlighted at the G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit, gambling addiction is not a niche issue—it’s a rising public health concern that warrants integration into our mental and behavioral health response.
Addressing Healthcare Worker Shortages: Insights from Keynote Speaking Across States
By Van Ton-Quinlivan
Connecticut, Texas, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Wyoming, New York – This month, I added Florida to the list of states where I’ve had the pleasure of delivering a keynote on the critical shortage of healthcare workers and raising visibility on the imperative to grow untapped talent from within our local communities. Even with the distinctive personalities and cultures of each state, the challenges they face are remarkably similar. Nationwide, 75% of healthcare facilities report critical workforce gaps, and 76.6M+ Americans live in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas. Across these in-state engagements, I offer organizations an alternative and innovative approach for growing their talent pool effectively. My key message? Rather than tackling the challenge alone, workforce development is, after all, a team sport. There is power in partnership.
100 Episodes of WorkforceRx: Insights, Innovation, and Impact
By Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health
When I launched the WorkforceRx podcast to spotlight leaders shaping the future of work, learning, and care, I anticipated gaining valuable insights—but the journey has exceeded expectations. Podcasting has not only been a platform for sharing ideas but also a catalyst for expanding my thinking and deepening my understanding of workforce innovations. Now, at 100 episodes, I’m reflecting on the game-changing ideas and inspiring voices that continue to shape how we future-proof our nation’s workforce.
A Front Row Seat to Workforce Innovations
In today’s rapidly evolving work environment—more VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) than ever—traditional workforce models struggle to keep pace. Through WorkforceRx, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with leaders who aren’t just reacting to these challenges but actively shaping bold solutions.
They’re pioneering innovative funding mechanisms, redefining economic paradigms through modern co-ops and economic floors, and establishing apprenticeship degrees and alternatives for growing talent, while driving policies that scale workforce solutions—ensuring both workers and businesses thrive.
From AI-driven disruptions to reimagining primary care delivery and tackling behavioral health workforce shortages, these conversations underscore a key truth: adaptability is the new currency of success. Organizations that embrace continuous learning and agile workforce strategies will lead the future.
These lessons also apply to Futuro Health.
Embracing Agility While Standardizing for Impact
In just five years, more than 10,000 Futuro Health Scholars have earned credentials and qualifications to launch or advance careers in healthcare. By applying best practices in new ways, we’ve refined education pathways that unlock opportunities for untapped talent in diverse communities.
From recruitment and success coaching to essential and technical skills development, clinical externships, and the strategic use of data and technology, we’ve deepened our impact while standardizing processes for greater efficiency and scalability.
Connecting Systems Through the Power of Partnerships
Workforce development is a team sport, not a solo effort. No single entity can solve talent shortages alone—it takes collaboration among employers, educators, policymakers, funders, and communities to drive real change.
What if there were no wrong door for individuals to build skills and achieve economic mobility? That’s the possibility we’re working toward—one that demands collective action, shared innovation, and system-level transformation.
As we celebrate 100 episodes of WorkforceRx, I look forward to continuing these important conversations and forging new approaches to foster a resilient, future-ready workforce.
Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan is a nationally recognized expert in workforce development. Her distinguished career spans the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She is a White House Champion of Change and California Steward Leader, and formerly served as Executive Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
Allied Health Roles & The Primary Care Doctor Shortage
By: Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health
The U.S. should expect a shortage of 64,000 physicians by year-end with the deficit growing to 86,000 by 2036, according to a McKinsey & Company Report. One third- of Americans lack access to primary care. These factoids headlined the recent California Healthcare Foundation panel that I participated on entitled “The Future of Primary Care.” Facilitated by Dr. Alan Glaseroff (Stanford Clinical Research Center of Excellence), I joined Dr. Megan Mahoney (UCSF Health) and Dr. Jay Lee (Integrated Health Partners of Southern California) to examine the implications of providing care when there are not enough primary care doctors to go around. All fingers point to a future where the approach shifts to a primary care team-based approach. No longer will the patient assume that every visit with the “doctor’s office” includes seeing the same primary care doctor; you may instead see members of an integrated care team that involves primary care, specialty care, and social services staff. For allied health level roles, this may include the medical assistant, the community health workers, and more…it just depends. The hope is to move from episodic visits – e.g., every few months if you have a condition — to more continuous care as the team leans in to monitor and act on your care needs and provision a “continuous healing relationship” as one speaker referenced.
For the Medical Assistant (a common and ubiquitous occupation), this team-based approach will require more training for expanded and flexed roles. The agility to cross-training MAs to rotate through multiple roles with add-on skills will become in-demand. Depending on the site, they may also need to be a phlebotomist, limited license radiologic technician, pharmacy technician, receptionist, greeter, referral coordinator, post-visit health coach, or medical clerk. Every team may need some combination of skillsets and certifications rather than singularly-trained roles. For more details, see Table 2 New Roles for MAs, Skills and Training Requirements in the article New Roles for Medical Assistants in Innovative Primary Care Practices.
This future of physician scarcity and dependency on a team to provision care is exciting to Futuro Health. We are offering the basics now and creating personalized education journeys that meet learners where they are – regardless of their prior education. Our education journeys bundle Success Coaching, Human Touch Healthcare, and a menu of one or more 17 technical programs of studies that lead into a healthcare credential (in partnership with our education provider ecosystem).
What if we could enable a future where employers, site by site, could select how they want to grow their allied health workforce for this team-based approach by custom designing which of credentials and specialty micro-credentials their workforce should have.
The future of primary care requires an extremely agile workforce development capability to keep up with foreseeable physician shortages, an aging patient population, and population growth without insurance coverage.
Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan is a nationally recognized expert in workforce development. Her distinguished career spans the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She is a White House Champion of Change and California Steward Leader, and formerly served as Executive Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
Going for Gold: AI, Apprenticeships, and Shaping Workplace Champions
By: Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health
Like millions of others around the world, I spent the past two weeks captivated by the Paris Olympics, watching the incredible achievements of these highly trained athletes. The competition was a testament not only to their extraordinary skills but also to the profound influence of technology on sports training. With numerous world records being shattered, I found myself intrigued about how technological advancements are redefining the way athletes train and prepare, particularly with the growing role of artificial intelligence.
A quick internet search provided answers, uncovering numerous examples of how the sports industry is leveraging artificial intelligence to transform training, performance, and predict outcomes.
In my past blogs on the subject of generative AI in the workforce, I expressed my excitement for exploring applications of this technology to advance the future of learning and to unlock upward mobility in the workforce. Today, it is evident that the future is here. AI is making significant strides in every sector and industry (even among top-performing Olympians).
During a recent dinner table debate with my son (a newly minted college graduate), AI was once again a topic of discussion and whether it would eliminate entry level jobs that would have gone to new workforce entrants like him. He thinks all jobs suitable for recent college graduates will be done by AI in the future — and bases this foresight on his own use of ChatGPT 4.0 features.
I am not as bullish as he is but can see his point. Whether coding, building a website, writing manuals, running a spreadsheet, or solving math problems (particularly with the python integration), workplace tasks currently done by new college graduates foreseeably can be done faster by the AI.
I myself use the free version of ChatGPT and love how the tool makes completing certain tasks so much easier, including the task of writing job descriptions. Upon suffering two weeks of writer’s block, I took the advice of a colleague to use ChatGPT to generate a first draft. Voila! In less than one minute, it completed my HR task nearly perfectly. Soon after, I was asked to review several pages of web content to see if it captured us as an organization. Out of curiosity, I queried ChatGPT, and what it generated was an incredible set of succinct and clear bullet points that greatly improved the original draft. In these two small moments, I changed the nature of what entry-level analysts do in human resources and in communications departments.
Today many Fortune 500 companies are coming to this same conclusion about AI in the workplace, as it becomes integral to maintaining competitive advantage and staying relevant in an increasingly automated global market. Just this week JPMorgan Chase introduced a generative AI assistant to tens of thousands of its own employees, marking the first step in a larger initiative to integrate this technology across the vast financial institution. The program is now accessible to over 60,000 employees, assisting them with tasks such as drafting emails and reports. According to insiders, the AI software is anticipated to become as widespread as the videoconferencing tool Zoom.
So, with the adoption of new AI technologies, what’s a new college graduate to do to allay concerns and future-proof their career?
My WorkforceRx podcast guest, Vinz Koller at Social Policy Research Associates says, “The future of learning is work.” He advocates that apprenticeship training models where the individual is employed while simultaneously learning is the way forward. Vinz stressed the importance of transforming employers from mere consumers of talent into co-producers of talent, highlighting the need to demonstrate to employers how apprenticeships work and their benefits. Effective apprenticeship programs can lead to lower turnover rates and enhanced patient care. Listen to my compete interview with Vinz Koller here.
In an earlier podcast, I sat down with Ryan Craig at Achieve Partners, who authored the book, Apprentice Nation: How the ‘Earn and Learn’ Alternatives to Higher Education Will Create a Stronger and Fairer America. During our discussion, Ryan highlighted the benefits of apprenticeships for healthcare and hospital employers. He emphasized that paid apprenticeships eliminate employment uncertainty for workers by ensuring they are hired from the start. For employers, apprenticeships reduce friction by allowing hospitals to assess talent before making a final hiring decision. This way, both parties benefit: workers gain job security, and employers avoid hiring unproven talent. My entire discussion with Ryan Craig can be found here.
As we have seen with the successes of Olympic athletes who blend innovative technology with rigorous training, the same principles can apply to career development. By becoming lifelong learners and integrating into work environments that value both human ingenuity and technological innovation, the next generation can navigate the challenges ahead and emerge stronger, more resilient, and ready to thrive in a world where AI isn’t a threat, rather just one of many new tools at their disposal.
Reshaping the Mental and Behavioral Health Workforce
By: Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health
Mental Health Awareness Month arrives with a poignant reminder of the growing shortage of mental and behavioral health workers. This dearth not only affects the professionals themselves but casts a long shadow over patient care and community well-being.
I have spotlighted this critical issue in my past blogs, sharing strategies in behavioral health workforce development aimed at reducing stigma and enhancing access to mental health services. But too often these efforts face additional obstacles, particularly for behavioral health employers and workers in traditionally underserved, ethnically diverse, and rural communities.
A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study highlighted examples that in rural areas around the country, there is a shortage of licensed supervisors and internship positions needed to attract new workers. Additionally, behavioral health providers in rural communities often experience professional isolation, limited resources, and lengthy travel distances, exacerbating the need for more mental health workers, and making it challenging to deliver comprehensive care and support to patients in need.
Sharing our Best Practices
Futuro Health’s nonprofit mission is to improve the health and wealth of communities by growing the largest network of allied healthcare workers in the nation. We make education journeys into allied health careers possible by growing the talent that employers need and creating a path to opportunity that workers want. Our highly supportive education programs have enabled thousands of diverse Scholars to transition successfully into healthcare careers regardless of their educational background. The ethnic diversity of Futuro Health Scholars is now 90% and their linguistic diversity at 50% – with an average age of 31.
Our leadership team frequently shares our collective expertise and best practices in workforce development with renowned organizations like the World Health Organization, the National Governors Association (NGA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and various national, public, and employer groups. These include the Connecticut Workforce Summit, the New Mexico Hospital Association, the Texas Workforce Commission, The Healthcare Management Academy, and more.
Last year, Futuro Health was invited to participate in the National Governors Association’s Healthcare Workforce Project, a learning collaborative to support governors’ offices across the country in implementing strategies to strengthen and grow the next generation of the healthcare workforce by exchanging ideas and sharing best practices from national, state, and local experts. At the kickoff session, I was invited to speak to senior state officials from 20 states including Colorado, Missouri, Utah, and Wyoming on a solutions framework for tackling workforce challenges.
And in conjunction with Mental Health Awareness month, I am looking forward to leading a panel discussion later in May on the mental and behavioral health workforce challenge at the California Workforce Association’s 2024 WORKCON: Bridging the Gap with fellow panelists Anthony Cordova and Rehman Attar, respectively, from the California Community Colleges and California State University systems to speak on new public funds as well as the creation of a brand new occupation, called Wellness Coaches (see Related Readings at the bottom of this blog), to fill the missing rungs of the mental and behavioral health workforce ladder.
The State of Mental Health: Wyoming and Beyond
Forbes Advisor recently released its 2024 list of The Worst States for Mental Health Care. One in five adults experience a mental health condition each year. Of those, according to Mental Health America, more than half (54.7%, which is an estimated 28 million people) do not receive any treatment and more than one in four individuals (28.2%) do not receive adequate treatment, due to issues related to access to mental health care, worker shortages, and excessive costs.
Considering this alarming data, states like Wyoming are taking measures to proactively reform their state’s mental health system, and increase access to care through innovative programs like Wy We Care, a collaboration between the three branches of Wyoming’s government, the private industry, and philanthropic partners.
In our partnership with the National Governors Association, I am pleased to share that Futuro Health has begun exciting work to assist the state of Wyoming map educational pathways to address the shortage of behavioral health workers with a focus on growing the certificated workforce and identify stackable credentials. This effort aims to bridge workforce gaps and includes outreach to providers in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA). While Futuro Health focuses on the education pathways to bring Wyomingites to enter these roles to serve their citizens, the Governor’s Office concurrently considers policies related to reimbursement of services to ensure the sustainability of these roles.
Investing in Success
Funding is critical to support the development of comprehensive education and training programs for mental and behavioral health workers, ensuring they have the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to provide effective care. Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced $46.8 million in funding opportunities to bolster youth mental health, expand the behavioral health workforce, enhance access to culturally competent care nationwide, and strengthen peer recovery support.
Similarly, the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), is investing over $15.6 million in scholarships to support behavioral health students across the state and $120 million to create new Wellness Coach (Levels I and II) roles, initially supported through grants but intended to be reimbursable in the outyears.
As chair of the HCAI California Healthcare Workforce Education and Training Council, I have observed a pattern that clinical work experience remains a recurring barrier to growing the needed workforce. Upon listening to public feedback, HCAI revised its requirement for Level l Wellness Coaches, reducing the mandatory clinical hours for this role from 400 to 150. Now, individuals can be hired on a probationary basis upon completing 150 hours, allowing them to continue building their competencies while being paid and accrue the remaining hours needed to get to 400 total hours. This small change will invite more inclusive participation since few people can afford to go unpaid.
All the above are part of a broader initiative to strengthen California’s mental and behavioral workforce and emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to investing in systematic approach for establishing and stacking credentialing to grow workers and facilitate their upward mobility. This not only attracts more individuals from diverse communities into the field but ensures they possess the essential skills to deliver high-quality mental and behavioral healthcare.
Even as these examples provide promising models to grow the workforce, sustainability comes when there is a reimbursement model in place for mental and behavioral health services.
As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s shine a light on the critical need for more mental and behavioral health workers. By addressing the workforce shortage, we can improve access to care and enhance the well-being of individuals and communities.
* Related Reading: California Introduces New Wellness Coach Program Aimed at Building a More Diverse Behavioral Health Workforce to Help Children and Youth
By: Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health
As employers know, we are in a serious healthcare workforce shortage. According to AMN Healthcare, 85% of employers report Allied Health Staff shortages, and the American College of Healthcare Executives reports that workforce shortages topped the list of hospital CEO’s biggest concerns for the third year in a row. This shortage won’t resolve anytime soon. Experts project a 3.2 million shortage by 2026. The U.S. BLS tracks that resignations among healthcare workers have increased steadily from about 400,000 per month in 2020 to nearly 600,000 per month in May 2023. The recently released NHA 2024 industry outlook research report outlined similar concerns.
NHA’s report finds that workforce shortages are inspiring employers to embrace models of training and upskilling their workers to improve retention rates. In fact, over 70% of employers either have or are planning new hire or reskilling training programs to address staffing needs. NHA found that 82% of employees believe career laddering programs for entry-level workers would increase employee retention rates, and 71% of employees believe certification is very important/important to employee retention.
Employers have been engaging in clever practices to maintain costs and improve retention while maximizing people internally. Take the example of Pallas Care, serving residents of Los Angeles County, the agency employs state-registered home care aides to provide personal care management that help their clients maintain their independence and age with dignity. Pallas Care enrolled its staff of home care aides in Futuro Health CalGrows direct care worker training courses, which included Futuro Health’s Human Touch Healthcare™.
Rich Harvey, executive director and co-founder of Pallas Care, expressed how well Futuro Health’s culturally competent care and Human Touch Healthcare(tm) training aligned with his agency’s mission, values and goals.
Nurturing a diverse and resilient healthcare workforce
Last October, I was a part of a global panel put on by Women in Global Health, related to their report on why women in healthcare positions are resigning at concerning rates. Given the high proportion of females who comprise the healthcare workforce, this should be alarming to all.
As all healthcare providers know, retaining the current workforce holds primacy. Losing a nurse trainee within their first year of employment is a tragedy of investment – time and money invested by all parties, from the individual to the institutions that trained them and the employers who provided the clinical rotations. In my upcoming WorkforceRx podcast, CEO David Jarrard of Jarrard, Inc., a strategic healthcare communications firm whose clientele includes 1000+ healthcare employers, highlights how employers are reviewing the big and small in the daily routine of employees to fix sources of dissatisfaction. Issues range from scheduling, the ready availability of consumables to perform a job task, to job training and career pathing.
We are heartened to hear about employer’s retention efforts as we undertake Futuro Health’s work to bring untapped talents in communities into roles in healthcare. And, we expect our Scholars to persist and thrive in the industry. Since our organization’s inception, Futuro Health enrolled over 8,000 Futuro Health Scholars onto unique education journeys that lead them into healthcare credentials valued by employers – at low or no cost. We address the critical shortage in the allied healthcare workforce, and Futuro Health Scholars gain the opportunity to move into healthcare in good roles like phlebotomists, medical assistants, pharmacy techs, surgical techs, and more.
Interestingly, it’s the resiliency of our Scholars that impresses and will be an asset for an industry that articulates the importance of health equity. Listen to the stories of Futuro Health Scholars:
Everything everywhere all at once: the proliferation of healthcare worker shortages
Thanksgiving Reflections on Partnerships, Progress, and Futuro Health's Journey
The Future of Aging and Automation
The Healthcare Workforce Crisis. Are Students Drowning in Debt or Is the Industry Under-Selling Its Jobs?
Mental Health and the Healthcare Workforce Crisis
The Unique Role of an “Education Whisperer” in Workforce Development
A Podcaster’s (Grateful) Perspective: What would ChatGPT Say?
Speaking Out - The Healthcare Workforce Crisis
What We Can Learn from Education Disruptor All-Star Sal Khan and His Innovations
Filling the Mental Health Worker Pipeline Amid a Growing Crisis
Microcredentialing: A Responsive Solution for Leveraging Untapped Talent
Solving Workforce Shortages is Not an Individual Sport: What Healthcare Needs to Do Differently
As the Nation Grapples with a Mental and Behavioral Health Crisis, Futuro Health Named by California as a State-Approved Provider to Grow Peer Support Specialists
A Playbook for a Post-COVID Workforce: Talking ‘WorkforceRx’ with Experts from Education and Industry
Futuro Health CEO Named Vice Chair of California Health Workforce Education and Training Council 
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