[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 4, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E24]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE HEALTH IMPROVEMENT AND PROFESSIONALS ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 4, 2005

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, it is well documented that many states, 
including my home state of California, are currently suffering from a 
nursing shortage that, if left unchecked, will quickly reach epidemic 
proportions. More than 126,000 nursing positions in hospitals around 
the country are unfilled, according to the Joint Commission on 
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. In addition, the workforce 
is shrinking, because it's aging (and retiring) at twice the rate of 
other occupations. While the problem of nursing shortages will require 
a multifaceted solution, I was shocked to learn recently that entry 
into the United States by many qualified nurses was being delayed entry 
because of an easily correctable bureaucratic regulation. We cannot 
simply stand by and allow the nursing shortage to ensnarl the quality 
of American health care, and that is why I am introducing the Health 
Improvement and Professionals Act (HIPA) of 2005.
  Due to a change in procedures by the Citizenship and Immigration 
Services (CIS) of the Department of Homeland Security, the federal 
agency responsible for processing citizenship and immigration 
applications, it became necessary to impose a cut-off date in order to 
process a backlog of work-related immigration applications. As a 
result, CIS recently announced that it would no longer consider 
employment-based visa applications from the Philippines, India or China 
that were filed after January 1, 2002. Due to the unfortunate shortage 
of American nurses, many of our nation's hospitals are dependent on 
filling their nursing ranks with new workers from these countries. My 
legislation, the Health Improvement and Professionals Act of 2005, 
would provide a common-sense, short-term solution to the problems 
caused by the CIS policy change, while still allowing the agency to do 
the necessary and important work of processing its backlog.
  Mr. Speaker, my legislation simply allows CIS to recapture unused 
work-based immigration quota numbers from countries that have 
undersubscribed their own allowable visa numbers. By reassigning unused 
quota allotments from previous years, we would allow more qualified 
nurses to come to this country, bringing their crucially needed skills 
with them. Let me be clear, the HIPA Act of 2005 does not increase the 
number of immigrants allowed into our country. Instead, my legislation 
ensures that we are putting to full use the number of workers' visas 
currently allowed by law, in order to fulfill a crucial and 
exponentially increasing worker shortage.
  The HIPA Act is modeled directly on the American Competitiveness in 
the Twenty-First Century Act, which Congress passed, and President 
Clinton signed into law nearly five years ago, in response to the 
shortage of highly skilled computer programmers and information 
technology workers needed to fuel the Internet boom of the late 1990's. 
Like the HIPA Act of 2005, that law allowed for the recapture of unused 
employment-based visas to fill a necessary labor shortage.
  The growth of the nursing shortage is easily traceable--one only has 
to look to the fact that in 2002, 30 states were reportedly 
experiencing some level of nursing shortages. This number is expected 
to rise to 45 states by 2012. The scope of this problem is compounded 
by the fact that many of today's nurses are nearing retirement, and so 
our country is facing the compounded problem of increased retirements 
coupled with increased demand. This problem is well known to the 
federal government, as the Department of Labor has noted that one 
million new nurses will be needed by 2012 to meet the growing health 
needs of our country.
  Some may criticize my legislation for bringing nurses into the 
country instead of training American men and women to do the job. 
Unfortunately, enrollments in baccalaureate nursing programs at 
colleges and universities across the United States have declined for 
five consecutive years. Even in states where the programs are full, as 
in my state of California, nearly 70% of all nurses are trained by 
community colleges. Many of the programs at these schools in California 
are full, and some even have substantial waiting lists of eager 
students ready to learn about the exciting and rewarding profession of 
nursing. I will continue to work to expand the capacity of nurse 
training programs in our country to help relieve this shortage. 
However, the shortage in California is so severe that even if all of 
the nursing programs in the state were to double their enrollments, 
California would still not be able to meet her nursing needs in the 
year 2010.
  Mr. Speaker, the lack of nurses in our hospitals has a direct effect 
on the quality of the health care these facilities can provide. The 
shortages currently experienced in 30 states affects all patients, from 
those in operating rooms and intensive care units to those who treat 
children and cancer patients. In fact, according to a study conducted 
by the Harvard School of Health and the Henry J. Kaiser Family 
Foundation, over 50% of physicians surveyed believed that the nursing 
shortage is a leading cause of medical error. Additional studies and 
surveys published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of 
the American Medical Association, and by the Joint Commission on 
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations all confirm that the shortage 
of RNs is influencing the delivery of health care in the United States 
and negatively affecting patient outcomes. It is completely 
unacceptable in 21st century America that these preventable deaths are 
occurring. I hope my colleagues are as appalled about this as I am and 
that they will join me in supporting this common sense and critically 
important legislation. While we search for a longer-term solution to 
the problems as well as the causes of this nursing shortage crisis, the 
Health Improvement and Professionals Act of 2005 will provide a 
desperately needed injection of health care professionals into this 
country.

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