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.

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.

“The pandemic is showing 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.

“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.” Read More