Guest Post by Joe Guzzardi
Last month, the American Medical Association issued a press release that urged U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to process more H-1B visas, thereby allowing more nonresident physicians to come to the United States to practice medicine. The AMA claimed that a shortage of nonresident physicians who help fill care gaps in medically underserved regions diminishes overall patient care.
In a letter to USCIS Director Francis Cissna, AMA CEO James L. Madara said that the fixed per country caps which govern H-1B visa issuance keep the agency from processing enough petitions. The AMA, citing data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, concluded that the nation had a physician shortfall of nearly 20,000 in 2016. And since all pleas for more special interest, employment-based visas routinely include doomsday forecasts for future decades, the AMA predicted that by 2030 the shortage will increase to between 42,600 and 121,300.
Continue reading “AMA Lobbies for More Foreign Doctors, but Qualified Americans Shut Out”