By Matt Kuhrt
The rising number of graduates from U.S. medical schools, driven in part by efforts to stem the ongoing physician shortage, is expected to put the squeeze on international medical graduates (IMGs) looking for residency slots in the United States, according to an article in Medscape. This raises questions for both students and the medical industry regarding where IMGs will fit in the shifting healthcare landscape.
The number of residency positions has routinely outstripped the supply of U.S. medical school graduates, creating a natural space for IMGs to fill. A combination of growth in the number of U.S. medical schools and increased enrollments is expected to be mitigated by increased training positions from entities such as the Veterans Health Administration, shrinking the number of positions available to IMGs from 21.7 percent in 2014-2015 to 13.5 percent by 2023-2024, per Medscape.
Due to the small number of spaces and the additional hurdles IMGs need to overcome in order to become licensed in the United States, foreign doctors who enter the system tend to be very high performers, according to the article.
Between the demand for high-quality practitioners and the benefits healthcare providers derive from hiring practitioners with diverse backgrounds, one might expect an increased demand for IMGs across the system, rather than the expected decrease in slots.
The problem lies in matching the type of slots available with the physicians to fill them. Among IMGs, roughly two-thirds ended up specializing in primary care in 2015, compared to 39 percent of U.S. medical school seniors. This tracks with increased industry focus on and demand for primary care practitioners, and the growing complexity of primary care visits suggests a good fit for the industry's best and brightest.
To learn more:
- read the Medscape article