While US healthcare institutions are poised to respond to any outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), how should they prepare as employers for the questions and compliance challenges that arise in a public health crisis? In this LawFlash, our Labor, Employment, and Benefits team cautions that “employers must carefully balance concerns relating to employee and public safety with protecting employees from unnecessary medical inquiries, harassment, and discrimination—all while complying with immigration, leave, and medical privacy laws.”  Recommending that “[r]esponsibility should be assigned to specific individuals or teams to assess the hazard, communicate with employees and the public, and implement appropriate security measures,” they detail important information that employers should know before responding to an outbreak situation.

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Check out our Responding to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus page for all of the latest developments.

Our global employment and immigration team details a number of recent developments with important implications for the US healthcare industry. These include a ruling by the US Supreme Court to lift the October 2019 injunction on the public charge rule, visa reciprocity changes for France and Australia, the potential expansion of the list of countries subject to the administration’s travel ban, and eligibility changes for E-1 treaty trader and E-2 treaty investor visas affecting Iranian nationals. Recent studies show that nearly one in four US healthcare industry workers are immigrants. To that end, healthcare industry employers should be aware of and consider how these changes may impact their workforce.

Read US Supreme Court Allows Public Charge Rule on Immigration to Move Forward >>

Read Travel Ban Countries List Likely to Expand; Visa Restrictions to Impact Nationals of Iran, France, Australia >>

The US District Court for the District of Oregon on November 2 issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block the new health insurance requirement for immigrant visa applicants from taking effect on November 3, 2019. As discussed in an earlier alert, the White House issued a presidential proclamation that sought to deny admission to the United States of “immigrant” foreign nationals that will “financially burden the United States healthcare system.” The proclamation effectively deems aliens seeking to immigrate permanently to the United States inadmissible unless they will be covered by “approved” health insurance within 30 days of their entry into the United States or have the financial resources to pay for “reasonably foreseeable” medical costs.

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Our global employment and immigration team recently issued alerts on decisions that affect the healthcare industry. The team discussed a new presidential proclamation that effectively makes foreign nationals inadmissible to the United States unless they have “approved” health insurance coverage, and noted that a trio of district courts have halted federal enforcement of the public charge rule. The team had previously summarized the public charge rule, which will not take effect so long as the district court lawsuits are pending.

Read New DHS ‘Public Charge’ Rule Could Have Employment-Based Implications >

Read USCIS to Implement New Public Charge Rule; White House Introduces Health Insurance Requirement for Immigrant Visa Applicants >

Read Federal Courts Halt New Public Charge Rule >

A final rule released by the US Department of Homeland Security will make it more difficult for foreign nationals who use public benefits to adjust or extend their immigration status in the United States based on their likelihood of becoming a “public charge” in the future. The rule also expands the list of programs that can lead to a public charge determination to those that provide healthcare and social services to vulnerable populations including Medicaid, SSI, SNAP, TANF, and federal housing benefits.

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Nearly 20% of healthcare workers are immigrants according to the results of a June 2019 study that underscores the major contributions immigrants make to the US healthcare system. To learn more about how the US Department of State is regulating immigrant visa availability and adjusting the flow of status adjustments and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals, please see our recent alert on the August 2019 visa bulletin.

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The US Department of State has released its May 2019 Visa Bulletin with important information for US healthcare entities employing non-US nationals. The bulletin sets out per-country priority date cutoffs that regulate immigrant visa availability and the flow of status adjustments and consular immigrant visa application filings and approvals. In a recent LawFlash, Morgan Lewis partner James Vázquez-Azpiri discusses what’s in the bulletin, including dates and actions for filing applications for adjustments of status or immigrant visas, and when adjustment of status applications or immigrant visa applications may be approved and permanent residence granted.

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US healthcare entities employing non-US nationals will want to keep abreast of important developments regarding the elimination of the H-4 spouse work authorization and the upcoming effective date for revised Form I-539 used by certain nonimmigrants—including H-4 and L-2 dependents—seeking to change their nonimmigrant status or extend their stay in the United States. Our global employment and immigration team breaks down what these changes mean and how these employees and their families may be impacted.

Read the full LawFlashes here and here.