Jinx of the J-1 visa: IMGs finding other paths to residency
March 3rd, 2008 Posted by: Dr. Cox
Glenns Ferry Health Center used to attract international medical graduates looking for work. But the Idaho clinic is now struggling to hire IMGs and finds itself part of a national crisis facing rural health centers.
The clinic has one full-time physician and two locum tenens who run the center’s three sites in the southern part of the state. Four doctors are needed, but two years of aggressive recruiting, including offering higher salaries, have generated no new hires, putting the clinic on the verge of closing one of its offices. That would leave patients, especially Medicaid mothers who rely on the center for prenatal and delivery services, few alternatives.