How Healthcare Employers Can Upskill and Retain Top Talent
Healthcare employers are under growing pressure to attract skilled workers while retaining the employees they already have. Healthcare employee upskilling can help by giving existing employees opportunities to build new skills, earn relevant certifications, and advance within the organization.
By investing in training and clear career pathways, employers can address skills gaps while developing talent from within.
Here’s how healthcare organizations can use upskilling to strengthen their workforce and support long-term retention.
What Is Healthcare Employee Upskilling?
Healthcare employee upskilling means helping current employees build new skills, strengthen existing ones, or earn certifications that can prepare them for more responsibility and future career opportunities.
For employers, this can be as simple as giving an employee the training to take on an additional clinical skill or supporting them as they prepare for a new role. The goal is to develop people who already understand the organization, its patients, and its day-to-day operations.
Depending on the employee’s role and career goals, upskilling might include:
Upskilling vs. Reskilling in Healthcare
The terms are related, but they describe two different approaches to employee development.
Upskilling
Builds on an employee’s current skills or career path. For example, a clinical employee might add phlebotomy skills to expand what they can do in their current setting.
Reskilling
Prepares an employee to move into a different type of role. For example, an employee in a nonclinical position might complete Medical Assistant training to pursue a patient-facing career path.
Both approaches can help employers develop talent from within. The right choice depends on the organization’s workforce needs and where an employee wants to grow.
Why Is Upskilling Important for Healthcare Employers?
Healthcare employers are trying to meet growing patient needs while competing for many of the same skilled workers. Hiring remains important, but relying on outside candidates alone can make it harder to keep up with vacancies, changing skill needs, and employee turnover.
Healthcare support occupations are projected to grow 12.4% from 2024 to 2034, adding about 988,000 jobs. That is far faster than the 3.1% growth projected across all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That growth can put more pressure on employers to find people with the right mix of clinical and technical skills. Upskilling gives organizations another option: develop employees who are already part of the team.
Fill Skills Gaps
Training can help current employees build skills an organization needs instead of waiting for the perfect outside candidate to become available.
Strengthen Hard-to-Fill Roles
Allied health positions can be difficult to staff in some markets. Creating internal pathways can widen the pool of employees who may be ready to move into those roles.
Give Employees Room to Grow
Employees who can see a next step inside the organization may be more likely to pursue new skills and responsibilities without looking elsewhere for career growth.
Build a More Sustainable Talent Pipeline
Developing people from within can complement recruiting and give employers a more consistent way to prepare talent for future workforce needs.
The American Hospital Association’s 2026 Health Care Workforce Scan also points to organizations upskilling existing team members and making employee engagement a workforce priority as hospitals rethink staffing and future roles.
For healthcare employers, the goal does not have to be choosing between hiring and training. A stronger approach is often to do both: recruit when new talent is needed while creating clear training and advancement opportunities for employees who are already part of the organization.
How Can Upskilling Improve Healthcare Employee Retention?
Training alone won’t prevent turnover. But employees are more likely to stay when they can see opportunities to learn, take on new responsibilities, and move forward without having to leave their organization.
Gallup reported in 2025 that one in four U.S. employees felt they lacked opportunities for career advancement. Giving employees a clear path forward can make training more meaningful and show them what they can work toward.
Creates Clear Career Advancement Opportunities
Employees should know what it takes to move into the next role. Employers can make that easier by outlining the skills, training, or certifications required for advancement.
Supports Professional Development
Employees can build new healthcare skills while continuing to work. This makes it easier to gain experience and prepare for additional responsibilities without stepping away from their current job.
Encourages Internal Mobility
When a position opens, a current employee may already have valuable experience and knowledge of the organization. Upskilling can help prepare that employee to move into the role.
Builds an Internal Talent Pipeline
Employers can identify employees who want to advance and provide training for roles they expect to need in the future. This can be especially useful for positions that are consistently difficult to fill.
For upskilling to support retention, employees need to see where the training can lead. Connecting new skills and certifications to real opportunities for advancement gives employees a clearer path to grow within the organization.
What Healthcare Skills Should Employers Invest In?
The right training depends on the roles an organization needs to fill and the skills its employees already have. For many healthcare employers, practical allied health training can help current employees take on more responsibility and prepare for future opportunities.
Medical Assisting
Medical Assistant training can help employees build both clinical and administrative skills, including patient intake, vital signs, documentation, and day-to-day support in physician practices and outpatient settings.
Patient Care
Patient Care Technician training focuses on hands-on patient support. These skills can be useful for employees preparing to take on more direct patient-care responsibilities in hospitals and other clinical settings.
Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy training teaches blood collection skills that can support dedicated phlebotomy roles or add another clinical skill for employees who already work with patients.
Pharmacy Technician Skills
Pharmacy Technician training can help employees build knowledge of medication workflows, pharmacy operations, and the responsibilities involved in supporting pharmacists.
Medical Terminology
Medical Terminology training can help employees become more comfortable with the language used in healthcare records, clinical communication, and everyday workflows. It can also provide a useful foundation for employees moving into more clinical roles.
How ACT Supports Healthcare Employers
Advanced eClinical Training works directly with healthcare employers that want to develop current staff, fill workforce gaps, or build a stronger pipeline of trained healthcare talent.
ACT also works with healthcare organizations that want to become externship sites , giving students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience while employers connect with emerging healthcare talent.
Employers do not need to train every employee in every skill. A practical place to start is with the positions and skills the organization needs most, then identify employees who are interested in growing into those areas. Explore ACT’s Employer Solutions to learn more about staff upskilling, credentialing, and workforce partnerships.
How Can Healthcare Employers Build Career Pathways?
Training is more effective when employees understand where it can lead. Instead of offering education as a stand-alone benefit, healthcare employers can connect training and certifications to specific roles, added responsibilities, and future advancement opportunities.
A career pathway does not have to be complicated. Employees should be able to see the steps between where they are now and where they could go next.
Start with employees who are interested in growing within the organization and roles that could realistically be filled through internal development.
Ways Employers Can Put Career Pathways Into Practice
The pathway becomes more useful when employers connect each step to actual workforce needs and make expectations clear to employees.
Look at positions that are difficult to fill or roles where current employees could advance with additional training. This helps employers focus development efforts on actual staffing needs rather than offering training without a clear next step.
Employees should be able to see the connection between training and the position they are working toward. For example, someone interested in more direct patient-care responsibilities may benefit from Patient Care Technician training , while another employee may be preparing for a broader clinical and administrative role through Medical Assistant training .
Define which certifications or training milestones employees should complete before moving into a new role or taking on additional responsibilities. Clear expectations give employees something specific to work toward.
Career development should go beyond completing coursework. Where appropriate, employees can apply new skills through additional responsibilities, supervised experience, or preparation for another position within the organization.
Employees do not necessarily have to stop after earning one certification. Healthcare credential stacking allows employees to build additional, related skills and credentials over time as their responsibilities and career goals change.
Make it clear which internal roles are available and what employees need to qualify for them. When workers can see the next step and understand how to reach it, training feels connected to a real opportunity rather than an isolated benefit.
Build on Skills Employees Already Have
Career pathways do not always require employees to start over with an entirely new area of training. Related credentials can build on existing experience. For example, an employee may begin with Medical Terminology , add Phlebotomy training , and later pursue another credential that aligns with a new role or greater clinical responsibility.
ACT’s guide to healthcare credential stacking explains how multiple credentials can be combined to expand skills and support career growth.
The goal is to make advancement easier to understand. When employees can see the training, certifications, and experience required for the next role, they have a clearer picture of how they can continue growing within the organization.
How Do Employer-Sponsored Healthcare Certification Programs Work?
Employer-sponsored healthcare certification programs allow organizations to help employees gain job-related skills and credentials while continuing to build talent from within. Depending on the program, an employer may cover some or all training costs, enroll individual employees or groups, and connect training to specific workforce needs.
The exact structure can vary, but from an employer’s perspective, the process may look something like this:
What Can Employer-Sponsored Training Include?
How ACT Can Support Employer-Sponsored Training
Through Advanced eClinical Training’s Employer Solutions , healthcare organizations can select training programs based on their workforce and clinical needs and enroll existing staff in ACT’s online platform. Employees can complete coursework on their own time, making training easier to fit around existing work responsibilities.
ACT’s employer offerings also include clinical staff upskilling and credentialing and train-to-hire pathways. Organizations that want to provide hands-on learning opportunities can also explore becoming an ACT externship site .
Certification, training, hands-on experience, and employment requirements can vary by occupation, employer, and state. Employers should confirm the requirements that apply to a specific role before building a training or advancement pathway around a particular credential.
How to Build an Employee Upskilling Program in Healthcare
Once employers know which skills they need and what career pathways they want to support, the next step is putting the program into practice. A successful upskilling program should connect training to real workforce needs and give employees a clear understanding of what they are working toward.
Identify Workforce and Skills Gaps
Look at positions that are consistently difficult to recruit for, roles with high turnover, and skills your current teams are missing. Prioritize areas where training existing employees could realistically help address the gap.
Identify Employees Who Want to Advance
Give employees a way to express interest in training, certification, or internal career opportunities. Employees should be able to see which development opportunities are available and what they could prepare them to pursue.
Match Training to Workforce Needs
Choose training based on specific roles, responsibilities, or skill gaps rather than offering education without a clear purpose. Each program should connect to something the organization actually needs.
Make Training Practical for Working Employees
Consider how employees will complete training while continuing to work. Flexible and online programs can make it easier to fit coursework around existing schedules, shifts, and responsibilities.
Set Clear Training and Certification Milestones
Define what employees are expected to complete, including coursework, certification exams, or hands-on requirements where applicable. Training, certification, and employment requirements can vary by occupation, employer, and state.
Connect Completion to a Next Step
Employees should know what happens after they finish training. Depending on the organization and role, that could mean becoming eligible for a new position, taking on additional responsibilities, pursuing another credential, or moving into a defined healthcare credential stacking pathway.
Measure Workforce Outcomes
Decide how the organization will evaluate the program before training begins. The most useful metrics are the ones that show whether employees are completing the program and whether training is helping address the workforce needs it was designed around.
Metrics employers may want to track include:
- Training completion rates
- Certification exam outcomes
- Employee participation
- Internal promotions
- Positions filled internally
- Employee retention
- Time to fill priority positions
Putting an Upskilling Program Into Practice With ACT
Healthcare organizations do not necessarily have to build the training component on their own. Through Advanced eClinical Training’s Employer Solutions , employers can select allied health programs based on their workforce and clinical needs and enroll existing employees in online training.
ACT’s employer partnerships can support clinical staff upskilling as well as credentialing and train-to-hire initiatives, giving organizations different ways to connect training with their workforce needs.
How Can Healthcare Training Partnerships Support Workforce Development?
Employers do not have to build every training program internally. A healthcare training partner can provide the curriculum, learning platform, certification preparation, and program support needed to train employees across different allied health roles.
This can be especially useful for organizations that want to expand employee training without developing and managing every part of the educational program themselves.
What Should Employers Look for in a Healthcare Training Partner?
The right partner should offer training that fits the organization’s workforce needs while remaining practical for employees who are already working.
- Healthcare-specific curriculum
- Flexible learning formats
- National certification preparation where applicable
- Multiple allied health training pathways
- Options that work around employee schedules
- Scalable enrollment
- Employer support throughout the program
- Training aligned with workforce needs
For employers that want to expand training without building the educational infrastructure themselves, Advanced eClinical Training works with healthcare organizations to support clinical staff upskilling, credentialing, train-to-hire initiatives, and other workforce needs.
Partner With Advanced eClinical Training to Develop Your Workforce
Healthcare organizations do not have to build workforce training programs from the ground up. Advanced eClinical Training’s Employer Partnership Programs give employers access to allied health training, credentialing, and talent solutions that can be matched to their workforce needs.
ACT offers online healthcare training across multiple allied health pathways, allowing organizations to develop existing employees while also creating additional ways to recruit and prepare new talent.
Healthcare Training Built Around Workforce Needs
Allied Health Training Programs
ACT offers training pathways in areas such as Medical Assisting , Patient Care , Phlebotomy , and Pharmacy Technician training.
Flexible Online Education
ACT’s online learning model gives working employees more flexibility to complete coursework around their schedules rather than stepping away from work for a traditional classroom program.
Certification Preparation
Eligible ACT programs prepare learners for relevant national certification exams, helping employers connect workforce training with recognized credentials where applicable.
Multiple Training Pathways
Employers can select programs based on the skills and positions they need instead of relying on a single training pathway for every employee.
More Than Employee Training
- Clinical Staff Upskilling: Enroll current employees in short-term allied health training based on workforce and clinical needs.
- Credentialing and Train-to-Hire: Work with ACT to identify needed credentials and prepare candidates for employment within the organization.
- Medical Assistant Staffing: Connect with trained Medical Assistant students and alumni when additional talent is needed.
- Externship Partnerships: Become an ACT externship site to provide hands-on experience while connecting with emerging healthcare talent.
- Workforce and Apprenticeship Support: ACT also works with workforce development organizations and can provide Related Technical Instruction for allied health apprenticeship programs.
ACT’s network includes more than 1,000 clinical partner sites nationwide, providing connections between healthcare education, clinical experience, and employers. For organizations looking to develop current employees or build new talent pipelines, ACT can tailor partnership options around specific staffing and training needs.
Build a Training Strategy Around Your Workforce Needs
Explore ACT’s options for clinical staff upskilling, credentialing, train-to-hire, and healthcare staffing partnerships.
Explore ACT’s Employer Partnership SolutionsFAQs About Healthcare Employee Upskilling
Upskilling in healthcare means helping current employees build new skills, strengthen existing ones, or earn certifications that can prepare them for additional responsibilities and future career opportunities.
Healthcare employers can upskill employees by identifying workforce skill gaps and connecting employees with training that supports specific roles or career pathways. This may include online coursework, certification preparation, hands-on learning, and employer-sponsored training programs.
Upskilling can support retention by giving employees opportunities to learn, earn new credentials, and advance within the organization. It is most effective when employees can clearly see how completing training connects to new responsibilities or career opportunities.
Depending on their role and the employer’s needs, employees can develop skills in areas such as medical assisting, patient care, phlebotomy, pharmacy operations, and medical terminology. The appropriate training will depend on the position and applicable requirements.
Yes. Employers can cover some or all eligible training and certification expenses for employees. Programs may be offered to individual employees or groups working toward a shared workforce goal. The amount covered and eligibility requirements depend on the employer’s policies and program.
Employers should look for healthcare-specific training that aligns with their workforce needs. Important considerations include flexible learning options, relevant certification preparation, multiple allied health training pathways, support for working employees, scalable enrollment, and ongoing employer support.
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