There are an estimated two million open healthcare industry jobs and an additional two million are expected by 2031. According to SHRM, by 2034 the United States will have 134,000 fewer physicians than it needs. We’re seeing schools and intermediaries across the country flex to create durable and intentional pathways to close this gap.
In Texas, Collegiate Edu-Nation, a network of 17 rural districts, offers something similar to a rural P-TECH program by combining dual enrollment and work-based learning. They use the OneHealth model, which focuses on animal, human, and environmental health and takes students through a progression of awareness, exploration, preparation, and career training. While rooted in Texas, they are beginning to work in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.
In Tennessee, BlueSky Institute, through a partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University, addresses workforce shortages by offering accelerated pathways that integrate technology with hands-on experience, preparing students for leadership roles in the healthcare industry.
In Colorado, St. Vrain Eagle Tech at Frederick High School works with Aims Community College and Northern Colorado Bioscience and Pharmaceutical companies to graduate students with a high school diploma and Associate of General Studies (AGS) degree in 4-6 years. This program offers a pathway in biochemistry. Along with college courses, students receive mentorships and internships through Agilent Technologies, KBI Biopharma, AGC Biologics or Corden Pharma to provide real-world experiences to supplement their academic coursework.
In Nebraska, Nebraska Hospital Association and Symphony Workforce are working to design and implement rich experience-based learning and engaging healthcare awareness curriculum starting in grades 3-5.
“We have third graders doing buccal swabs, getting cells from their cheek, doing a wet mount on a slide, and looking at it under a microscope. And it’s every week. The key to the entire program is active learning, 100% active learning. By the end of the school year, they will have been introduced to 32 different health professions. The goal is to expose them to all these professions.In middle school, we narrow it down to say, “I do want to be in health. I like these 14 things.” In 9th and 10th grade, they do internships with us and HOSA and other organizations. By 11th and 12th grade, they are down to about six interests. We start partnering them with our hospitals, and through the work on the platform with Todd, we determine where they will intern and what challenges they will take. By the time they are juniors or seniors, they are down to about two interests,” says Stacey Ocander, Senior Director of Workforce and Education Initiatives at Nebraska Hospital Association
In Missouri, schools have identified five micro-credentials in biotech that map to the Project Lead the Way biomedical sciences pathways.
These are just some of the many local innovations. In addition, funders have joined the fray. In 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $250 million initiative to create new high schools nationwide that will graduate students directly into high-demand healthcare jobs with family-sustaining wages. This first-of-its-kind initiative pairs public education systems and hospitals in 10 communities including urban and rural locations. One of these schools is Uplift Heights Healthcare Institute, a 12-year-old Dallas public charter high school being converted into healthcare pathways. The 161 freshmen will be the first cohort to benefit from the four years of health-focused curriculum and work-based learning in four healthcare pathways: Therapeutic, Biomedical Science, Nursing, and Healthcare Operations.
A Closer Look at the Uplift Heights Transition
The Uplift Heights transition is important because it is an example of one of the best college prep networks shifting to career pathways to promote career and college readiness. It’s also becoming a great example of a high-quality business partner activated to support mentorship, internships, relevant pathway curriculum, and direct access to jobs both directly out of high school and after college.
Launched in 1996, Uplift Education is a North Texas charter school network with a mission to prepare students for college and citizenship and to inspire a love of learning. The organization has grown from one school in Irving to a network of 46 schools on 21 campuses, serving over 22,000 students in pre-K through 12th grade. The 13 Uplift high schools offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
In 2023, Uplift Education with Baylor Scott & White Health (BSWH, the largest non-profit hospital system in Texas) was selected as one of 10 education/healthcare providers to receive a $14.9 million grant from Bloomberg to convert the Uplift Heights campus to offer healthcare focused pathways.
Uplift CEO Yasmin Bhatia explained that the program prepares scholars with the skills needed to succeed in today’s most in-demand healthcare careers. She noted that BSWH is the grant fiduciary, and the focus is jobs–a local talent pipeline ready for success in a high-tech healthcare workplace. The grant covers the cost of BSWH outreach and training, additional staff for both organizations and facilities and equipment upgrades. The growth and development of Uplift Heights Healthcare students are tracked in the BSWH human resource system. BSWH employees take over the school for “Workshop Day” at the end of each academic quarter and run hands-on learning exercises for the scholars, often using the on-campus simulation lab.
Students pick a pathway focus during their sophomore year. “We want the vast majority to go to higher education,” said Bhatia. Dallas College, Texas Women’s University, and UT Arlington are dual enrollment partners. After a student’s junior year, all students participate in a paid summer internship in the pathway area that are focused on.
Uplift Grand (between Dallas and Fort Worth) will create a nursing pathway with BSWH this fall. It may be the first single-path high school focused on nursing. Like other pathway schools, Uplift Grand will feature a guaranteed internship and a pathway to a job at BSWH either directly after high school or post-college. Uplift is also working on engineering and education pathways to offer at its other high schools leveraging a similar “direct access to a job” model of its healthcare pathways.
Conclusion
Designing intentional pathways requires awareness of workforce needs, durable partnerships with local community members and visionary leadership. Uplift Heights Healthcare Institute is a prime example of how schools and healthcare providers can collaborate to create innovative pathways that prepare students for success in the healthcare industry. It is creating a pipeline of talent that will help to meet the growing demand for healthcare workers and ensure that future generations have access to quality healthcare.
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Uplift Education’s new health pathways program offers students career-ready skills in healthcare via work-based learning and dual enrollment.
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