On November 6, the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University published a new report titled “Reduce Health Care Labor Shortages by Recruiting Skilled Immigrants.”
The report put a spotlight on the impact of workforce shortages throughout the healthcare sector, as demand for nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers continues to outpace supply. In order to help close this gap, the researchers call on policymakers to “focus on immigration, as it offers the quickest and most efficient way to gain workers in the sector.” Specifically, the report recommends:
- Reforming current visa programs to make them more efficient and less bureaucratic.
- Developing programs for migrants who are already trained health care workers to acquire U.S.-recognized qualifications.
- Revising occupational licensing laws to allow individuals to work to the full extent of their training.
- Creating new visas aimed at health care workers.
One solution the Healthcare Workforce Coalition supports that mirrors these recommendations and would help the United States address the ongoing labor shortage in the healthcare industry is the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act (HWRA). Currently, thousands of unused immigrant visas for nurses and physicians are recaptured, meaning they are not able to be used by skilled, foreign-born healthcare professionals ready to come to work legally in the United States.
If passed, the HWRA would recapture tens of thousands of these unused immigrant visas that Congress has previously authorized and create immigration pathways for qualified foreign healthcare professionals to permanently live and work in the United States. The Healthcare Workforce Coalition urges Congress to take immediate steps to address the healthcare workforce shortage and pass the HWRA.
To read the whole report, CLICK HERE.
To read more about the HWRA, CLICK HERE.