Healthcare Workforce Coalition Visits Capitol Hill Seeking Solutions

Washington, DC, March 21, 2024 — Representatives of the Healthcare Workforce Coalition – a coalition of healthcare stakeholders from across disciplines and the healthcare continuum advocating for common-sense solutions to the workforce shortage – are today meeting with lawmakers and legislative staff on Capitol Hill to advocate for policy solutions to bolster, retain, and sustain America’s healthcare workforce and better support our nation’s valued health professionals.

Specifically, the Healthcare Workforce Coalition will be meeting with lawmaker offices to seek support for:

Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act (H.R. 2584 / S. 2768): The coalition urges Congress to quickly advance this bipartisan patient protection legislation in 2024 to ensure that anyone who knowingly assaults a hospital employee or contractor and interferes with the performance of their duties would be subject to fines and up to 10 years imprisonment. Penalties would be increased to a maximum of 20 years should the attacker use a deadly or dangerous weapon, inflict serious bodily injury, or commit an attack during an emergency declaration.

Healthcare Workforce Resilience (HWRA) Act (S.3211/H.R. 6205): The coalition advocates for the HWRA, which would allow up to 40,000 nurses and physicians who are currently unable to finalize their green card applications due to green card backlogs to live and work in the United States permanently. The bill would also instruct the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to expedite the processing of these applications and require employers to provide proof that hiring a foreign national has not and will not displace a U.S. worker.

Reauthorization of the Dr. Lorna Breen Provider Protection Act (H.R. 7153/S. 3679): Originally passed in 2022, reauthorization of the Dr. Lorna Breen Act would expand grants to more hospitals and other healthcare settings to support programs for mental health training and education, peer support programs, and crisis intervention services. Reauthorization would further allow providers to focus on reducing stressful administrative burden for healthcare workers.

Participating organizations in today’s fly-in include American Health Care Association (AHCA), American Hospital Association (AHA), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), ATI Ascend Learning, Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), Florida Hospital Association (FHA), Health Carousel, MedPro International, National Rural Health Association, and PRS Global.