Why aren’t we investing more in CTE? A new report deep-dives into why we should
Plus: A Walmart heir's medical school plans a radical approach; shrinking access to care for the most vulnerable; and a map of burgeoning 'Silicon Valleys' of the healthcare AI boom
An extensive research report from iCEV and Catapult X titled “Bridging the 10 Million Health Worker Gap” provides ample evidence for ramping up our education system’s investments in so-called Career and Technical Education programs, specifically as a healthcare workforce pipeline solution that pays dividends in a relatively short amount of time.
I’ve written about this a lot both here and for ed tech news publication THEJournal.com, so if you’re interested in some “case study” type reports and what other industry research has shown, I’ll link the highlights below.
More states lean into healthcare partnerships with high schools (May 23, 2024 HWR)
A massive project that bypasses existing (overwhelmed) CTE programs (Jan. 31, 2024 HWR)
More high schools announcing CTE programs with certifications for healthcare careers (Dec. 13, 2023 HWR)
Innovation: Healthcare training in high schools opens doors for employers and students (Nov. 10, 2023 HWR)
MedCerts Launches CTE Model Allowing Students to Earn Career Skills, Credentials, and College Credits (Oct. 23, 2023 THEJournal.com report)
Make Your First Start in NYC Healthcare – Before You Finish High School! (July 27, 2023 HWR)
Meanwhile, that epic report.
Beautiful graphics and a ton of insightful data presented in formats that are actually pleasant to absorb. (Not a sentence I write often, particularly in the healthcare space!)
See what I mean? (Highly recommend reading the full report.)
The research, summarized well for education readers by eSchoolNews in “5 Steps to Boost CTE Programs and Fill Workforce Pipelines,” includes tons of data and examples that support the following key points:
CTE programs help students gain industry experience and set goals
4 ways to support work-based learning
CTE advocates want more funding as demand increases
The report’s authors call for CTE to be reframed as a fast, cost-efficient way to significantly boost the healthcare worker pipeline.
On behalf of every healthcare executive and workforce planner in the country: Yes please.
Over 70% of community health centers face critical staff shortages
A new survey of about 740 community health centers — officially known as federally qualified health centers — shows that nearly three-quarters of them are experiencing critical shortages in primary care physicians, nurses, or mental health professionals.
CHC clinics are federally funded (at least partially) to provide access to care for 20 million low-income Americans and 16 million uninsured.
The nonprofit Commonwealth Fund’s survey also found that most community health centers struggle to obtain specialty care appointments for their patients, reports Healthcare Innovation.
The full research report has many more details; you can find it here.
Other key findings include:
61% of CHCs report that telehealth has improved patients’ access to specialty care.
67% reported screening all patients for unmet social needs in 2024, compared to 40 percent in 2018.
72% said they struggle to obtain specialty care appointments for their patients, particularly for those covered by Medicaid or those lacking insurance.
Policy recommendations (that we have heard before, hello Washington!):
The Commonwealth Fund report listed policies that, if enacted by Congress, would resolve the worsening access problems and better support CHCs:
Reauthorize and expand the Community Health Center Fund, set to expire at the end of 2024.
Address growing workforce shortages by expanding recruitment, retention, and training programs, especially those that get providers into medically underserved areas.
Ensure sufficient resources to continue telehealth access.
Mo’ money, mo’ open jobs?
The nation’s 20 largest hospitals and health systems — with arguably the deepest pockets for recruiting new professionals — currently account for more than 14,000 open jobs, according to a report today from Becker’s.
Wow.
8 things healthcare execs are most concerned about in 2024
Surprise, surprise: The No. 2 biggest concern for healthcare executives, according to a new report from Health Leaders Media, is nursing and physician shortages, and “workforce recruitment and retention” ranked as the No. 8 biggest concern.
Also on the list:
Mounting financial strain
Rising influence of insurers
Regulatory and policy changes
Surge in mergers and acquisitions
Non-traditional competitors (think app-based care and retail health providers)
Digital transformation
Reimagining medical education? In Arkansas? Yep.
I might be biased since I live near the headquarters of the world’s largest retailer, and the influence of the Walton family on a number of industries is not generally “big news” or unusual around these parts.
That said, Walmart heir Alice Walton — who also founded and funded the critically acclaimed Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville — announced in 2021 that she would fund a new independent medical school that would “reimagine American medical education” and focus on holistic approaches to medicine.
The industry and the journalists who cover it have been keeping tabs on how this project develops, and it appears now that the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine will open for classes sometime next year, according to a new report from Becker’s.
The new school’s mission seems radical in today’s healthcare sector; yet anyone well-versed in the history of U.S. healthcare might notice some throwbacks in how the school plans to approach healthcare and training its medical students.
Hint: The new school will aim to radically shake up the current system wherein most doctors and specialists are ill-equipped — in training, scheduling, payer models, and/or mindsets — to consider multiple body systems at once when evaluating or treating complex or chronic conditions, or, say, long COVID.
5 things to know about the new Walton Medical School
*Verbatim from the Becker’s update:
The school's curriculum will expand on evidence-based teaching methods, incorporating training in whole-person health, humanities, integrative health approaches, research, and advanced technologies. Training will also emphasize diversity, equity and inclusion; inter-professional collaboration; mental health; and social determinants of health and self-care for patients, students and staff.
Walton Medical School has spent the past two years building its faculty and leadership team. Most recently, the medical school tapped Yolangel Hernandez Suarez, MD, to serve as executive vice dean. Last year, Walton Medical School selected Sharmila Makhija, MD, as its founding dean and CEO. In late 2022, it also appointed a nine-member board. The school continues to hire for various faculty and leadership roles.
Construction on the school's 154,000 medical education facility in Bentonville began in March 2023. The four-story building sits on 14 acres and will include learning halls, a public gallery, library, clinical teaching spaces, a student lounge, healing gardens, outdoor classrooms and theater, among other features.
Walton Medical School is currently undergoing a multi-year accreditation process. In October 2023, it earned candidate status by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, clearing the way for the school to see preliminary accreditation.
Several other programs are seemingly following in the new school’s footsteps, overhauling their curriculum to better equip students to meet the evolving demands of modern healthcare. The University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora is the first in the nation to fully transition to an education model in which students learn multiple specialties at once. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City has also reimagined its curriculum to focus on early research involvement, long-lasting mentorship and topics such as leadership and social justice.
We built this city on healthcare AI
Right before our eyes, the healthcare industry is birthing an entire sub-sector of artificial intelligence-based technologies to handle everything from automating revenue cycle management to diagnosing breast cancer years before it begins to grow. So it’s not surprising to see that some cities with tech-heavy economies are becoming hotspots for AI healthcare startups.
By analyzing LinkedIn job postings, St. Catherine University recently ranked the “10 U.S. cities with the highest ratios of healthcare jobs that mention AI”:
Top three are Durham, North Carolina; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Provo, Utah. Read the research report here.
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