This paper begins with a discussion of shortages in the U.S. healthcare workforce and various reasons for those shortages — including aging of the U.S. population; retirement of physicians and other healthcare workers; burnout among healthcare workers leading to early departure from the field; a shortage of instructors to train new healthcare workers; low pay for healthcare workers in support roles; and unequal distribution of the workforce, which disadvantages rural populations. The author then breaks down current and projected future healthcare workforce shortages across occupational categories, most of which will have openings that outpace workers entering the workforce in the coming decades. There is a brief discussion of the crucial role immigrants play in the current healthcare workforce and barriers in our current immigration system that limit our ability to utilize immigration to fill healthcare workforce gaps. There follows a discussion of a number of changes to immigration and licensing policy to reduce these barriers. Some of the national policy changes include re-allocating unused waivers from the Conrad 30 program (which allows international medical students graduating from U.S. schools to practice medicine in underserved areas in the U.S.); modifying the J-1 visa Au Pair Program to include home health aids; and updating the Labor Department’s list of occupations for which there are insufficient workers (not updated since 1991). The author also describes steps states can take to reduce barriers immigrants face in translating their foreign professional credentials to meet local requirements. (Maurice Belanger, Maurice Belanger Associates)
Immigration as a Solution to Healthcare Workforce Shortages
Niskanen Center, December 2024, 25 pp.
Author: Cassandra Zimmer-Wong