By 2030 the U.S. expects to need more than 40,000 additional physicians for primary care alone as nearly 25% of our existing doctors reach retirement age and the shortage will worsen as the U.S. population grows and ages. The American Medical Association calls it “an urgent crisis.”[1]
At least six states (Tennessee, Florida, Wisconsin, Idaho, Iowa and Virginia) have created laws that allow physicians licensed aboard to become fully licensed here without completing unnecessary post-medical-school “residency” training in the U.S. Similar legislation is pending in Minnesota, Maine, Arizona, Michigan and Massachusetts.
Virginia’s new legislation reflects needs on the ground, requiring international doctors to spend their third and fourth years of Virginia practice in a rural or underserved area. Idaho, on the other hand, has broader reach and fewer limits—doctors licensed abroad need only practice for three years in a supervised setting in Idaho before they can apply for and receive an unrestricted license.
These state bills have earned bipartisan support because the doctor shortage affects everyone—whether Republican or Democrat, rural or urban. This demonstrates that despite partisan rancor, states can still solve important challenges together.
This March the Federation of State Medical Boards, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and Intealth, an international organization that certifies medical training, announced an advisory commission to help states navigate these emerging pathways. Rather than fighting the momentum of reform, these organizations are choosing to improve state implementation.
As America searches for an answer to the looming catastrophe of patients losing access to care, foreign physicians should be called upon to help to fill those gaps. Every patient should have a doctor to see as soon as he needs one.
This article underscores the more general U.S. need for immigrants in light of this country’s aging and declining population.[2]
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[1] Wolfson, Foreign Physicians Can Help Solve America’s Doctor Shortage, W.S.J. (May 31, 2024). The author of this Wall Street Journal article is Jonathan Wolfson, the Chief Legal Officer and Policy Director of the Cicero Institute, “a nonpartisan policy organization focused on fixing broken systems in the public sector. We develop and fight for policies at the state level that restore liberty, accountability, and innovation in American governance.”
[2] See, e.g., these posts to dwkcommentaries.com: U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low (April 25, 2024); More Thoughts on U.S. Low Fertility Rate (May 1, 2024); Minnesota Will Suffer from a Crackdown on U.S. Immigration (May 5, 2024); Will the World’s Population Cease To Expand? (May 16, 2024).
