Health Careers for All Brief (PACE)

HCA was designed to meet the region’s expanding healthcare labor needs while simultaneously addressing the training, employment, and advancement needs of its low-income residents by preparing them for jobs such as Nursing Assistant, Medical Office, and Phlebotomist. The program provides students with access to tuition-free occupational training, individual case management, and employment or other supports.

The program had four key elements:

1. Navigation and case management services;
2. Tuition-free access to occupational training in healthcare fields, funded through “cohorts” (course packages open exclusively to participants and fully funded by the program) based at community and technical colleges or through Individual Training Accounts;
3. Employment services; and
4. Financial assistance during and immediately following training to help address barriers to program completion or employment.

The program randomly assigned 654 study participants to either the treatment group or the control group. Study participants were older than traditional college students and economically disadvantaged.

The primary research questions were:

1. Was the intervention implemented as designed?
2. How did services differ between study participants who could access the HCA program versus those who could not?
3. What was the effect of access to HCA on short-term educational outcomes, specifically credentials earned and hours of occupational training received?

The study found that Health Careers for All increased the percentage of participants enrolling in healthcare-related training over an 18-month follow-up period. However, there was no impact overall on receipt of a credential or total hours of occupational training. In addition, TANF recipients in the treatment group enrolled in and completed training at a similar rate as participants not on public assistance.

The overall findings include:

• Most Health Careers for All treatment group members participated in some type of education or training program.
• Program participants’ first enrollment in healthcare training most commonly was at a private, non-degree granting school.
• The program achieved impacts on enrollment in training in a healthcare field, but there was no impact on receipt of a credential or total hours of occupational training.
• Health Careers for All did increase employment in a healthcare occupation, but so far, there were no other impacts on employment.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2019
• Author(s): K. Gardiner
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies