High School to Health Care - Medical Assistant (H2H-MA)

Creating a sustainable high school medical assistant training program for underserved students to promote economic and health equity

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Full Project Name:High School to Health Care - Medical Assistant (H2H-MA)Primary Community Organization:Center for Healthcare Careers of Southeast Wisconsin IncPrimary Academic Partner:William Calawerts, MD, MPH, Family MedicineAward Amount:$250,000

Award Date

July2024

Project Duration:24 months

Project Summary:

There is a critical shortage of medical assistants in the healthcare workforce, which poses significant challenges to health equity and access to care, particularly for underserved populations in Wisconsin.

By offering tuition-free medical assistant training to high school seniors and providing clinical experience and job placement, the H2H-MA project aims to fill essential healthcare roles and improve patient care delivery. By training and placing graduates from underserved communities as medical assistants, the project not only enhances healthcare access, but also promotes diversity within the healthcare workforce.

The project will address workforce shortages in the healthcare sector, and as it scales, will contribute to reducing healthcare disparities and ensuring more equitable healthcare services in Wisconsin and beyond.

Community partners: Froedtert Health, Children’s Wisconsin, Ascension Wisconsin, Advocate Health, Southwest Milwaukee Consortium

Outcomes & Lessons Learned:

Developed, launched and evaluated a no-cost, one-semester, high school-based medical assistant (MA) training program to provide underserved high school seniors with hands-on experience and continued education
Provided participating students with approximately 400 hours of classroom, laboratory, and hands-on training, followed by a clinical practicum experience and opportunities for employment
Increased student program applications from 40 students in year one to 110 students in year two with an improved completion rate from 72% in year one to 93% in year two
Established a sustainable model to connect high schoolers with entry-level healthcare careers and created a new pipeline of potential healthcare workers, especially for students who may not have otherwise had this opportunity for education to career advancement