The new travel ban is making waves throughout the medical community.
They found that medical students who were trained abroad made up 18% of all professors in the United States; authored 18% of all publications in PubMed; received 12.5% of all NIH grants; and ran 18.5% of all clinical trials in the United States.
Phil Miller, vice president of communications for the physician recruiting firm Merritt Hawkins, told Medscape Medical News the immediate impact on the workforce will be "marginal."
"Probably less than 150 residents would come from those countries in 2018," he said. His analysis takes into account a match rate for international students that historically has been about 50%. "In the overall context of physician supply, that's fairly small," he said, although he noted that each doctor has an effect on quality of care and a financial effect on their community.
The bigger impact, considering the growing physician shortage, may come from the message it sends to all foreign graduates, he says.
"They might see that the Trump administration is trying to raise the degree of difficulty for entering the US on work-related visas. Couple that with general anti-immigrant sentiment, and you have physicians from India and Pakistan ― the two nations that provide the most IMGs ― and China, Philippines, and other major providers, and they may get the sense that they're not welcome."
Match Preferences Start Next Month. The ruling comes just more than a month before January 15, when residency applicants and programs can begin to enter their rank order lists. Applicants must finalize the lists by February 21.
Mona Singer, president and chief executive officer of the National Resident Matching Program, told Medscape Medical News the organization is reviewing the impact of the travel ban on citizens from the named countries along with the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, which sponsors the J-visas needed by international medical graduates who want to enter United States graduate medical education programs.
As Medscape Medical News reported earlier this year, the White House clarified in February that a previous version of the ban did not apply to holders of green cards.
According to the Associated Press, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, California, and the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia, will hold arguments on the ban this week. The Supreme Court is expected to fully review the proposed ban, but no date for that review has been set.
story by Marcia Frellick
