Bipartisan Bill Aims to Address Critical Shortage of Healthcare Professionals

The United States is grappling with a severe shortage of healthcare professionals, particularly in rural and medically underserved areas. To address this issue, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, aiming to recapture unused immigrant visas to alleviate the shortage of doctors and nurses.

Key Takeaways:

• The bill would recapture 25,000 unused immigrant visas for nurses and 15,000 unused immigrant visas for physicians, providing a boost to the healthcare system in rural and urban areas.
• The legislation would exempt unused visas from per-country caps, allow eligible family members to accompany physicians, and ensure that visa recipients do not displace U.S. physicians.
• Employers would be required to attest that immigrants from overseas who receive these visas will not displace an American worker.
• Eligible immigrant medical professionals would need to meet licensing requirements, pay filing fees, and clear rigorous national security and criminal history background checks before receiving recaptured green cards.

Specifically, the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act:

• Requires employers to attest that immigrants from overseas who receive these visas will not displace an American worker
• Requires eligible immigrant medical professionals to meet licensing requirements, pay filing fees, and clear rigorous national security and criminal history background checks before they can receive recaptured green cards

The bill is supported by a wide range of organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and National Jewish Health, among others.

Statistics:

• 610,388 nurses reported an intent to leave the nursing field by 2027, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA).
• The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the United States could see a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034.
• One in five health care workers left medicine during the pandemic.

Sources:

• [Sen. Durbin's News Release][1]
• The American Hospital Association (AHA)
• The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
• American Medical Association (AMA)
• Physicians for American Healthcare Access
• Healthcare Leadership Council
• Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR)

[1]: https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-cramer-schneider-bacon-introduce-bipartisan-bill-addressing-shortage-of-doctors-nurses