By the Bay Health has launched a new career program that aims to build up the next generation of home-based health care professionals amid widespread workforce shortages.

The California-based health system unveiled its educational initiative, Pathways to Care Careers, in December 2024 as part of its 50th anniversary commemoration. The program is a collaboration with local schools and community organizations.

By the Bay Health recently began a $1 million fundraising campaign to support the expansion of the career initiative. A main goal is to reach an increasingly diverse range of health care workers further upstream in their educational journeys, said Robertina Szolarova, chief administrative officer at By the Bay Health and program lead for its Pathways to Care Careers initiative.

“It was very important not just to be reactive to the health care workforce now, but also to help develop pipelines,” Szolarova told Hospice News. “We knew that in order to stay strong and viable, we had to address the health care workforce shortages. We’ve seen the impact of this on our own recruiting efforts. That is just the reality. The Pathways to Care Careers program is really about preserving and growing community-centered, home-based health care.”

By the Bay Health is an affiliate of the University of California San Francisco Health (UCSF) Health. The health system offers hospice, palliative, pediatric and skilled home health care across four counties and three cities in California.

The career program includes a health care introductory class that began this year at a local high school, with goals to extend it into a year-long elective program across other educators during the next school year.

By the Bay Health has also unveiled a new scholarship for nursing students at Dominican University, offering two $25,000 scholarships for individuals from diverse, multicultural backgrounds.

“We have an increasingly diverse population here, and that needs to be reflected clinically as well,” Szolarova said. “This is an important aspect of getting into high schools and colleges early to be able to offer those [educational] opportunities so that we can support more diverse candidates in the field to represent broader populations. It’s important to make sure that we are really looking at this from all angles and encouraging individuals who may not have thought about a health care career. There’s a place for them.”

Hospice, palliative and home health care providers often face fierce competition for sparse human resources, Szolarova indicated. Additionally, students have limited exposure to hospice and palliative care during the course of their medical education. By the Bay Health’s career initiative is designed to change the status quo on these two factors, she stated.

By the Bay Health is currently building out clinical rotation, internship and preceptorship opportunities for participants. The career program will allow students to gain experience alongside clinical staff across multiple disciplines, including hospice and palliative care, among other home-based settings.

Newly graduated nursing students can face a host of challenges when searching for mentorship and training, as many hospice organizations are searching for more experienced clinicians, Szolarova said. The new program aims to acclimate clinicians to quality standards and best care delivery practices, as well as provide them with bedside experience and career pathways to help them to continue to grow professionally.

The new career program has also led to deeper examination of By the Bay Health’s workforce retention efforts. The hospice provider has been building partnerships with local, state and federal agencies to grow its resources to better support employees. Under consideration are programs that can expand access to affordable housing for employees and address transportation challenges during a time of rising costs.

“We are thinking about this from a holistic perspective of not just encouraging people to get into home-based care, but also help them succeed when they choose a career,” Szolarova told Hospice News. “You hear all the time about how the future of health care is in the home, so it’s definitely a growing space for health care.”