When her son’s father died in an on-the-job accident in November 2008, Niketa Baltimore had to return to the work force during the height of the worst economic recession in modern history. She earned a medical office certificate from a local career technical school, but clerical jobs were tough to find.

“Everywhere I went, they weren’t hiring for office help,” Baltimore recalled. “But they were looking for medical assistants.”

That demand for medical assistants is only expected to grow, so the 34-year-old mother of two may not be looking for work much longer. Baltimore is in the first class of students in an innovative new school to train medical assistants, emphasizing quality hands-on training.

The Medical Preparatory School of Allied Health (Med Prep) started classes Dec. 1 on the South Side of San Antonio. The program, sponsored by WellMed Medical Management, is the only privately run school of its kind with a curriculum designed by health care professionals, said Lee Garner, the school’s director.

“There are a couple of obvious advantages to our curriculum. The first is that we run a little longer than most programs – about 11 months – because we want our graduates to have all the skills they need to compete and function at a high level,” said Garner, a former dean of admissions at Florida Metropolitan University.

“Secondly, we will place every one of our students at two externship programs, using WellMed clinics at first. They will work side-by-side with doctors, physician’s assistants and nurses for a total of 180 hours, which provides invaluable experience.”

It is also more affordable than most other privately run programs of this kind, charging nearly half the average cost to complete similar training elsewhere.

Medical assistants are an entry-level position in the health care industry, typically earning $8 to $11 an hour in San Antonio. Medical assistants may work behind a desk in front of a computer doing billing and coding work or processing insurance, or directly assist doctors and health care providers by performing general health screenings on patients. WellMed leaders developed the school to help fill a growing need in the industry and to train medical assistants according to the high standards required of staff at its clinics.

WellMed is a diversified health care company that owns and operates 21 senior-focused medical clinics in the Greater San Antonio area, and seven more in Austin and Florida. WellMed is also South Texas’ largest physician-owned practice management company, supporting more than 100 independent physicians’ offices serving seniors in Texas and Florida.

“WellMed is one of the largest health care providers in the region, and one of the largest private employers in San Antonio,” said WellMed Chairman and CEO George M. Rapier III, M.D. “In some cases, we have hired good people to work for us who required additional training to provide the quality health care our patients deserve. We recognized a need for better training for medical assistants.”

The 4,600-square-foot Med Prep campus is at 509 SW Military, Suite 101, adjacent to the Elvira Cisneros Senior Community Center by WellMed. The facility features a 17-seat observation classroom, mock examination rooms and traditional classrooms with a computer lab.

One of Med Prep’s goals is to address practical needs of the Allied Health industry through traditional classroom learning with real-life experts and hands-on experience for prospective medical assistants, one of the fastest-growing positions in healthcare.

The school’s coordinating instructor will work with guest lecturers including physicians, nurse practitioners, clinic administrators and other healthcare industry experts to deliver an industry-driven curriculum.

WellMed has partnered with the local non-profit job training program Project QUEST to significantly offset tuition for the first class of nine students.

Med Prep is one of the few locally owned and operated health careers schools in San Antonio. Other private schools of this kind charge a student, on average, $14,000 for an eight-month program. Full tuition at Med Prep is $7,995 for an intensive 10-month program.

Med Prep classes cover general studies such as anatomy and physiology, medical law and ethics and CPR/First Aid; administrative duties such as medical insurance, billing and coding and office procedures; and clinical training in pharmacology, medical math and more.