TPS holders make up 15 percent of all noncitizen healthcare workers, the study found. hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies, according to a 2025 study and industry leaders. TPS holders make up 15 percent of all noncitizen healthcare workers, the study found.
Katie Sloan, CEO of Leading Age, an association representing more than 5,300 aging-service providers nationwide, said the healthcare sector has long depended on foreign-born workers. In nursing homes, home health, hospice and home care, she said, as much as 25 to 30 percent of the workforce are individuals who came from other countries to provide care.
New York Republican Congressman Mike Lawler has said that immediately ending TPS would create a crisis in hospitals, nursing homes and the disability community. Sloan said that assessment holds water, noting that some of her members have already decided to shutter beds or close wings of nursing homes, and that home health agencies have stopped taking admissions because of a lack of available staff.
"A crisis could look like nursing homes deciding … to shutter some of their beds, close a wing, a home health agency that stops taking admissions, home care agencies that don't have available staff, creating truly a crisis in access to care and the kind of care and support that older adults need," Sloan said in an interview with NPR. She added that this comes at a time when the older adult population is growing and needs are increasing.
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine has said that Haitians are often the ones caring for elderly parents with Alzheimer's or family members in nursing homes. Sloan said the burden would fall on family members, who would have to provide care at great financial, practical and emotional expense.
Sloan also noted a ripple effect on hospitals: when a patient is ready for discharge but cannot be placed in a nursing home or receive home health rehab services, they remain in the hospital at great expense to the healthcare system.
TPS workers in healthcare include nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists and nursing assistants, Sloan said. Many have been in the country for years and have developed trusting relationships with residents in nursing homes, where people often live long-term. "When one of those caregivers suddenly has to leave the country because of a government-mandated decision, you're breaking not only a really trusted relationship, but you're breaking the continuity of care," she said.
Providers are already trying to fill empty positions by recruiting from community colleges and high schools, hosting job fairs and becoming certified training centers, Sloan said. But she said there is no single solution. Asked how easy it would be to bring back workers who leave, Sloan said these are people who love the work and view caregiving as a privilege and an honor, and that the opportunity to bring them back would be there if available.