Health Dept Regulation Would Expand Opportunities for IMGs in Public Hospitals
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A regulation Limited Permit Allowances.pdf proposed this week by the New York State Department of Health would permit International Medical Graduate physicians (IMGs) with NYSED-granted limited permits the opportunity to practice in a public hospital without satisfying Graduate Medical Education requirements otherwise required of limited permit holders.
Current state Health Department regulations impose additional years of training for limited permit holders, specifically one year for domestic medical graduates and three years for IMGs, as a condition of working in a New York State hospital. However, limited permit holders working in other settings in New York State, such as nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals, are not required to have these additional years of training. According to DOH, this requirement was originally intended to ensure that international students’ educations were equivalent to those of physicians educated in the United States. As a result, hospitals hiring doctors to meet patient needs often must turn away otherwise qualified applicants to maintain compliance with the regulation.
MSSNY has passed resolutions at its last two House of Delegates calling for it to “advocate for expanded pathways to licensure for International Medical Graduates in New York State as a preferred way to expand access to care for patients instead of expansion of scope of practice by various non-physicians”.
