A research paper in the American Journal of Health Economics determined that higher levels of immigration leads to registered nurses and other aides working more hours at nursing homes, without displacing already-employed caregivers, while patient outcomes improve.

Immigration, the Long-Term Care Workforce, and Elder Outcomes in the U.S. is based on research by MIT, Harvard, and the University of Rochester that encompasses 16 million Medicare beneficiaries in over 13,000 nursing homes in metropolitan statistical areas of the U.S., and evaluates immigrations flows for two decades.

According to an article on the paper in MIT News, the research finds that for every 10 percent increase in immigration above the norm in metro areas, in addition to the 1.1 percent increase in registered nurse hours, there is a 0.7 percent increase in hours of care provided by certified nurse assistants. There is a 0.6 percent decline in hospitalizations for patients making short-term stays, of up to a month, in nursing homes.

More detail and info is available in the full paper here.