Here’s Why Healthcare Apprenticeships Are So Cost-Effective for Employers

Traditional healthcare staffing solutions aren’t working anymore. There are still vacancies — more than ever, in some cases — but community colleges and traditional in-person training programs aren’t generating enough graduates to keep up.

When the clinical team is short-staffed, patient care suffers. Staff members have to work overtime and take on more patients, increasing the likelihood of error and causing poorer patient outcomes. Meanwhile, overtime taxes the provider’s bottom line, which is already strained by the demands of finding staff.

Healthcare apprenticeships can break this cycle. They provide job-ready, entry-level workers as well as built-in support for those new hires.

Built-In Training

When a healthcare organization takes on an entry-level employee, they’re too often taking on that employee’s training as well. That’s a major burden on providers that are already short on staff or barely making the ratios work.

Does the provider add training responsibilities to the workload of a senior employee? Should it hand over course materials and ask the new employee to study on their own? Neither option is optimal, and both involve a potential sacrifice of care quality. Often, though, they’re the only options.

Healthcare apprenticeship programs bring in employees that are already pursuing practical, job-related training. Unlike an off-the-street hire, the apprentice comes in already knowing the basics.

There’s also support built-in as the apprentice learns and grows on the job. With MedCerts, Student Success teams follow students’ progress and keep employers in the loop.

Lower Hiring and Onboarding Costs

Hiring is expensive, often costing 16% to 20% of a new hire’s annual salary. Every job post, career fair and on-campus recruiting event costs money — to say nothing of the labor hours involved in reviewing resumés. Even after hiring, there are onboarding costs like document processing and training material.

An apprentice program makes many — if not most — of these costs obsolete. A sponsoring organization like MedCerts takes on the work of placing student workers and orienting them to the role. MedCerts can even set up a customized Learning Management System that includes any internal training materials that the employer wants — no more paying for books and printouts.

Reduced Turnover

The more in-demand a job is, the more turnover there tends to be among organizations that hire for that job. That’s definitely the case in healthcare, as the demand for clinical and office workers leads employers to recruit people who already have jobs. Every time someone accepts an attractive offer, their original employer has to pay to replace them.

Apprenticeships funnel more qualified people into the industry, reducing the need for employers to recruit people away from one another. The availability of apprentices also drives down the need for the “panic hire,” a phenomenon linked to early turnover and increased costs for the employer.

The Takeaway

Too many healthcare organizations today need to fill critical positions but struggle to find qualified applicants. Apprenticeship programs bring those applicants directly to the provider, reducing hiring and training costs while letting the provider focus on what really matters — patient care.

It’s time to stop worrying about staff vacancies. Contact MedCerts today and learn more about our DOL approved apprenticeship intermediary status, programs and becoming an apprentice site.