# 119-s-5012: Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act

119-s-5012, Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] (D-VA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-07-25).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5012
- As of: 2026-07-25
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-5012
- Congress: 119
- Title: Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-07-16
- Sponsor: Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] (D-VA)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-07-25

## Summary

**Help internationally educated health care professionals (IEHPs) integrate into and expand the U.S. health workforce.** This bill would create a grant program to fund career supports, licensing help, training, and system changes that recruit and retain IEHPs, with priority for areas facing workforce gaps like rural communities. - Families and patients in underserved areas gain better access to care when projects place more IEHPs where shortages exist. Grants prioritize communities with workforce gaps and may target rural areas. - Internationally educated health care professionals get individual supports such as licensing process help, accelerated and contextualized English instruction, licensure exam prep, credential evaluation assistance, clinical training, and limited help with living expenses. - Hospitals, schools, community groups, federally qualified health centers, tribes, and state or local governments can form consortia to apply. At least 20% of each grant must fund system-level improvements and administrative costs are capped at 10%. - Recipients must report participant and outcome data annually, and the Health and Human Services Secretary must submit progress reports to Congress. Funding is authorized as needed for fiscal years 2027–2031.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK), 2026-07-16T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Help for health workers trained abroad: benefit, medium. If enacted, HHS would run competitive grants to help internationally educated health care professionals re-enter and advance in U.S. jobs. If you trained abroad and are lawfully authorized to work, you would be eligible for local services like help paying licensing and exam fees, ESL and exam prep,…
- Annual reporting for grant projects: mixed, low. If enacted, each grant recipient would send yearly reports to HHS with data on participating IEHPs and outcomes. Reports must show counts of who accessed supports, who attained employment (by occupation and industry), who withdrew or failed board certification or were terminated, and country of edu…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2120: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
- 119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act
- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-5449: Mothers and Newborns Success Act
- 119-s-3492: Essential Caregivers Act of 2025
- 119-s-5283: Momnibus Act

## Sources
- [119-s-5012 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5012)

## Related
- [119-s-2120: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2120)
- [119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2819)
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-5449: Mothers and Newborns Success Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5449)
- [119-s-3492: Essential Caregivers Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3492)
- [119-s-5283: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5283)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5012 (as of 2026-07-25).