What is the American Medical Association
doing?
According
to CME Report 3-A-16, from the Council on
Medical Education, the AMA recognizes the funding and distribution of residency
positions for GME (Graduate Medical Education) are “in crisis in the US IMG ). Currently, 25% of practicing physicians in
the US
- “There is a predicted physician shortage of between 46,100 and 90,400 physicians by 2025” (AAMC, March 2015)
- The overall match rate for US and
- The
majority of the 25% not
matching are International Medical Graduates(
- There has been continuous growth of US medical schools and increased enrollment
- There has been limited growth in Graduate Medical Education (residency positions) due to caps in federal funding (The Affordable Care Act)
- The AMA “will strenuously advocate for legislation” along with the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) to increase federal funding of GME
- Medical school seniors’ “fear of being a loser” have caused residency applicants to apply to an average of 47 programs to avoid not matching into a residency (up 20% in the last 5 years)
- This has forced program directors to use USMLE scores and quantitative criteria as a numeric “cutpoint” rather than perform an in-depth review of every application
- USMLE scores alone are NOT predictors of success in residencies
- The AMA is opposed to state legislation for licensing “untrained” doctors on the basis of patient safety and quality concerns
(2) Report of the Council on Medical Education,
http://nomatchmds.blogspot.com/
The answer for your last 3 questions is: Because no one represents the interest of the unmatched U.S.citizen IMGs. There is a lot of conflicts of interests in the medical establishment and advocating for increasing the federal funding of GME by the AMA and AAMC would not solve the problem. The interest of U.S. Med. GRADs is protected by the AAMC, AACOM, AMA and even by the Program Directors.
ReplyDeleteEven though 25% of practicing physicians in the US are IMGs, the IMGs, if at all, don't have %25 influence in the AMA and in the medical system as a whole.
The AAMC and AACOM don't want high matching rate of the U.S. Citizen IMGs because that would diminish their leverage in the market, the prospective med. student doesn't need them, he/she can enroll in med. school overseas and still can match. The unmatched U.S. Citizen IMGs have no association to protect their interest. At this point, only a good lawyer can represent their interest in the court of law. I believe that at least they can win easily the case of practicing medicine in a capacity similar to the capacity of physician assistant or nurse practitioner.
I think that the best thing to do for the U.S. unmatched doctors is to hire attorney for them to see if they have legal standing which I believe they do. It is obvious from reading your writings that you know the issue very well and passionate about it. Therefore you have the ability to explain it to the attorney so that he/she can take it from there. There are many interested parties, including civil organizations, in supporting the cause to the degree that it will not be a problem in raising the fund for the legal case. If you wait for the AMA and AAMC to solve the problem you will wait very long because the issue of unmatched doctors is the last thing on their minds.
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