eConnection April 2024

  • Feature: Futuro Health provides workforce solutions to community clinics.

  • Our Latest Blog: Employers battle retention tension with new skills – and can generative AI help? 

  • Congratulations to our Futuro Health Ambassadors! 

  • Current Open Programs, Scholarships Available … Please Share!

  • Meet our Scholar Support Team

  • WorkforceRx Podcast: Wendi Safstrom, President of the SHRM Foundation: HR as a Driver of Social Change

Futuro Health provides workforce solutions to community clinics.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) play a critical role in the healthcare landscape, providing essential health services to underserved populations. But as the demand for their services grows, they are grappling with significant staffing shortages that threaten their ability to meet patients' needs. According to recent surveys, FQHCs are facing a growing workforce crisis as they struggle to recruit and retain staff while serving an ever-expanding patient population.

True to Futuro Health’s nonprofit mission to improve the health and wealth of communities by growing the largest network of allied healthcare workers in the nation, Futuro Health welcomes working with FQHCs to create a pipeline of new healthcare professionals and provide upskilling opportunities for existing staff. 

Equity Health, previously known as South of the Market Health Center, manages four FQHCs in the San Francisco Bay Area, offering a range of services, including Primary Care, Women’s Health, Pediatrics, Chronic Disease Management, Case Management, Care Coordination, and Behavioral Health Services.

Zeke Montejano, Director of Operations for Equity Health, advocates for his team members to utilize Futuro Health’s tuition-free training programs, including programs and courses funded by the California Department of Aging CalGrows initiative.

Christian Torres, Community Health Worker, is among the Equity Health staff members who has taken advantage of Futuro Health’s tuition-free training.  

“It is amazing. I never thought it would be possible to learn so much. I am grateful that there is a program like Futuro Health out there. It is something that I can make the time to invest in myself.”

Contact us at partnership@futurohealth.org to learn more about how we can work together to empower your healthcare team.

Our Latest Blog: Employers battle retention tension with new skills – and can generative AI help?

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 balance cost and improve retention while optimizing internal resources. Can generative AI help in the training of the healthcare workforce, especially as the industry casts a wider net on talent in order to meet the volume of workers demanded?

Read The Complete Blog Here

Congratulations to our Futuro Health Ambassadors!

We're proud to celebrate our first cohort of Scholars named as Futuro Health Ambassadors. The Ambassador Program elevates the voices of high performing Futuro Health Scholars and alumni who want to use their own experience to improve the education journey for others.

Ambassadors are nominated based on the recommendations of instructors, peers, success coaches, and externship partners and serve for six months. Futuro Health Ambassadors participate in focus groups, speaking engagements, social media activities, and virtual networking meetings sharing their inspirational stories and aspirations for a career in healthcare.

If you have someone whom you would like to nominate, email their name to us at ambassador@futurohealth.org for consideration.

Programs Open for Enrollment, Scholarships Available...Please Share!

Medical Assistant

Phlebotomy

Pharmacy Technician

Sterile Processing Technician Program

Patient Care Technician

Emergency Room Technician

Healthcare Customer Service Paraprofessional

In-home and community-based caregiver program (CalGrows)

Foundations of Public Health Informatics and Technology

Patient Care Representative Program

Meet our Futuro Health Scholar Support Team

The Futuro Health Scholar Support Team, including Success Coaches, Outreach Team Members and Facilitators, are dedicated to supporting our Scholars in their educational journey towards a fulfilling career in healthcare. We understand that each Scholar has unique needs and challenges, and we're here to provide personalized coaching and goal setting to help them succeed. We're committed to celebrating their achievements along the way and working together to overcome any obstacles they may encounter.

WorkforceRx Podcast

Wendi Safstrom, President of the SHRM Foundation

Episode #82: HR as a Driver of Social Change

Evolving employee expectations for working conditions and years of a tight labor market have created steady challenges for human resources professionals. For a look at how those roles are evolving in response, and, to learn about current best practices, we turn today to Wendi Safstrom, president of the SHRM Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the world's largest HR professional society. “We're problem-solving based on research that we do in the field with our HR pros with the goal to help HR get better and help them lead positive social change in the workplace.” As you’ll learn on this episode of WorkforceRx hosted by Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, that change includes ensuring health equity at work, providing support for mental health needs and adopting a “skills-first” approach to hiring, which can provide opportunity to populations who have often been shut out of the hiring process. “HR professionals have an obligation to contribute to bettering the lives of others, and what better way to do that than by employing an individual and demonstrating a culture that's welcoming for everyone?” In this informative conversation, Wendi also addresses the use of AI in hiring, the need for HR staff to attend to their own mental health, and the free resources SHRM makes available to employers of all sizes.

Listen To The Latest Podcast

About Futuro Health 

Futuro Health is a non-profit organization focused on improving the health and wealth of communities by growing the largest network of healthcare workers in the nation.

Futuro Health makes education journeys into allied health careers possible by growing the talent that employers need and creating a path to opportunity that workers want.

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