National Study of Available Information on H1-B, J-1 and other International Medical Graduate Information
International medical graduates (IMGs) are an important source of physicians in the United States, accounting for one-fourth of the nation’s practicing physicians. However, there is little information on the various pathways of entry into the U.S. physician workforce or the numbers of IMGs who follow these pathways. Common methods of entry include H1-B visas that provide IMGs a temporary nonimmigrant visa allowing a U.S. company to employ them) and J-1 visas that are temporary educational visas allowing residency graduates to remain in the US if they are employed in designated HPSAs or MUAs. This study will determine the availability and sources of federal and national data on both types of visas. Policy questions and decisions that can be guided by these data include, for example, methods for putting caps on the nation’s residency positions , determining the extent to which IMGs fill gaps in the U.S. medical graduate workforce, and ways in which increasing the number of H1-B visas influence IMG practice types and locations. The project will result in a report and one-page policy brief.
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