On the rise is a relatively new, accelerated route into a desirable healthcare career – one with costs that fall well short of four years of time, and $50,000 in tuition fees. The new path is a healthcare certificate program, and it may turn out to be your preferred ‘plan A’ into the position of your choice in the medical field. In fact, certificate programs are going to continue to expand in their applicability, due to an increasing demand for healthcare workers.

Alternative Method Needed to Meet Demand

According to CNNMoney, an estimated 2.3 million new healthcare workers will need to be hired in the next seven years to meet this increasing demand, caused by a growing supply of elderly patients.  Experienced nurses, medical assistants, and other healthcare professionals are retiring at a much more rapid pace than their replacements are graduating with degrees. As a result, healthcare organizations are willingly and eagerly preparing job offers for recipients of certificate programs, even if the highest level of schooling they have completed is high school.

This demand is also not just limited to one specific field within healthcare, but rather encompasses a wide range of areas, such as the focus of the example certificate programs listed below:

• Pharmacy Technician Certificate

Have an interest in working in a pharmacy? This certificate can be completed within a year, and will include necessary trainings and education to assist the lead pharmacist.

• Medical Billing & Coding Certificate

The billing and coding certificate will provide you an entrance point to working with patient information, medical records, and billing offices. Similarly to the pharmacy technician certificate, you should be able to earn this certificate in a year or less.

• Medical Administrative Assistant Certificate

A medical administrative assistant certificate will open many doors for you, considering that it will prepare you to handle numerous responsibilities found in any healthcare office, regardless of the field/segment.

Benefits to You, the Healthcare Certificate Recipient

1. Opportunity

Due to the aforementioned, consistently increasing demand for new healthcare employees, you are not likely to experience much of an uphill battle to land your first job after completing your healthcare certificate program. This is a special privilege not found in most other industries, where competition is fierce, and even entry level positions are rewarded to candidates with notable prior experience. If your goal is a long and fulfilling career in healthcare, then a healthcare certificate is virtually a guaranteed step in the right direction.

2. Speed

Since most certificate programs can be completed in a year or less, you are able to enter the workforce, or even your career, much sooner than your peers who pursue associate or bachelor’s degrees before applying for their first healthcare role.

3. Low Cost

You likely have heard about the current costs of tuition to a university, and maybe even how tuition fees have increased by more than three times what they were 40 years ago, as noted by Rasmussen College. Such astronomically high fees for a formal education can be avoided through a certificate program, while you’re left with nearly the same opportunities and advantages of a traditional degree recipient.

Regardless of the credentials you pursue leading up to your career in healthcare, the need for skilled labor is greater than ever.  As a result, a four-year degree is no longer required for entry. Therefore, be sure to spend some time researching certificate program opportunities, in additional to traditional university programs, because you may find yourself on a quicker and less ‘painful’ path to success.