The National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) has thrown its support behind a proposed immigration bill aimed at addressing healthcare workforce shortages by reallocating unused visas to healthcare professionals.
Alongside the American Health Care Organization and 50 other signatories, NCAL endorsed HR 6205 / S 3211, known as the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, which was reintroduced in November. This legislation seeks to recapture and reprocess 40,000 unused visas for nurses and other healthcare workers.
According to NCAL Executive Director LaShuan Bethea, the bill presents a “creative solution” to combat the severe workforce shortages affecting the industry, including assisted living facilities. Bethea emphasized the importance of addressing these shortages to ensure access to care for seniors across all care settings.
In assisted living communities, the workforce shortage is keenly felt, with 15% of full-time caregivers being registered nurses, 19% licensed practical or vocational nurses, and 66% aides. Some states are exploring measures to expand the scope of services that nurses can provide in these settings.
The proposed legislation would empower the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to reclaim previously authorized but unused green cards, making up to 25,000 visas available for nurses and up to 15,000 for physicians. Importantly, the bill would not introduce new visas but repurpose existing ones.
Furthermore, the bill would require employers to confirm that immigrant workers hired through the program would not displace American workers. Individual applicants would also need to meet licensing requirements and pass background checks.
The pressing need for healthcare professionals, particularly registered nurses, is underscored by federal data suggesting a demand for over 190,000 RNs annually over the next decade. Turnover rates and declines among nursing support staff further exacerbate the challenge.
In endorsing the bill, the signatories emphasized the potential to boost the number of highly trained nurses in the US healthcare system by streamlining the visa authorization process for qualified international nurses, facilitating their entry into the country to address critical workforce gaps.
