Why Streamlining Education and Training Matters

Building a skilled health care workforce requires accessible and affordable education and training opportunities. But earning a medical, nursing, or other professional license is often costly and cumbersome. California tries to attract students — especially those from underrepresented communities with cultural and linguistic experience and skills — to health care but loses them to other industries.

By streamlining education and training, and making programs more accessible, California can better recruit and retain future health care workers — especially those from diverse backgrounds.

Californians who pursue licensure, from registered nurses to pharmacists to physicians, are dedicated to putting in the effort and learning what it takes to care for patients. They also are looking for innovative training programs that give them the skills they need to excel in the 21st century. However, many worry about high debt burdens and unsustainable work demands.

Californians interested in allied health careers are looking for training programs that build on their skills and life experiences, allow them to earn a family-supporting wage, and access training and employment in their home community.

Our Approach

CHCF is bringing health and education leaders together to understand how to create a wider range of training settings that more future health care workers can benefit from. This includes:

• Reducing the time and cost of education so students can start working sooner and with less debt.
• Identifying licensure policies that reduce time to practice.
• Identifying strategies for creating cohort education models and community-oriented training options, internships, and rotations for students and working professionals so health care workers are prepared from the start to work in interprofessional teams and to support underserved communities.
• Better understanding the problems that lead to exits from education, training, and practice for physicians of color and those from other underrepresented backgrounds.

Get the Facts

In California, the path to becoming a health care professional is marked by a deep sense of purpose and a commitment to the well-being of our communities. Our physicians, nurses, mental health providers, and the wider array of health care workers are driven by a calling to serve and heal. Yet the journey to fulfill this calling is fraught with complexity and challenge.

California must adapt and modernize our health care education and training paradigm. By streamlining these processes, the state can alleviate the burdens faced by aspiring health care workers and expedite their transition into the workforce. It’s not just about increasing efficiency — it’s about reshaping our health care landscape to better serve patients today and tomorrow.

Highlights from Our Grantees

CHCF is learning from educators, delivery system leaders, and students about how to streamline education and training programs, reduce the financial and emotional burden of preparation, and get a more representative health care workforce into communities quicker.

Learn more about our grantees and partners:

• The Health Equity Action Leadership (HEAL) fellowship trains and transforms frontline health professionals through community service and empowerment. With support from CHCF, HEAL is expanding its physician fellowship program to support Federally Qualified Health Centers in California through innovative partnerships with UC campuses.
• The California Health Workforce Education and Training Council (HWET) under the Department of Healthcare Access and Information (HCAI) is responsible for helping coordinate California’s health workforce programs and investments to develop a health workforce that meets California’s health care needs. With support from CHCF, HWET is looking at opportunities to support interprofessional education for primary care teams. A new report by Mathematica, prepared ahead of a HWET meeting open to the public on June 12, 2024, shares why interprofessional primary care teams are the future of primary care.
  • Read the report: Interprofessional Education for Primary Care Teams, Policy Considerations for California