Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act on April 9. The bill would create a grant program administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support communities in developing partnerships between health care organizations, community-based organizations, higher education, and state and local governments—to ultimately help connect internationally educated health care professionals with resources to enter the health care workforce.

The partnerships would be responsible for assisting these 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; 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 U.S. health care system. Reducing barriers, supporting professionals through the credentialling process, and providing culturally concordant career counseling will add more skilled professionals to the pool of available workers working in the aging services sector.

LeadingAge supports the bill.