{"id":244541,"date":"2026-05-13T06:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=244541"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:57:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:57:00","slug":"uconn-professor-examines-impacts-of-immigration-on-nursing-home-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/05\/uconn-professor-examines-impacts-of-immigration-on-nursing-home-care\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Professor Examines Impacts of Immigration on Nursing Home Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States is on the brink of a crisis in elder care. Reports of an aging population have not been exaggerated \u2013 it is no longer the case that a relatively small population of older adults can be supported physically and financially by a much larger population of working adults. Thanks to both the Baby Boom and lifespan-enhancing advances in medicine, these groups are now <\/span>more similar in size<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where does that leave older adults today \u2013 especially those who struggle with ADLs, or activities of daily living?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many older adults are cared for in nursing homes. These facilities are exorbitantly expensive (the average yearly price for a private room in a nursing home in Connecticut exceeds $200,000, according to <\/span>CareScout<\/span><\/a>) and often understaffed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Delia
Delia Furtado is a professor of economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). (Courtesy of Delia Furtado)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d think that with that amount of money, staying in a nursing home should be like staying in a five-star hotel, but no,\u201d says <\/span>Delia Furtado<\/span><\/a>, professor of economics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furtado is interested in how an unexpected variable \u2013 immigration — may impact the quality of care that nursing home residents receive.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been working on immigration my entire career — over 20 years now,\u201d says Furtado. Her previous research has explored the assimilation process of immigrants and their impacts on the native population via their work in childcare and housekeeping.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furtado\u2019s <\/span>recently published research<\/span><\/a> in the Journal of Human Resources found that when more people immigrate to a certain geographic area, it leads to better care outcomes for nursing home residents in that area.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

State of the Field<\/h3>\n

A <\/span>2022 report from the National Academies of Sciences<\/span><\/a> concluded that \u201c<\/span>the way in which the US finances, delivers, and regulates nursing home care is ineffective, inefficient, inequitable, fragmented, and unsustainable,\u201d according to Furtado. And when nursing homes are poorly managed or understaffed, it can lead to disastrous outcomes for residents, like fatal falls.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf nothing changes, either we’re going to have to spend a lot more money on long-term care, or decrease the quality of care provided,\u201d says Furtado. But \u201cAn additional policy lever is to use immigration policy, at least to temporarily address these concerns.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furtado’s research tracked the impacts of immigration on nursing home statistics, including falls, pressure ulcers (bedsores), and the use of restraints.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When nursing homes are understaffed, workers have less time to monitor and assist each resident. This can increase the risk of falls and pressure ulcers among residents, says Furtado. Well-staffed nursing homes can often calm agitated residents by having a nurse or aide soothe them through conversation, whereas understaffed facilities may resort to restraints to manage distress, she explains.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Furtado\u2019s research found that the arrival of 1,000 immigrants to a local area leads to a 4% decrease in falls, a 33% decrease in the use of restraints, and a 20% decrease in pressure ulcers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis seems to be caused by immigrant-induced increases in the number of workers in nursing homes — mostly foreign-born workers, but also native-born,\u201d Furtado says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why would the number of native-born workers in nursing homes increase (rather than decrease) in response to immigrant inflows to a local area? According to Furtado, \u201c<\/span>Many immigrants provide informal, under-the-table care for the elderly in their own homes. When such jobs become less available, native-born workers, who can more easily obtain the credentials required for nursing home employment, are more likely to accept nursing home jobs<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This research resonates in this political moment, says Furtado, when immigration enforcement efforts have reached unprecedented levels of visibility, force, and funding. Within the last year, Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding <\/span>ballooned from $10 billion to $85 billion<\/span><\/a>. Its financial resources far outstrip all other US law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is your tax money,\u201d says Furtado. \u201cIs this money well-spent?\u201d To answer this question, she says, it is important to think about all the costs and benefits of having a larger immigrant population, including benefits to the nation\u2019s elderly population.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If nothing changes, either we’re going to have to spend a lot more money on long-term care, or decrease the quality of care provided.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She points out that, given immigrants\u2019 proven positive impact on nursing home residents, immigration policy could be leveraged to support the health of America\u2019s aging population.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One potential solution could be to create a specialized visa category for caregiving workers, similar to the H2-A visa program that sponsors seasonal agricultural workers.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another could be improving the recognition of credentials needed for nursing-home work, such as registered nurse (RN) and nursing assistant certifications. Many times, immigrants\u2019 credentials earned in other countries are not recognized in the United States, leading them to take positions for which they are overqualified. Someone who has an RN-equivalent certification from another country may have to work as a nursing assistant in the US.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Furtado\u2019s research on this topic has been supported by UConn\u2019s Alan R. Bennett College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Public Health Policy Research Funding Opportunity<\/a>. She is also a recent recipient of a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation<\/a> for a related project, exploring how immigration may impact the working conditions for nursing home employees.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Study finds that local immigration reduces mortality and improves quality of life for nursing home residents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":244548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2460,2231,2648,2076,2235,2724],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2413],"class_list":["post-244541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-faculty","category-health-well-being","category-blue-research","category-research","category-today-homepage","category-workforce"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-30 22:18:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244541"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246066,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244541\/revisions\/246066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/244548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244541"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=244541"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=244541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}