We think this could well be the wave of the future for the USA as healthcare reform rolls out and increased demand is put upon primary care providers – physicians and nurses. We have more on this in our newsletter (link below)
We link to the article here and also link to our special edition healthcare news letter here
Social Science Research Network: Understaffing of nurses in US hospitals is severely impacting the quality of healthcare and is predicted to worsen in future years. By the year 2020, the nursing workforce is projected to be nearly a million nurses short. The current nurse pool is retiring and the number of new nurses entering the profession is inadequate. At the same time an aging baby boomer population will need to be cared for as they reach old age.
We link to the Abstract
BusinessWeek: For more than a decade, the US has faced a shortage of nurses to staff hospitals and nursing homes. While the current recession has encourages some who had left the profession to return, about 100,000 positions remain unfilled. That alot!
Experts say that if more is not done to entice people to enter the field – and to expand the US’ nurse training capacity, that number could triple or quadruple by 2025. President Obama’s goal of expanding health coverage to millions of the uninsured could also face additional hurdles if the supply of nurses can’t meet the demand.
For more on this article, we link here.
The Emergency Nurse Supply Relief Act (H.R. 2536) that was introduced by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) are urging support of the Bill. “This is not just about nurse staffing, it is about quality healthcare.” The ASA references stats from federal health authorities: 56% of the US nurse work force is 45 years of age or older and there are 3 Mil new and replacement nurses needed by 2020 to meet the shortage.
The Bill would provide up to 20,000 visas per year over a 3-year period for nurses and Physical Therapists and includes a $1,500 filing fee per application which is to fund US nursing schools.
Contact your local and state representatives to support this Bill. We link to more on this.
BusinessWeek‘s 4th article in its Immigration in the Recession series concerns the extreme shortage of nurses in the USA. The article addresses that proponents of foreign nurse recruiting feel that the nurse shortage is negatively affecting patient health; that expanding into government-funded healthcare will escalate the situation. Other points of view assert that domestic nurses should be utilized and trained to put US workers back on the job; however, there is no such system in place for educating and training nurses on a mass scale in the USA to make a dent in the shortage that will only continue to increase with time. This debate must culminate in nurse legislation being passed by Congress.
Schedule A Nurse Visas: Improving the Processing
In a very promising development, on December 5, 2008 the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman published it recommendations as to how to improve the processing of Schedule A nurse cases and delivered the 11-page Report to Congress on Monday, December 8, 2008.
The recommendations are based on a recent nationwide teleconference conducted by the Ombudsman at which Immigration Solutions was present. Immigration Solutions has obtained an advance copy of the report which can be accessed here.
Those of you who have read the monthly newsletters and periodic newsflashes published by Immigration Solutions and who have participated in teleconferences presented by Immigration Solutions, will readily recognize that the report repeats and reinforces everything that Immigration Solutions has discussed and presented over the past few years.
The attached report, while specifically providing recommendations for improving the processing of Schedule A nurse cases, should also be required reading for all persons active in the field of recruiting foreign nurses to the United States.
The report provides an excellent history of the issues and discusses the effect of the nurse shortage in the United States. It explains the limited nonimmigrant visa options available to nurses (TN, H-1B and H-1C). Specifically, the report provides statistics of how few H-1B nurse cases have been approved recently (38 cases in 2006, 66 cases in 2007 and only 136 in 2008). In addition, the report discusses the immigrant visa process for nurses through Schedule A and the two main problems with that process, i.e., the delays at USCIS in processing the I-140 visa petition and the immigrant visa quota delays. We note that the report references the fact that one of the Service Centers charged with adjudicating Schedule A casework is some 4 months behind what the Processing Report presently indicates.
The Ombudsman concludes the report with the following recommendations:
In conclusion, while the report makes recommendations to improve the processing of the I-140 Schedule A petitions at the USCIS, legislative action is still needed to increase the number of immigrant visas available each year for nurses. Indications so far from incoming President Obama and the incoming Congress are good that this issue will be dealt with early in 2009. The Ombudsman’s Report and the reasonably good chances of increased immigrant visa quotas for nurses reinforce our opinion that hospitals, staffing agencies and other healthcare providers should be filing I-140 Schedule A visa petitions now to establish their position on the immigrant visa quota waiting list in order to be ahead of the competition when more immigrant visas become available and the processing procedures improve and become faster.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions that you might have pertaining to this information. As always, we are available to assist you with your immigration needs for all healthcare occupations. This is our area of specialty. Our highly trained staff stands ready to work with you on designing an immigration program that suits your specific needs and requirements for 2009.
For more information on the report:
Read the original congressional memo