Growing-Your-Own: How Training Programs Help Rural Hospitals Build a Sustainable Healthcare Workforce

Posted by Laura Amendola on August 12, 2025

Many factors impact staffing shortages in rural hospitals. According to 3B Healthcare, contributions to shortages and high turnover rates include:

• limited access to medical professionals
• burnout among existing staff
• fewer incentives for healthcare workers to seek employment in rural areas

Further, geographic isolation has a huge impact; there’s often limited housing and amenities for healthcare workers available, making the rural setting a less desirable place to work. The community then faces additional healthcare burdens, as patients often face long travel times, delaying treatment and reducing follow-up care. The cumulative effect is poorer health outcomes and increased operational strain on facilities that are already stretched thin.

Read more: What is a Workforce Development Program?

Many rural areas are implementing “grow your own” models in order to secure and retain healthcare workers. Rural Health Information Hub outlines some strategies to do this:

• Launch programs like job training, career fairs, and scrubs camps, that introduce rural students to health careers
• Create healthcare facility programs that can help employees advance their education and careers, including apprenticeships

Partnerships with community colleges, universities, and online education providers can be especially valuable in rural settings. These collaborations can help healthcare facilities offer accessible training opportunities without requiring staff to leave their communities. Some organizations are even beginning the “grow-your-own” process at the high school level—training high school students or entry-level employees from the local area with the goal of transitioning them into long-term healthcare roles.

Read more: Why Upskilling is Still Crucial for Employee and Company Success

Some big healthcare positions that need attention in rural areas are medical assistants, pharmacy technicians, and dental assistants. These roles play vital parts in healthcare clinics and offices, yet they can be difficult to come by in rural settings.

In rural primary care settings, medical assistants often play a crucial role in addressing common workforce gaps. These gaps typically include limited staff availability, overextended providers, and high turnover rates. One effective strategy to mitigate these challenges is the development of local training programs, which help reduce dependence on external hires who may be less familiar with the community’s needs. By fostering partnerships with nearby community colleges or leveraging online certification providers, rural health systems can create a more sustainable and community-rooted pipeline of qualified MAs. This not only improves continuity of care but also strengthens the local healthcare workforce.

Pharmacy technicians serve as critical support personnel in rural healthcare systems, particularly in medication management and day-to-day pharmacy operations. Their contributions help streamline workflows, ensure accurate dispensing, and maintain inventory, all of which are vital in settings where staffing is often limited. Proper training for pharmacy technicians significantly reduces the burden on rural pharmacists, allowing them to focus more on clinical responsibilities, patient counseling, and oversight. Many rural hospitals and healthcare networks have recognized this value and responded by sponsoring technician training programs or apprenticeships. These initiatives not only build a skilled local workforce but also enhance retention and reliability within the pharmacy team.

Dental assistants, though often overlooked, play an essential role in ensuring the smooth operation of rural dental clinics. They support dentists with clinical tasks, patient preparation, and administrative duties, making them indispensable to efficient and effective oral healthcare delivery. In rural areas where dental providers are scarce, facilitating licensing or certification for dental assistants can have a significant impact. Rural hospitals and health systems can help bridge this gap by subsidizing training and certification pathways, making the profession more accessible to local residents. Additionally, mobile or satellite dental training programs offer a flexible solution for rural communities, bringing education and skill-building opportunities directly to underserved areas and strengthening the local dental workforce.

Read more: How Community-Based Organizations Can Partner with Job Organizations

To address staffing shortages and strengthen the rural healthcare workforce, many organizations are turning to hybrid training models that combine on-the-job experience with classroom-based learning. These programs provide a practical, flexible pathway for individuals to gain hands-on skills while advancing their education—making them particularly well-suited to the needs of rural communities where access to formal training institutions may be limited. Apprenticeships formed in partnership with local educational institutions, such as community colleges or technical schools, allow trainees to earn while they learn, helping to attract and retain talent within the community.

Financial sustainability is also a critical component of these initiatives. Federal funding sources like Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grants offer significant support for rural health workforce training programs. Many states may also offer workforce development funds aimed at upskilling local populations, particularly in underserved areas. Hospital-community foundation partnerships can further bolster these efforts, providing targeted resources and fostering trust through local engagement. Together, these training models and funding strategies can form a scalable framework for building a more resilient, homegrown rural healthcare workforce.

Read more: 5 Best Practices for Implementing a Successful Workforce Development Program

For hospital leaders aiming to strengthen rural healthcare staffing through local training initiatives, a thoughtful, step-by-step approach can be key. The first step is to assess the local talent pool and gauge community interest in healthcare career pathways. Understanding the availability of motivated individuals and their training needs can help guide program design and ensure community alignment. Identifying potential partners—such as nearby schools, online training programs, nonprofit organizations, and regional workforce development boards—is also critical. These partnerships may help provide educational infrastructure, recruitment support, and access to funding channels.

Starting small is often the most effective way to build momentum. Piloting a single role or program, such as training for medical assistants or pharmacy technicians, allows hospitals to test and refine their model before scaling.

Throughout this process, leveraging data is essential, as it tracks outcomes and improves program performance as well as secures funding. Demonstrating return on investment (ROI), whether through improved retention, reduced reliance on travel staff, or enhanced patient outcomes, helps make the case to federal and state funders, as well as local stakeholders. This strategic, data-informed approach lays the groundwork for sustainable workforce development in rural health systems.

Read more: The ROI of Workforce Development

Training programs are often not just workforce solutions. They’re also community resilience strategies. In rural areas, this is especially important to ensure healthcare is available for all. Rural hospitals that are struggling with staffing and retention can reap the benefits of launching, or even expanding grow-your-own programs. Partnerships with online training programs like Penn Foster can allow local talent to train and gain the professional skills both they and their community need without massive interruptions to their lives. To learn more, reach out to our training experts.