Workforce training platform Stepful announces acquisition of 45-year-old US-based nursing school
Stepful, a workforce training platform focused on how America's health systems build, train, and retain their talent, has acquired St. Louis College of Health Careers (SLCHC), a 45-year-old ABHES accredited institution with campuses in downtown St. Louis and Fenton, Missouri, USA. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SLCHC will now operate under its new name, Stepful College.
"Health systems don't just need more medical assistants and patient care techs. They need nurses, respiratory therapists, and other healthcare professionals in roles that require graduates from degree programs," says Carl Madi, CEO and Co-Founder at Stepful. "Stepful College lets us build that pathway end to end, from a student's first day with zero medical experience to a bachelor's degree from an ABHES accredited institution, while continuing to work. By doing this, and working tightly with employers we can fill badly needed roles and create pathways to six figure jobs within six years."
Founded in 1981 by Steve Barsam and Rush Robinson, SLCHC focused on healthcare careers, graduating more than 3,000 students who now work across the St. Louis metro area as nurses, respiratory therapists, and allied health professionals.
The college acquisition closed in December, bringing an ABHES accredited, degree granting institution into the Stepful ecosystem for the first time, expanding the company's reach into nursing, respiratory therapy, and other roles that require formal degrees rather than certification alone.
Stepful plans to scale the college’s existing nursing and respiratory therapy degree programs nationally, and to launch new programs.
The student experience will tap into the company’s proprietary learning technology and student support model. Stepful’s employer partners include health systems like Providence and Mount Sinai. Partners will now have the option to embed the college’s degree programs alongside its existing training portfolio, which includes Medical Assistant, Surgical Tech, Patient Care Tech, Pharmacy Tech, and Sterile Processing programs .
The acquisition builds on the foundation of the career advancement pathways Stepful has put in place for its non-degree programs, now allowing a student to move from zero medical experience through a frontline role and into a nursing or bachelor's degree program while continuing to work.
"We built this school in 1981 to give working adults in St. Louis a real path into healthcare," says Steve Barsam. "Stepful can take that same mission and put it in front of working adults across the country."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Workforce training will be a key focus area at our sister title RTIH’s 2026 Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out the 2025 winners here.
RTIH’s 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
