A steady influx of foreign-born doctors is critical to poor, rural and heavily minority parts of the state, where a physician shortage is already acute. Indeed, the government offers visa waivers to international students in exchange for their promise to spend time in underserved areas. Now, healthcare leaders say, these physicians, residents and students are rethinking careers in Michigan.
“They are a critical component of access to care in rural Michigan,” said John Barnas, executive director of the Michigan Center for Rural Health. The center, part of Michigan State University, advocates for rural health collaborations and recruitment and retention of rural health care providers.
Barnas said Michigan has accepted 30 international medical graduates a year under the J-1 waiver program for about the past 15 years, and 20 annually for years before that. That has meant approximately 600 physicians agreeing to serve at least three years in rural and urban settings where there is medical need, in practices ranging from primary care to anesthesiology.