Help Patients Navigate Care.See How the Whole System Connects.
Help patients understand what happens next and connect with the care, coverage, and resources they need. Gain direct experience in patient communication, preventive and chronic-care outreach, approved documentation, and care-team collaboration while exploring careers across healthcare.
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See the moment care becomes connection.
See how Care Navigator Scholars communicate with patients, collaborate with care teams, navigate resources, and help turn complex health-system processes into clearer next steps.
A care plan only matters when a patient can act on it.
A patient may know what care is needed and still face barriers related to insurance, cost, transportation, health literacy, chronic illness, or finding the right service. Care Navigator Scholars learn how social determinants of health can shape access to preventive care, chronic-care support, and quality services—especially in underserved communities.
The value of care navigation is not simply making calls. It is learning to recognize why care can break down—and how coordinated outreach, education, coverage support, and resource connection can help patients move forward.
Work where patients, care teams, coverage, and resources connect.
Participate in trained, approved workflows that reveal how one practical action—an outreach call, an insurance review, a documented need, or the right resource—can help a patient understand the next step and remain connected to care.
Patient Communication & Education
Communicate directly with patients through approved calls and outreach. Explain health-system resources, reinforce next steps, and use site-provided scripts and educational materials.
Preventive & Chronic-Care Outreach
Support preventive-screening engagement, respond to approved care-gap flags, and contribute to chronic-care and disease-management workflows.
Insurance, Coverage & Clinic Access
Support insurance verification, coverage review, and benefits coordination while learning how approved clinic and follow-up pathways may differ by coverage.
Social Determinants & Resource Navigation
Recognize barriers that can affect care and connect patients with approved health-system, community, and DHS resources that support their next steps.
EMR, Documentation & Informatics
Receive training on approved EMR and data systems, support accurate patient-navigation documentation, and work within privacy and staff-approval requirements.
Interdisciplinary Care Collaboration
Work alongside social workers, case managers, clinic staff, and healthcare administrators. Educational workshops also build familiarity with current resources and referral pathways.
Site-specific experience: Program responsibilities and workflows vary by site.
Core preparation from our team, with site-specific training provided by hospital staff.
COPE Health Scholars prepares Scholars in communication, professionalism, privacy, documentation, and scope of practice. Hospital staff then train Scholars on the assigned site’s systems, patient populations, scripts, tools, and workflows before responsibilities begin.
Training from COPE Health Scholars
Build a foundation in patient navigation, social determinants of health, professionalism, communication, privacy, documentation, escalation, and the expectations of a nonlicensed support role.
Training from Hospital Staff
Learn the hospital’s approved EMR tools, patient populations, resource pathways, scripts, processes, and day-to-day workflows directly from site staff before beginning assigned activities.
Approval, Direction & Escalation
Follow established workflows and know when staff approval, direction, or escalation is required. This creates a clear, professionally supervised learning environment.
Clear professional boundaries protect patients and strengthen the learning experience.
Care Navigator Scholars do not diagnose conditions, provide medical advice, handle medications, take physician orders, translate clinical information, or perform duties requiring a professional license. Access to patient information and health-system platforms is limited to assigned responsibilities, completed training, approved access, and the scheduled shift.
Build six core competencies—and leave with examples that demonstrate them.
The program connects patient-facing work with professional judgment. You will be able to explain not only what you did, but how communication, access, documentation, privacy, and team coordination shaped a patient’s next step.
Evidence-Based Care
Understand why approved practices, reliable communication, and consistent workflows matter across patient populations.
Person-Centered Care
Recognize how individual needs, preferences, circumstances, and barriers shape a patient’s ability to access care.
Integrated Care Delivery
See how patients, providers, social workers, health systems, and community organizations coordinate services.
Quality Improvement
Learn how preventive outreach, chronic-care engagement, documentation, and care-gap workflows support organized care delivery.
Documentation & Informatics
Build experience with approved EMR tools, objective documentation, data accuracy, confidentiality, and information continuity.
Ethics & Professionalism
Strengthen professional boundaries, integrity, privacy awareness, scope of practice knowledge, and escalation judgment.
Patient communication examples
Describe how you used approved scripts, listening, education, and follow-through to support clearer next steps.
Access and barrier examples
Explain how coverage, cost, transportation, health literacy, and resources can affect whether care moves forward.
Workflow and documentation examples
Show how objective documentation, privacy, accuracy, and escalation support continuity and trust.
Collaboration examples
Share how you worked within approved roles alongside social workers, case managers, clinic staff, and administrators.
Build your Care Navigator experience within a healthcare community shaped by more than 25 years of impact.
Care Navigator Scholars join the broader COPE Health Scholars community—connecting their patient-navigation experience with a long-standing commitment to helping future healthcare professionals grow through real-world learning.
Across the full COPE Health Scholars program community, 45,000+ alumni have carried their experience into clinical care, allied health, healthcare leadership, research, administration, and other healthcare careers.
One community. Many healthcare careers. A shared foundation of service, professional growth, and real-world healthcare experience.
These milestones reflect the broader COPE Health Scholars program community and are not specific to the Care Navigator Scholars Program alone.
How navigation experience becomes professional confidence.
Care Navigator Scholars on the patient barriers they helped remove, the care teams they worked alongside, and the moment the health system started to make sense.
Participating in both the COPE Health Scholars and Care Navigator programs completely changed my perspective on my career after college.
The Care Navigator program introduced me to the administrative side of healthcare, and becoming a Department Coordinator gave me the opportunity to work closely with hospital leadership on initiatives that improved patient care and operations. I learned how healthcare administration functions, how to collaborate with executive leaders, and how to solve problems professionally in a fast-paced environment.
Those experiences confirmed my passion for healthcare administration and inspired me to apply to MHA programs across the country. I’m proud to say that I’ll be joining Cornell University’s MHA Class of 2028 this fall.
Looking back, I’m incredibly grateful I took the chance to explore both programs. If you’re even slightly interested in healthcare administration or want to see what happens behind the scenes in a hospital, I highly recommend the Care Navigator program. You never know where the experience, or the connections you make, might lead.
Complete the program requirements and earn a Certificate of Completion.
After successfully completing the required training, site experience, verified participation, and program expectations, Care Navigator Scholars receive a Certificate of Completion from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
The certificate recognizes successful completion of the Care Navigator Scholars Program requirements.
Completion requirement: complete all required program milestones and all applicable training, documentation, site, and program expectations.
Keep building beyond the weekly shift.
Professional-development opportunities and continued program connection extend the value of the experience.
Professional-Development Workshops
Strengthen communication, customer service, documentation, teamwork, organization, and career readiness. Educational workshops can also introduce current health-system and community resources and referral pathways.
Career Story & Reflection
Turn your patient communication, documentation, teamwork, and systems experience into clear examples for future applications and interviews.
Continued Program Connection
Stay connected to COPE Health Scholars resources, updates, and professional opportunities after program completion.
Professional-development opportunities, resources, and availability may change. Confirm current program offerings through COPE Health Scholars.
Choose the pace that fits your schedule.
Choose the weekly pace that works for you. Both tracks lead to the same completion milestone, Certificate of Completion from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and one year of COPE Health Scholars Alumni Membership.
Six-Month Track
$475 tuition
- Two four-hour shifts each week
- Program completion milestone
Nine-Month Track
$325 tuition
- One four-hour shift each week
- Program completion milestone
Additional fees: $21 application fee and $7 handling fee. Outside scholarships may be accepted; contact Admissions for payment instructions.
Preparation, guidance, and completion benefits are included.
Both tracks include the same core program services; only the weekly pace and tuition differ.
Training, readiness & clearances
Assigned learning, mandatory three-day COPE Health Scholars training, communication and privacy preparation, clearance processing, and hospital-led site onboarding coordination.
Program guidance & Scholar resources
Program management, ongoing guidance, educational resources, and support navigating site expectations and assigned workflows.
Completion & alumni benefits
A COPE Health Scholars polo, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Certificate of Completion after meeting all program requirements, one year of COPE Health Scholars Alumni Membership, and access to eligible partner benefits.
Workshops, alumni resources, partner offers, site capacity, and program availability are subject to current terms. The $21 application fee and $7 handling fee are charged in addition to tuition. Outside scholarships may be accepted toward tuition; contact Admissions for payment instructions.
Your COPE Health Scholars connection continues after completion.
Included Scholar benefit: Successful Scholars receive one year of access to the COPE Health Scholars Alumni Portal—a dedicated home for alumni resources, program updates, professional opportunities, and eligible partner benefits. Current Scholar and alumni offers may include up to 30% off eligible Kaplan preparation courses, 20% off eligible Summit CPR courses, up to 30% off eligible Fun Express activities, and 39% off eligible WASIO Faces headshots. Offers, eligibility, providers, and terms may change.
Explore two current Southern California program locations.
Current Care Navigator Scholars Program locations are Kaiser Permanente Orange County and Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital. Review current key dates and connect with Admissions for cohort availability.
Kaiser Permanente Orange County
Explore current cohort availability, training dates, schedules, and site information.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital
Explore current cohort availability, training dates, schedules, and site information.
Plan your application: review current key dates and site availability before submitting your application. View current key dates →
From application to your first Care Navigator shift.
A clear process helps applicants understand what happens before placement. Exact timing, site steps, and cohort requirements may vary.
Complete Your Application
Submit a thoughtful application and the required information for the location and cohort you are considering.
Interview With the Program Team
After application review, selected applicants prepare professionally and complete the program interview.
Complete Enrollment
After acceptance, confirm your track and complete the applicable enrollment and payment steps.
Complete Clearances
Finish required health, background, insurance, BLS, documentation, and location-specific clearance requirements.
Complete Program & Site Training
Complete the three-day COPE Health Scholars training and hospital-led preparation for your assigned site.
Begin Your Assigned Shifts
Complete site onboarding, receive your schedule, and begin assigned responsibilities within the approved Care Navigator scope of practice.
Requirements & clearances
Review the eligibility, health, clearance, training, and professional requirements for safe participation in the Care Navigator Scholars Program.
Eligibility and education
- Be at least 18 years old by the application deadline.
- Be accepted to, enrolled in, or graduated from an accredited college or university.
- No prior professional healthcare experience is required.
Health coverage and records
- Maintain personal health insurance that meets Affordable Care Act requirements.
- Provide records for MMR, Hepatitis B, Varicella, Tdap, TB screening, and the seasonal flu vaccine.
- The assigned location may require titers or additional health screenings.
Screening and clearance
- Complete the required background screening.
- Complete drug testing or other screening when required by the assigned location.
- Follow all substance-free and location-specific participation requirements.
BLS and documentation deadlines
- Hold American Heart Association BLS for Healthcare Providers certification by the clearance appointment.
- Provide immunization and BLS documentation at clearance before the first training day.
- These documents are not required with the initial application; instructions follow acceptance.
Training and professional conduct
- Complete the mandatory three-day COPE Health Scholars training, site preparation, and onboarding.
- Follow privacy, documentation, professional conduct, and approved system-access requirements.
- Work only within the approved nonlicensed Care Navigator scope and assigned responsibilities.
Location-specific requirements: Clearance steps, training dates, system access, cohort timing, and site expectations may vary. Review post-acceptance instructions and contact Admissions with questions.
Get the details you need before applying.
Review the most common questions about eligibility, tracks, clearance, locations, and admission.
What is a Care Navigator?
A Care Navigator supports approved patient communication, preventive and chronic-care outreach, care coordination, insurance and resource navigation, documentation, and population-health workflows.
Which sites currently offer the Care Navigator Scholars Program?
Kaiser Permanente Orange County and Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital currently offer the Care Navigator Scholars Program. Review current key dates or contact Admissions for cohort availability.
What are the limits of the Care Navigator role?
Care Navigator Scholars serve in a nonlicensed support role. They do not diagnose conditions, provide medical advice, handle medications, take physician orders, translate clinical information, or perform duties requiring a professional license.
Is this a clinical program?
Care Navigator Scholars communicate with patients and collaborate with healthcare teams while learning population health, patient navigation, and care coordination. The role is nonlicensed and does not include licensed clinical duties.
How long is the program?
The program offers a six-month track with two four-hour shifts each week and a nine-month track with one four-hour shift each week. Both tracks lead to the same program completion milestone.
What is the tuition?
The nine-month track is $325, and the six-month track is $475. A $21 application fee and $7 handling fee also apply.
Will I receive a certificate?
Yes. Care Navigator Scholars who successfully complete the program requirements receive a Certificate of Completion from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Do I need prior healthcare experience?
No prior professional healthcare experience is required. Applicants must meet the age, education, training, and clearance requirements.
I am currently a Health Scholar at a site that does not offer Care Navigator Scholars. How can I get involved?
Submit a transfer request form, pay the applicable transfer fee, and retrain at a location that offers the Care Navigator Scholars Program. Transfers depend on approval and available space at the receiving site.
When do I need to show proof of immunizations and CPR certification?
Proof of immunization and American Heart Association BLS certification is due during the clearance appointment scheduled before the first day of training. These items are not required before submitting the application.
I am having trouble submitting my application through the web portal. What should I do?
Email admissions@copehealthscholars.org. An admissions counselor will reach out to assist you.
I was not accepted. Can I reapply?
Yes. In your new application, highlight new insights, learning, or experience gained since your previous application rather than resubmitting the exact same materials.
What can I do to increase my chances of admission?
Take the application and interview process seriously. Give yourself time to write thoughtful essays that explain your interest in the program, prepare for the interview, and dress professionally. Your college or university career center may also be a helpful preparation resource.
Do you accept outside scholarships?
Yes. Contact Admissions for instructions on how an outside organization can remit scholarship payment.
Build a broader healthcare story—without limiting yourself to one experience.
Care Navigator Scholars builds a strong systems-based foundation. Explore complementary clinical and international experiences that can expand your perspective and strengthen your healthcare story.
See the patient journey through a global lens.
Spend 12 immersive days in Tokyo comparing how the United States and Japan organize, finance, and deliver healthcare. Through academic sessions, hospital and healthcare-site visits, faculty and executive discussions, collaborative case-study work, and cultural learning, participants examine how access, coordination, prevention, patient experience, and system design shape what happens before, during, and after care.
Connect care navigation to the larger health system.
For Care Navigator Scholars, the experience builds on what you are already learning about patient outreach, barriers to care, insurance, resources, documentation, and care coordination. Seeing another health system in action can broaden how you think about continuity of care, strengthen your systems perspective, and give you new questions and insights to carry into future healthcare roles.
The Japan International Intensive is open to everyone from every academic background. Current Care Navigator Scholars can participate while enrolled—review both schedules with Admissions before enrolling so the 12-day intensive and return to regular shifts can be coordinated.
Explore the full opportunity. Visit the Japan International Intensive page for current dates, the complete experience, and application details.
Health Scholars Program
Build hands-on clinical experience within a hospital, support patients and care teams through approved responsibilities, gain exposure to available hospital departments, and develop leadership and professional skills through a structured pathway.
Help patients move forward—and build a healthcare perspective most entry-level experiences never show.
Start your application for a structured patient-navigation experience, or attend a free information session before deciding.