Special Constituency Representatives Look to Shore Up Family Medicine Pipeline, FP Workforce

A number of resolutions chapter representatives took up during the 2009 National Conference of Special Constituencies here on April 23-25 focused on ways to support the family medicine workforce pipeline and to address family physician workforce issues.

Increasing J-1 visa waiver sponsorship programs for international physicians in training in the United States was one of the methods proposed to accomplish the twofold goal of increasing access to care in medically underserved areas while ensuring that patients are seen by highly qualified health care professionals who are able to care for complex medical problems.

Joule Stevenson, M.D., of Hazelwood, Mo., an international medical graduate, or IMG, constituency representative, spoke before the Reference Committee on Advocacy on April 24 about the resolution (Resolution No. 58; 14-page PDF; About PDFs) she and several co-authors introduced.

"Due to the huge health care disparity in underserved areas of the United States, there are increasing efforts to fill this void with underqualified, nonphysician practitioners," she testified. "But there is a vast pool of family physicians within the IMG community (who) have graduated from U.S. family medicine residency programs and (who) are qualified and willing to provide health care in these underserved areas."

Easing restrictions on J-1 visa waivers for international primary care physicians would go a long way to ameliorating access problems in such areas, Stevenson said, while at the same time safeguarding patients' well-being.

The measure easily won delegates' approval during the April 25 business session.

Other resolutions that NCSC delegates adopted call for the AAFP to