Key Takeaways
• By 2025, the U.S. could face a shortfall of 500,000 nurses, endangering patient care across hospitals.
• Tom Price urges a merit-based immigration system to prioritize skilled healthcare workers for immediate staffing relief.
• Programs like Conrad 30 and the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would reallocate unused visas to fill critical healthcare jobs.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is drawing attention to a problem that’s hitting hospitals and clinics all across the United States 🇺🇸—a widespread healthcare staffing crisis. As an experienced orthopedic surgeon and former official in President Trump’s administration, Tom Price is urging the government to look at immigration reform as a way to help solve this serious staff shortage. He says that bringing in more healthcare workers from other countries could offer welcome relief, especially during a time when so many hospitals are stretched thin.
This article looks at the full details of his proposal and its context. We’ll walk through what’s behind the healthcare staffing crisis, exactly what Tom Price is suggesting, and how immigration reform could change the situation for the better. You’ll also discover what these changes would mean not just for hospitals and doctors, but for regular patients and families across the country.
The Scope of the Healthcare Staffing Crisis
The United States 🇺🇸 is facing one of the hardest periods ever when it comes to finding enough doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. Recent numbers make the problem very clear:
- By 2025, the U.S. could come up 500,000 nurses short.
- The country might need anywhere from 37,800 to 124,000 more doctors by 2034.
- Over 100,000 nurses left the workforce between 2020 and 2021—this is the biggest drop in over 40 years.
- Nearly a third of all nurses (31%) are thinking about leaving patient care within a year.
- Hospitals are now spending 36.9% more on staffing than they did before the pandemic.
This shortage doesn’t just hit one kind of healthcare provider. Everyone from frontline doctors and nurses to those caring for people in nursing homes or providing home health services is feeling the pinch. Many hospitals have been forced to close entire wings—not because patient needs have gone away, but because they simply don’t have enough staff. This means longer wait times, delayed treatments, or, in some cases, people having to travel farther to get the care they need.
These numbers and trends show that something needs to change soon, or patients’ access to quality care will keep getting worse.
Tom Price’s Call for Immigration Reform
In a recent interview with HealthExec, Tom Price clearly linked the healthcare staffing crisis to the U.S. immigration system. He believes it’s time to rethink how America brings in talent from outside and instead use a merit-based immigration system. In simple words, this would mean updating the system to give priority to the types of healthcare workers that are desperately needed.
What Is a Merit-Based Immigration System?
A merit-based immigration system is one where people are allowed to come and stay in the United States 🇺🇸 based mainly on their skills, jobs, education, and how well those match what the country needs—rather than factors like family connections or lotteries. Tom Price wants this system designed in a way that would directly target the healthcare staffing crisis.
Basically, Tom Price thinks this could attract “thousands and thousands” of skilled healthcare workers—nurses, doctors, therapists, and more—to U.S. hospitals, clinics, and care homes. Many other countries use merit-based systems to fill jobs where there aren’t enough local workers, so this idea is not new in global immigration policy.
Detailed Policies Tom Price Supports
Tom Price doesn’t just talk in broad ideas. He has set out some very specific ways to change the system:
- Expand visa programs for international healthcare professionals: This means allowing more foreign-born doctors, nurses, and workers to get visas and come work in the United States 🇺🇸 legally.
- Support existing programs like the Conrad 30 program and the DOCTORS Act: The Conrad 30 program allows each state to bring in up to 30 foreign doctors each year to work in areas where there are not enough local doctors. The DOCTORS Act is currently in Congress and would make it easier for even more international doctors to stay and work after their training.
- Reallocate unused visas to industries with ongoing shortages: The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act is a proposal that would take visas that Congress has already approved but haven’t been used and give them to healthcare professionals who are needed right now.
He stresses these targeted actions can bring real, lasting help to healthcare organizations struggling to keep up with patient demand.
Why Immigration Reform Could Help Quickly
Tom Price points out that international healthcare workers are already a huge piece of the American healthcare system:
- In 2021, immigrants made up 18%—about 2.8 million—of the U.S. healthcare workforce. This is a vital chunk of the 15.2 million people working in healthcare.
- Many international students graduate from American medical or nursing schools with the right skills but are forced to leave if they can’t get the correct visa.
- Non-citizen healthcare workers, especially those with high skills, could take on roles that are desperately empty, stopping the staff shortage from getting worse.
If policies change, hospitals could move more quickly to fill open jobs with qualified, ready-to-work professionals, often trained in the United States 🇺🇸 or countries with similar healthcare standards.
The Backdrop: Why This Ideas Matter Now
Tom Price’s push for immigration reform is especially interesting given his past. As Health and Human Services secretary under President Trump in 2017, he was closely linked with efforts to change major health laws and even supported privatizing parts of Medicare. His views then were seen by many as tough and strict, including on immigration.
Now, his call for a “pragmatic” solution to healthcare staffing challenges focuses less on politics or slogans, and more on what works. He sees immigration reform as something that could win support from both sides in Congress and help both patients and caregivers.
Tom Price is encouraging medical organizations, doctors, nurses, and patients themselves to talk directly to their representatives in Congress. He says they should make it clear how bad the staffing crisis is and point out how immigration reform can be one part of the solution.
What’s Behind The Shortages?
While immigration reform is one way to help, several unique factors pushed the situation to this breaking point:
- Pandemic burnout: Many healthcare workers are leaving because they’re physically and mentally exhausted after years of working through COVID-19.
- Retiring workforce: A growing number of doctors and nurses are reaching retirement age, and there aren’t enough young professionals to replace them.
- Rising demand: As the population in the United States 🇺🇸 gets older, more people need medical care, including long-term and complex care.
These factors together are making it clear: the existing pool of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers just isn’t enough, and demand is only going to grow.
Hospital labor costs keep rising as they try to recruit workers and pay contract staff. But there simply aren’t enough qualified people in the pipeline to fill all the open positions.
How Could Immigration Reform Work in Practice?
To really fix the healthcare staffing crisis through immigration reform, the changes would need to go beyond empty promises.
A Merit-Based Approach
A practical, merit-based immigration system would put “critical need” jobs—like healthcare—at the front of the line for work permits and green cards. For instance, a trained nurse from another country who can pass U.S. standards would have a quicker, clearer path to stay and work where they’re needed most.
The programs Tom Price supports, like the Conrad 30 or DOCTORS Act, are designed to do just that. They focus on high-need areas and hard-to-fill jobs, rather than giving visas randomly. This targeted approach means that shortages in small towns or underserved urban neighborhoods could be fixed faster.
Using Unused Visas
Congress sometimes approves more visas than are actually given out in one year—often due to paperwork delays or other administrative problems. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act aims to put these leftover visas to real use. For example, if hundreds or thousands of visas are sitting unused, the government could redirect them to nurses, doctors, or therapists ready to start work.
This is a fast way to help hospitals and clinics that are desperate for help, without needing to raise the overall limits on visas dramatically.
Helping International Grads Stay
Each year, many international students graduate from American medical or nursing schools, but U.S. visa rules force many of them to leave. Under new policies, these highly qualified graduates could stay and begin working in the U.S. healthcare system right away. This can bridge the current gap and prevent waste of talent.
What Could This Mean for Patients and Communities?
If Tom Price’s recommendations and broader immigration reform plans are put in place, regular people across the United States 🇺🇸 could see several key benefits:
- Better care availability: With more nurses and doctors on the job, wait times for appointments could go down, and fewer hospitals would have to turn patients away.
- Stable hospitals and clinics: Facilities would be less likely to close units, helping keep essential services like emergency rooms, labor and delivery, and intensive care open.
- Reduced costs: If there isn’t a staffing shortage, hospitals would spend less on costly temporary workers, which could slow down skyrocketing healthcare expenses.
For those working in healthcare, having more qualified coworkers could mean less overtime, a lower risk of burnout, and a safer environment for patients.
At the same time, some groups may have concerns about jobs for local workers or about how to maintain standards. These are important points for any real immigration reform discussion. Careful planning, strong standards (including testing skills and English language abilities), and clear regulations can help ensure that expanding the workforce doesn’t lower quality, but actually supports it.
The Ongoing Debate and Next Steps
The question of how open to be to new healthcare workers from abroad remains sensitive in U.S. politics. Critics sometimes worry that bringing in more international workers could limit opportunities for U.S.-born healthcare professionals. Tom Price’s position is that the current gap is so wide that there’s more than enough work for everyone—and that patient health has to come first.
Healthcare leaders, workers, and community advocates can play a big part by sharing real stories and data with lawmakers. As reported by VisaVerge.com, experts agree that a focused, well-managed merit-based immigration approach is more likely to gain bipartisan support in Congress than older, less targeted models.
Tom Price continues to ask healthcare groups, workers, and patients to let their representatives in Washington know just how urgent this problem is, and to outline how changes could offer real help.
For those interested in seeing exactly how the U.S. currently handles healthcare employment-based immigration, the official website of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS offers details about qualifying occupations and available pathways.
In Summary
The U.S. healthcare system faces one of its greatest threats in decades—a massive shortage of doctors, nurses, and other caregivers. Tom Price, drawing on both his medical background and experience as a senior official, believes immigration reform is a very practical and achievable way out of this crisis. By moving to a merit-based system that prioritizes healthcare needs, expanding proven visa programs, and making it easier for international graduates to stay, America could quickly fill critical gaps.
Getting these changes through Congress and into action will take support from all sides—patients, clinicians, hospital leaders, and lawmakers. The stakes couldn’t be higher: without real action, healthcare access and quality could keep slipping. But with the right changes, hospitals could see their teams rebuilt, patient care restored, and crucial centers kept open for communities in need. The ongoing debate will determine which path the country takes—but for now, the call from Tom Price and others is clear: immigration reform could be the key to solving the healthcare staffing crisis.
Learn Today
Merit-Based Immigration System → An approach prioritizing visas for applicants with needed skills, education, or professional experience, rather than family ties or lottery.
Conrad 30 Program → Allows U.S. states to recruit up to 30 foreign physicians yearly to underserved areas in exchange for visa waivers.
Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act → Proposed law to reassign unused, previously approved visas directly to healthcare professionals facing shortages.
DOCTORS Act → Bipartisan legislation aiming to ease post-training visa rules for international doctors wishing to stay and practice in the U.S.
Pandemic Burnout → Physical and mental exhaustion among healthcare workers due to prolonged, intense demands during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Article in a Nutshell
Amid a severe healthcare staffing crisis, former HHS Secretary Tom Price proposes immigration reform as a practical fix for hospitals. By prioritizing skilled international medical professionals and supporting visa expansion through targeted programs, Price argues the U.S. can quickly fill critical shortages, protect patient care, and strengthen communities nationwide.
— By VisaVerge.com
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