US Health Care Labor Shortage Could be Alleviated by Immigration Policy Reform

Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy has recently published a report on current and future US health care labor shortages, as well as the role immigration policy reform could play in meeting the challenges of a labor shortage.

Health Care Industry Labor Shortages

Research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that fewer people are working in the health care sector, in part as a result of COVID-19 pandemic job losses. While the industry showed progress in 2023, the sector’s overall employment rates have not fully recovered to pre-pandemic rates.

Rice University’s report gathers data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Forbes, ADA Health Policy Institute, and the National Association for Home Care and Hospice that predict health care labor shortages in the coming 10-15 years across many positions in the industry, including physicians, nurses, clinical laboratory specialists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, and home care workers.

Proposed Immigration Policy Reform Targeting Health Care Industry Needs

Rice University cites the Migration Policy Institute’s research that immigrants made up 18% of employees in a health care occupation in the US in 2021, including 26% of physicians and surgeons and almost 40% of home health aides. Immigrants make up roughly 14% of the US population, meaning immigrants’ representation is outsized in the health care sector.

To alleviate the labor shortages in the health care workforce, Rice University’s report recommends immigration policy reforms, including:

• Raising the annual cap for H-1B visas for health care workers;
• Creating new sector-specific visa categories with expedited processing;
• Leveraging existing programs, such as the TN visa program, for RNs who are citizens of Mexico or Canada to work temporarily in the US;
• Reforming the public charge rule to exclude direct care health workers, such as frontline workers, to reduce the chance of entry denial based on potential use of public assistance;
• Increasing funding and resources for immigration processing to shorten lengthy processing periods, reduce delays, and ensure timely entry for health care workers. 

Musillo Unkenholt endorses the report’s contention that implementing comprehensive reforms such as these would help to meet the country’s growing health care needs, support economic growth by improving access to efficient health care, maintain high-quality patient services while promoting greater access to care, and create a more flexible and responsive health care workforce.