Complete Story
04/11/2024
Federal Bill to Support Internationally Educated Health Professionals
On April 9, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act. The bill would create a grant program administered by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support communities to develop partnerships between health care organizations, community-based organizations, higher education, and state and local governments to help connect internationally educated health care professionals with resources to enter the health care workforce.
The partnerships would be responsible for assisting such professionals with:
- obtaining overseas academic or training records and providing support throughout the U.S. licensing and credentialing process;
- developing work-readiness, peer support, mentoring, and culturally competent career counseling opportunities; and
- establishing opportunities to complete prerequisite courses, continuing education training, and English-language learning.
Priority would be given to partnerships focused on supporting health care workers serving rural communities or filling a workforce shortage within a community.
Foreign born workers comprise 18% of the health care workforce making invaluable contributions to the US healthcare system. Reducing barriers, supporting professionals through the credentialing process, and providing culturally concordant career counseling will add more skilled professionals to the pool of available workers working in the aging services sector.