Illustration by Justin Tran
For health care professionals, working in the face of danger is nothing new. But a staffing crisis that has been heating up for years is reaching a boiling point, threatening patients and providers alike.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced attention to the national and statewide shortage of health care workers, holding a spotlight specifically to the widening need for physicians. Last year, Virginia Commonwealth University researchers found that 3.8 million Virginians in 44% of census tracts lacked adequate access to primary care services. But the demand for workers is dangerously high in specialty and management fields like nursing, sonography, radiology and human resources, a problem that the Richmond region and Virginia at large are feeling in real time.
A 2025 report from the Brightpoint Community College Foundation found that demand for specialists in the Richmond area will rise steadily in the coming years. For example, meeting demand for physical therapists requires more than 60 new workers per year, an expected growth of 20% by the year 2030. For medical assistants, the field projected to have the highest growth in demand, the Richmond region needs about 400 new MAs to fill annual openings in the same period.
Further complicating the matter is the need for educators. Those roles are crucial to resolving understaffed practices but face similar problems of high turnover and high demand, creating a bottleneck, according to Brightpoint’s study. Because of this, many experts in the state look at the intersection of education and health care for solutions to fill the need.
Starting Early
Currently, the state’s system of training and introducing specialty workers to the health care industry relies on a network of four-year institutions, technical colleges and specialty programs, but education experts note that improving accessibility and awareness are key steps toward resolving the shortage. That’s where the Virginia Community College System starts its efforts.
The VCCS is in a unique position to serve as the most centralized resource for developing new talent in health care, and it is leveraging that position to develop its own solutions while supporting other organizations with a similar mission.
In 2023, the VCCS began holding annual summits for the industries most in need of skilled workers. Each year, these summits focus on a different industry, such as information technology and trade jobs. The health care industry was at the center of the inaugural event.
“The community colleges really work to align our programs with those of industry. So, we partner with industries in determining what are the most needed workforce credentials and the training that needs to be provided, then we align our programs with those,” says VCCS spokesperson Susan Pollard.
Reports such as Brightpoint’s indicate that reaching students in the K-12 education pipeline would likely have the biggest impact in addressing workforce shortages. A slew of handy online tools from institutions including VCCS is making it easier for counselors and other professionals to show workforce demands, salary expectations and other data to students as they begin to consider career options.
The Virginia Education Wizard, an online tool offered by VCCS, was established in 2009 and allows potential students to search for career training, degree programs and other pathways for entering the workforce. While not specifically limited to jobs and programs in the health care industry, the site allows users to set parameters and find information on industry-specific pathways. This can help students identify which jobs are most in demand, learn about courses and apprenticeships specific to those fields, and even explore options for financial assistance.
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, which regulates higher education institutes throughout the commonwealth, is launching its own information portal this year (available at schev.edu). Joseph DeFilippo, director of academic affairs and planning for SCHEV, says the portal is intended to serve as a one-stop shop for information about Virginia’s academic degree programs.
“The new portal will enable prospective students to access all relevant aspects of programs, such as academic outcomes, earnings and pathways,” DeFilippo says.
Like the VCCS, and soon SCHEV, the Virginia Department of Health Professions publishes online resources at dhp.virgina.gov, where potential professionals can explore their options in Virginia’s in-demand health roles with data from the department’s Healthcare Workforce Data Center.
With those digital tools, future professionals can explore which jobs most interest them, then plot out a career path based on job demand, salary potential and educational costs. The Virginia Education Wizard also has a section tailored to K-12 students looking for a career, where youths can see the 100 fastest-growing fields in the state and develop a detailed map for careers that interest them, including much-needed health care roles.
Granting Access
Once students have chosen a prospective health care profession, the next challenge is getting them through school and into the workforce — preferably quickly and affordably.
Recent federal legislation extended Pell Grant funding for higher education to short-term job training and other workforce development programs that credential professionals and prepare them for in-demand fields like health care. Often, because of the lower cost of community college, this bump in funding means that workers who receive their training through VCCS can have most of their course costs paid for with grants and other financial resources.
VCCS FastForward programs, established in 2016, were created with fast, low-cost credentials in mind. “FastForward was designed to help students earn credentials in the most in demand jobs,” Pollard says. “It goes with the high-demand skills, but it’s also a tuition assistance program, which allows for the cost to be shared so that the students are not always picking up the cost.” The total out-of-pocket expense for a student enrolled in a FastForward program is an average of $800, according to Pollard.
For example, Brightpoint’s pharmacy technician program — operated through FastForward — takes less than a year to complete and provides on-the-job training, allowing young people to become certified pharmacy technicians shortly after graduation.
“We have a 95% completion rate [across all FastForward certificates], and that’s huge for a credentialed program,” Pollard adds. “The community college system keeps asking for additional funding for FastForward because it’s been so wildly successful.”
Legislation passed in 2025 and set to go into effect on July 1 will make it easier and more affordable for students to pursue nursing degrees. The bill establishes a core curriculum for nursing programs across the community college system and requires course credits to be transferable and applicable to later undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing.
As government action helps create clear pathways from community college to four-year institutions, schools across the state are also working together to bridge the gap. Kristin King, chief human resources officer at VCU Health, says VCU School of Medicine aims to address workforce shortages by building strong talent pipelines through partnerships with the undergraduate university, community colleges and local high schools.
The institution’s College of Health Professions, which administers degrees for many in-demand roles, maintains dedicated teams for campus engagement and attracting potential talent. Partnerships with organizations like ChamberRVA and the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association help the university tap into diverse talent pools and develop training programs and other educational opportunities.
More directly, King says, the university supports its own professionals with benefits like tuition assistance and leadership initiatives including mentorship and recognition. “These efforts, combined with continued investment in training programs, ensure [that Virginia] can grow our own talent and sustain a strong, skilled workforce for the future,” King says.
The Road Ahead
While education institutions like the VCCS and VCU work to better prepare the health care system for future needs, medical labor experts including those at the American Hospital Association point to additional support from private businesses and all levels of government as necessary to stand a chance against the growing shortage.
“We are collaborating with industries constantly, and we have 23 [community] colleges across the state that are working with their communities directly,” Pollard says. “So, you’re not getting a one-size-fits-all solution; you're getting focused responses to actual needs within our communities.”
