Bill Introduced by Rep. Krishnamoorthi Aims to Address Healthcare Workforce Shortage.

April 11 :
One lawmaker who is hoping to alleviate the healthcare industry's dire staffing problems is Raja Krishnamoorthi has introduced the bipartisan Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act.

Roughly 14% of the two million foreign nationals living in the United States with bachelor's degrees have degrees in healthcare-related disciplines. The Migration Policy Institute has brought attention to the fact that the nation is facing a severe scarcity of competent healthcare workers and professionals, and that a large portion of this workforce is not currently working in this industry.

The underutilization of professionals with overseas education is worsening the scarcity of healthcare experts and putting more burden on the healthcare system. These professionals encounter obstacles to fully integrating into the American healthcare sector. On top of that, every year, almost US$10 billion in federal, state, and municipal taxes go underpaid because of this disparity.

The purpose of the grant programme, which would be managed by the Health Resources and Services Administration, is to assist individuals returning to the health care workforce. Healthcare organisations, community-based organisations, educational institutions, and local governments can work together through this programme to help healthcare professionals with overseas degrees enter the workforce.

Provide career counselling, mentoring, and peer support; offer prerequisite courses, continuing education, and English-language learning opportunities; assist with the retrieval of academic records from outside the US; assist with the licencing and credentialing process in the US; and address shortages of classroom and clinical instructors. Partnerships addressing healthcare in rural areas or local labour shortages will be given priority.

"Every day, I hear from my constituents about the difficulties of accessing care due to the ongoing health care workforce shortage our country faces," Krishnamoorthi told reporters.

Supporting community partnerships, streamlining licencing and credentialing for qualified health care workers trained overseas, and expanding opportunities to address classroom and clinical instructor shortages are all part of the Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act, which he proudly introduced. His goal is to ensure that our health care sector is fully staffed.