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MEMBER SECTIONS
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Through meetings with the State Education Department, a process has been created for MSSNY to request special assistance for members who experience unusual delays in obtaining their licenses. |
Mentoring Program for International Medical Graduates
International Medical Graduates caucusing at MSSNY’s Annual Meeting discussed the high percentage of IMG applicants in the National Resident Matching Program who did not match to a PGY-1 training program this year. It was reported that some IMG applicants with scores of 99% were unable to secure residency positions. A particular difficulty for IMG applicants has been lack of experience in the US health system.
Any long term absence from direct involvement in health care hurts an applicant’s prospects, and any direct involvement in the US health care system is a plus. Observerships, which once provided opportunities for graduates of schools outside the US to gain familiarity with medicine as practiced here, have become rare.
Competition for residency positions is expected to intensify as enrollments at US medical and osteopathic schools increase and numbers of GME positions remain constant.
MSSNY is therefore asking IMG members to volunteer as mentors for other international medical graduates who are seeking residency positions, to familiarize them with cultural and language issues, as well as with medical practice matters and interviewing skills.
If you would like to volunteer as a mentor, or if you are an IMG seeing residency training and would like to be paired with a MSSNY mentor, please contact Eunice Skelly at 516-488-6100 ext. 389, or eskelly@mssny.org.
Licensure Issues
The continuing concern of the IMG Subcommittee about disparities in medical licensure policies in New York State was reported to the MSSNY Council by the society’s Membership Committee on September 17, 2009.
Chief among the concerns are the requirement that IMGs complete three years of GME before becoming eligible for licensure, as opposed to the one year required of US graduates, and the requirement that applicants for full licensure be citizens or permanent residents. MSSNY supports legislation to eliminate the citizenship/permanent resident requirement.
The three year GME requirement has caused hardship for many IMGs whose ability to practice medicine following residency training is delayed while approval of their licensure applications is pending. It has also caused many New York State-trained physicians to move to other states at a time when serious physician shortages exist in parts of our state.
Click here to view the presentation given by IMG Subcommittee Chair Parag Mehta, MD, to the New York State Board for Medicine on this issue.
MSSNY has taken the position that without a change in state policy, the Education Department should allow residency program directors to certify, after 2 ½ years of training, that IMG residents enrolled in three-year training programs will be competent to be licensed, pending satisfactory completion of the final six months of training.
Credentialing Delays
This seems to be where many of the delays in licensing occur. Applicants may not understand their responsibilities in this process, and as a result can inadvertently be the cause of their own difficulties.
MSSNY’s IMG subcommittee advice: Start the FCVS process as soon as you enter residency training. You do not need to specify in which state you plan to seek licensure at this stage – just get the process started.
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Read all directions carefully and submit everything that is required. FCVS will NOT contact you to advise that your application is incomplete.
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Follow up to check on the progress of your file after 30 days.
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Information on the FCVS website can be confusing. Read all materials on the website explaining the process and offering answers to frequent questions.
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Obtain a Federal Express account that FCVS can use to speed delivery of documentation.
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Follow up with your school personally and ask them to respond to the FCVS.
- Make sure the State Education Department has received your ECFMG certification and that they have included it with your FCVS file.
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Become a MSSNY member so that you can contact us for assistance should you experience problems.
Nyapati Rao, MD, elected to Governing Council of the AMA IMG Section
MSSNY congratulates Nyapati Rao, MD, a member in Kings County (Brooklyn), on his election to the Governing Council of the AMA IMG Section. Dr. Rao will be chairing the AMA IMG Section 2009 Workforce Paper Committee, as well as an IMG Section Initiative to Transform Medical Education.
Increased Involvement of IMGs with MSSNY
IMGs are encouraged to seek leadership roles in their county and state medical societies, and special avenues are provided for leadership development through MSSNY’s Sections for Residents and Fellows and for Young Physicians (those under the age of 40 or who have completed residency training within the past eight years.) Appointments to MSSNY committees are considered by the MSSNY President Elect based on recommendations made by county medical societies each fall.
Leaders of international medical associations are especially encouraged to attend meetings of the MSSNY Council and the House of Delegates, and MSSNY leaders are always happy to provide briefings on legislative and other developments of concern to physicians.
Miscellaneous Matters
A problem brought to the attention of the IMG Committee leads to this reminder to members:
Advice to Green Card Holders:
The IMG committee has heard about individuals who have had difficulty re-entering the country after short trips into Canada because they did not have their green cards with them.
Permanent residents are advised that they must carry their green cards with them at all times. You must show this to an immigration officer if asked for it.
Eunice
MSSNY Division of Membership Services
516-488-6100 ext. 389
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