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This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s plan to dramatically overhaul the H-1B visa application process\u00a0is sparking anxiety among healthcare providers, who say\u00a0their access to critical international talent could be threatened.<\/p>\n The H-1B program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields, including in healthcare.\u00a0Although President Donald Trump has made illegal immigration reform a priority during his second administration, experts told Healthcare Dive that the\u00a0sudden changes to the decades-old program have sent healthcare providers scrambling to understand the impact to their workforces.<\/p>\n Under the program, the government allows employers to sponsor a fixed number of visas per year to fill critical positions. It\u2019s typically been considered a win-win, allowing companies to innovate while not overwhelming the job market with foreign talent. Since 2004, Congress has capped the number of H-1B visas at 85,000.<\/p>\n In fiscal year 2024, healthcare received nearly 8,500 new foreign workers<\/a>\u00a0through the program, according to an analysis from the Washington Post. The visas have helped promote innovation in health IT and have been heralded by medical groups \u2014 including the American Hospital Association and American Medical Association \u2014 as a vital resource to helping address widespread workforce shortages<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, since Friday, the administration has handed down a one-two punch, announcing\u00a0changes that AMA President Dr.\u00a0Bobby Mukkamala said risk \u201cshutting off\u201d\u00a0the healthcare industry\u2019s talent pipeline, especially in rural and underserved areas.<\/p>\n The president first issued an executive order<\/a>\u00a0hiking the administrative cost of applying to the H-1B program from between $2,000 to<\/a>\u00a0$5,000<\/a>\u00a0to as much as $100,000 per new applicant.\u00a0The government says it will offer \u201ccase-by-case\u201d exemptions when hiring for certain roles serves the \u201cnational interest<\/a>.\u201d Such exemptions may include doctors<\/a>, according to a report from Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Then, on Tuesday, the administration said it would overhaul the visa\u2019s lottery process<\/a>. The lottery kicks off when demand for new visas exceeds the 85,000 annual cap set by Congress \u2014 something that\u2019s happened every year for more than a decade. Previously, applicants were selected at random from the lottery.\u00a0Under the new process, the government intends to weight applications to offer higher paid and more skilled foreign employees a better chance at entry.<\/p>\n Such a change would disadvantage applications from early career family physicians and international medical graduates, who are likely to earn less money upon applying for a visa, said a spokesperson for the American Academy of Family Physicians.<\/p>\n The spokesperson said international medical graduates make up more than 22% of active family physicians nationwide and are more likely to practice in rural areas, where labor shortages are most severe. The medical group worries that undercutting health systems\u2019 ability to hire these workers could ultimately compromise care.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNearly 21 million Americans live in areas of the U.S. where foreign-trained physicians account for at least half of all physicians,\u201d a spokesperson for the American Academy of Family Physicians said.<\/p>\n Paying the heightened fees likely isn\u2019t an option for most providers, said Chris Musillo, a Cincinnati-based attorney specializing in healthcare immigration.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are often nonprofit organizations. They don\u2019t have that kind of money lying around,\u201d Musillo said.<\/p>\n For now, Sarah Hawk, immigration and global mobility chair at law firm Barnes & Thornburg, said most of her clients are in a \u201cholding pattern\u201d on hiring and residency decisions as they wait for more information. She expects the H-1B visa changes will likely be litigated.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this administration, it\u2019s shock, it\u2019s chaos, and then they walk it back,\u201d Hawk said.\u00a0\u201cAnd they\u2019ll do the carve outs for certain industries and maybe litigation will also cause injunction…\u00a0but I do think that this proclamation is telling U.S. employers that the government does not want the H-1B workers to take U.S. workers\u2019 jobs. That\u2019s their concern, and so they\u2019re trying to make it as restrictive as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n H-1B visas are crucial for hiring workers in healthcare because there aren\u2019t enough domestic workers to fill positions, Musillo said. The industry has struggled to educate, recruit<\/a> and retain workers<\/a> for years, due to a shortage of educators<\/a>, pervasive burnout and a mismatch between supply and demand as Baby Boomers age.<\/p>\n Watchdog groups have advocated for increased immigration to help stem healthcare workforce shortages<\/a>, and as recently as this month, there\u2019s been bipartisan support in Congress for policies that would leverage unused visas to bring international nurses and doctors to the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one credibly believes that there\u2019s a single American nurse who wants a job who doesn\u2019t have one,\u201d Musillo said. \u201cNo U.S. worker is being hurt by this program. And still, it seems like the administration\u2019s solution is to turn off the faucet to what has traditionally been a huge chunk of the American nursing workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. 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