Attorney Shusterman testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration with regards to the shortage of resident nurses, misdistribution of physicians, and other health care concerns.
On May 22, 2001, Carl Shusterman testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration concerning “Rural and Urban Health Care Needs”. A copy of his testimony is available online.
Mr. Shusterman testified that despite a nationwide shortage of registered nurses, there is no program under which U.S. health care providers can obtain temporary visas for nurses. Under the H-1B program for which the minimum entry requirement for employment is a Bachelor’s degree, most nurses are excluded. The H-1C law, enacted in November 1999, had not allowed a single nurse to enter the U.S.
Mr. Shusterman recommended that Congress pass a new temporary visa program for registered nurses, similar to the one that existed between 1952 and 1995.
Further, Mr. Shusterman testified that the United States suffers from a maldistribution of physicians, and a shortage of primary care physicians. He recommended expanding the Conrad State 20 program. (Congress later expanded this program by 50%.) He also recommended easing regulatory restrictions placed on physicians seeking National Interest Waivers. (Our law firm won a landmark ruling in 2006 before the U.S. Court of Appeals which accomplished this objective.)