Many Foreign Physicians Working In Ohio Under J-1 Visa Program Not Practicing In Underserved Areas

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 21 Feb 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Foreign-born physicians working in Ohio through the J-1 visa program are practicing at larger hospitals such as the Cleveland Clinic, rather than in the rural or inner-city areas that the program is intended to serve, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. The national J-1 visa program allows states to recruit up to 30 foreign doctors annually to work for three years in underserved areas.

However, according to the Plain Dealer, the program has "evolved from getting family doctors" for underserved areas to "providing big hospitals with a way to keep foreign-born residents whom they trained on their full-time staffs." The hospitals, which often are teaching hospitals, say that they receive no financial incentive for employing the J-1 doctors and maintain that the physicians treat the underserved. Eileen Sheil, a spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic, said, "The state's program is designed to meet the needs of the underserved areas in Ohio," adding, "We believe that our participation in this program meets those community and patient needs."

Many foreign-born doctors prefer to work in urban areas where wages are usually higher, which makes it more difficult for rural areas to recruit foreign physicians, according to the Plain Dealer. State rules require that clinics and hospitals provide proof that they unsuccessfully tried to recruit U.S.-born physicians first, but "it's easy for hospitals to meet the requirement because they need only recruit from other Ohio teaching hospitals," the Plain Dealer reports. Ohio also requires that J-1 physicians see a percentage of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries that is at least equal to the rate of such patients in the county where they are practicing, but state records show these standards are not always met.

Joe Liszak, CEO of Community Health Services in Fremont, Ohio, said, "We have such a hard time finding doctors. Why are multimillion-dollar hospital organizations using this?" He added, "That's just not right. This program was designed for the underserved."

Ohio State Health Director Alvin Jackson said, "Reviewing the program is one of the top things on my radar." Jackson said that hospitals violating the rules of the program could be reported to HHS and that the state health department could restrict hospitals' ability to get J-1 doctors in the future (Mazzolini, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2/18).

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