Ohio State University Physicians (OSUP), the university’s outpatient medical group, delivers primary and specialty care throughout central Ohio. The group is highly regarded for its dedication to patient centricity.

“Our culture and values are built around patient-centered care. When seeking talent in the community, we're looking for employees that share that same connection to patients and commitment to providing exceptional care,” explains longtime Director of Human Resources Stacie Russell. 

OSUP has more than 1,800 employees across clinical and non-clinical roles. The medical group is always interested in new ways to acquire and develop talent internally and externally. Since nurses and medical assistants (MAs) are the lifeblood of their clinical operations, developing and retaining them is a high priority.

Despite OSUP’s focus on MAs, vacancies strained the entire system

Since the pandemic, OSUP faced a major medical assistant shortage and a limited talent pipeline for sourcing new candidates. The widespread vacancies strained the whole system to the point where every site was consistently short-staffed.

“Pipeline development, finding new talent, and retaining the talent we had were all issues we faced. Our clinical teams began experiencing burnout,” recounts Stacie. 

Legacy workforce development solutions weren't alleviating the pain

OSUP sought a holistic solution.

They wanted to find a time- and cost-effective way to build a sustainable, high-quality talent pipeline.

At first, they struggled to find a solution that could produce great outcomes at scale.

They even rolled out their own training program, led by Chief Compliance Officer Lori Oberholzer.

“Unfortunately, operationally we just couldn’t scale it. We just didn’t have the staff to train up the number of medical assistants we needed,” says Lori.

Stepful and OSUP work hand-in-hand to build a new MA talent pipeline

In the summer of 2023, Stacie and Lori connected with Stepful.

The programs Stepful offered fit what they were looking for.

The two organizations forged a partnership rooted in their shared commitment to patient-centered care.

Through the partnership, OSUP filled urgent vacancies, developed more sustainable talent pipelines, and began building career pathways to retain existing employees.

Later that year, they rolled out a program to fill and retain critical roles.

Stepful’s medical assistant training program, which prepares students to become certified by taking the National Healthcareer Association Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exam, has been central to OSUP’s strategy since day one.

The program trains individuals without clinical experience to become medical assistants. Then, OSUP hires them. 

Stepful's unique program design drives student engagement and training completion

The Stepful approach is different from typical self-paced training programs.

Stepful’s medical assistant program is designed specifically for working adult learners who are already employed by a health system in a non-clinical role or live in the community.

“Students love the flexibility,” says Lori. “Someone can do Stepful’s upskilling program and still keep their full-time job. They can complete it in a reasonable amount of time. This concept is something that no one else offers.”

All programs are cohort-based, so students belong to a group and support each other throughout the journey. They also receive 1:1 coaching.

“Our Stepful graduates love working with their coaches. They like having somebody step-by-step with them along the way, encouraging them and answering their questions,” Stacie remarks.

Courses are live, entirely online, and instructor-led. They’re designed to teach students all the skills they need to pass the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant exam and succeed in the role.

Victoria Lundgren, an OSUP employee who was recommended to Stepful by her manager, agrees. 

“Being able to take classes later in the day was super convenient for my schedule,” she says.

“From day one, the classes were amazing. Everything was super easy to follow and well-structured. This was the most ideal situation for an online class. I could come off work, have a couple hours to relax or study, then join my classes.”

Victoria also loved that her instructors were always available to answer questions outside of class and that Stepful's proprietary learning platform was easy to navigate.

Today, Victoria is a Stepful graduate still working at OSUP, now as a certified clinical medical assistant.

More than a year later, her Stepful training still comes in handy. Whenever she draws blood or takes blood pressure, for example, she recalls her favorite lesson.

OSUP establishes a workforce development partnership that works

OSUP continues to work with Stepful to expand and refine their talent pipeline. 

The MA program currently fills about 10 vacancies per month, and their vacancy rate is down to 8%. They’re developing the talent they need faster and at a fraction of the cost.

“Just having talent that wants to be here and stay here has improved our vacancy rate. And our turnover rate for medical assistants has gone down too,” says Stacie.

“When we've worked with some of the local universities or colleges, there can be a lot of red tape. It’s challenging to get things started. But Stepful gets it done.” 

Lori chimes in, “Everyone at Stepful is just so willing to work with us to meet our needs. “They’re always asking, ‘How can we make this better? Where are the gaps?’ They are at the table, brainstorming with us on new ideas.”

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