Congress urged by AHA, others to include workforce programs for foreign-born staff in end-of-year spending bill 

The AHA and dozens of other organizations Nov. 20 urged House and Senate leaders to include bipartisan workforce legislation in the end-of-year spending package. Specifically, the organizations asked for passage of the Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4942/S. 665), legislation reauthorizing a long-standing program that has incentivized approximately 20,000 foreign medical graduates to practice medicine in rural and underserved areas. In addition, the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act (H.R. 6025/S. 3211) would initiate a one-time recapture of up to 40,000 unused employment-based visas — 25,000 for foreign-born nurses and 15,000 for foreign-born physicians — to help address staffing shortages.