As healthcare organizations continue to grapple with staffing shortages, entry-level patient-facing roles like certified medical assistants (CMAs) remain a big culprit. And for many practices, traditional recruitment channels can’t keep pace with growing demand, leaving administrators scrambling for innovative solutions.
Rob Fershtman, Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships at U.S. Career Institute, understands how practices can build their own CMA pipeline through a mix of online education and hands-on clinical partnerships.
With more than a decade of experience helping healthcare organizations address workforce gaps, Fershtman joins the MGMA Business Solutions podcast to share strategies that leaders can adopt to develop talent from within and retain staff long term.
Recognizing the Workforce Gap
Fershtman explains that healthcare staffing shortages have been building for years, particularly in rural communities where talent pipelines are thin.
As things began to evolve prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, rural areas had difficulties attracting talent due to demographic shifts.
“Ten years ago, the front end of the baby boomers started retiring off and you could see the chasm that was happening,” Fershtman notes.
This reality forced practices to think differently about how to fill early-stage career roles such as medical assistants, pharmacy technicians and sterile processing staff.
Creating Career Pathways Through Education
At the center of U.S. Career Institute’s model is an accredited distance-learning platform designed to give practices flexible options for training staff.
An accredited school based in Fort Collins, Co., U.S. Career Institute operates under the name of Weston Distance Learning, one of the original distance learning educators in the country.
“What we’re really known for – what really should be impactful for the MGMA folks – is that you can have people that are starting in your organization at a relatively entry level and help them grow and develop,” Fershtman highlights.
By partnering with U.S. Career Institute, practices can provide employees access to educational pathways that align with their long-term staffing strategies. These programs are not “one-size-fits-all” but can be adapted to each organization’s needs.
Real-Life Success Stories
One of the most compelling parts of Fershtman’s work is seeing how people from all walks of life transition into healthcare careers.
“We have seen oil riggers that are big burly guys say to us, ‘I know I’m supposed to be in healthcare. Even though I make a lot of money, I don’t want to do this.’ And a healthcare organization gave him a shot … now I think he’s going to PA school actually years later,” Fershtman recalls.
He also shares another story of a hairstylist who lost work during the pandemic. “An urgent care in Massachusetts said, ‘You would be pretty good at our front desk.’ And indeed she was … now I believe she runs three urgent cares.”
These examples illustrate how organizations can uncover untapped talent and build loyalty by offering new career pathways.
Blending Online and Clinical Training
One of the unique aspects of U.S. Career Institute’s approach is the ability to combine online coursework with real-time clinical training. This blended model allows organizations to customize the learning sequence to fit their environment.
“The most effective versions sound something like the didactic learning that we’re doing is relatively concurrent with the clinical skills that the partner is teaching,” Fershtman says. “A medical assistant in a pediatric office will do something quite different than a medical assistant in a cardio cath lab.”
By allowing partners to reorder lessons and integrate them with clinical skills, students are better prepared to step into their roles on day one.
Leveraging Brain Science for Retention
Fershtman emphasizes that the program is designed with proven learning science in mind. Using cognitive load theory, the program creates a user-friendly way for students to read and watch video while retaining didactic knowledge.
While employing an open-book policy to encourage active learning, the program design incorporates the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, which measures how quickly knowledge decays over time.
“Through repetitions that are built in an open book, they’re lengthening the time that it takes to forget something … and they’re shortening the time to learn it,” Fershtman explains.
Partner-Driven Customization
A key aspect to U.S. Career Institute is that it works directly with healthcare organizations to customize training, allowing practices to sequence content in a way that matches their workflow.
“We want the organization to tell us … ‘what can you do when you’re training people with the clinical skills to move them in faster or better?’” Fershtman explains.
Adding a final piece of advice for practice leaders, Fershtman encourages them to: “Have a vision and make a plan. We adapt around you. You don’t have to adapt around us. We’ll do our best to assist.”
Resources:
- Visit the U.S. Career Institute website
- MGMA Clinical Medical Assistant Certification, Powered by U.S. Career Institute - Learn More
- Connect with Rob Fershtman on LinkedIn
- MGMA Membership - Learn More and Register
- 2025 MGMA Leaders Conference: Sept 28-Oct 1 in Orlando, FL - Register Here
