Landing a residency can be tough for American medical graduates—approximately 1500 aspiring doctors won’t secure a spot each year. Yet despite the steep competition, Arizona’s America Last policies force homegrown medical graduates to compete with overqualified foreign doctors for limited residencies.
At the same time, Arizona faces a crisis: there are too few doctors to care for a rapidly expanding and aging population. In just five years, our state alone is projected to have a shortage of 8,280 doctors. Yet, Arizona offers just 587 residency positions a year.
Unsurprisingly, our healthcare workforce shortage stands among the worst in the nation.
My bill, “International Medical Licensees; Provisional Licensure” (SB-1108) addresses both problems. It removes the residency requirement for foreign doctors who have already completed an equivalent residency abroad or have at least 5 years of medical practice experience. Removing the duplicative residency requirement allows more American medical graduates to secure residencies and allows highly qualified, foreign-trained doctors to provide care with a provisional license in Arizona.
President Donald Trump has consistently supported attracting highly skilled workers to strengthen our economy. In addressing questions about skilled immigration earlier this year, President Trump said, “We need competent people. We need smart people coming into our country… We’re going to have jobs like we’ve never had before.” The highly trained doctors SB1108 would attract to our state certainly fit that description.
Some of the best doctors I’ve had the privilege of serving beside went to medical school outside the United States. Notably, leading conservative states have already adopted similar medical residency policies. Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Idaho, and Iowa have already championed similar bills. Failing to adopt SB1108 would punish our medical graduates and put our state at a competitive disadvantage in attracting talented doctors.
Ironically, critics of the bill like to claim that prioritizing American medical graduates for residency positions is somehow anti-MAGA. They are mistaken. Opponents of SB1108 promote a system that forces residencies on those who do not need them at the expense of American medical graduates yearning to become full-fledged doctors.
If we want to protect residency positions for American talent, removing duplicative requirements for those who have already completed equivalent training abroad is the pragmatic America First path forward to improve healthcare in Arizona.
This will only SEVERELY DEGRADE Health Care Quality in the U.S.
Just ask yourselves; Why are U.S. Citizens leaving the Continental U.S. to study Medicines when the U.S. has multiple Medical Schools across the U.S.
This is a way to provide sub-standard medical care to Arizona Residents only because they live in a Rural Ares with less than 1 million residents.
A. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER LAW, THE BOARD MAY GRANT A PROVISIONAL8
LICENSE TO ENGAGE IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN THIS STATE TO ANY
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL LICENSEE WHO MEETS ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
M(2)(c); which states; POSSESSES BASIC FLUENCY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT A LEVEL SUFFICIENT TO COMMUNICATE WITH PATIENTS ABOUT MEDICAL CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS.
Have you ever spoke to someone who is a foreign person and knows very little English but can still have minimumly functionality in a U.S. Community?
These Foreigners can minimally function, but what happens when this limited English Speaker has to interpret an Advanced Medical Directive/Diagnosis or Medical Instruction verbally, such in an Operating Room of Intensive Care Unit?
In the Middle of the Night/Awoken from a Deep Sleep, Called out to a Trauma Case when he/she was off duty and fast sleep?
There have been a severe uptick in the last 5 years of Medical Mistakes, across the occupation board, (EMTs, Nurses, Doctors etc), in Medical Treatment in Hospitals where U.S. Citizens/U.S. Born Medical Grads with Medical Licenses that failed to follow or misinterpreted the written and/or Medical Instructions, (WRITTEN IN or SPOKEN in ENGLISH) and the Patient Died or suffered serious consequences.
Now Arizona is willing to approve a Foreign MD that has minimum proficiency in Speaking/Understanding English with a Patient?
What an example on Non-English Speakers in a High-Stress, Life or Death Decision Making Job and Incident?
Just Listen to the numerous recorded FAA Air Traffic Control radio communications with Foreign Pilots, after an aviation incident or fatality, and determine for yourself, how their lack of English Language Proficiency or Minimum Language Proficiency led to someone being injured and/or losing their Life.
This Senate Bill is also flawed in several areas.
NOWHERE IN SB1080 does it require the ability to communicate proficiently with other Medial Professionals using Medical Terms and Jargon that are nor routinely used with a Common Man.
What happens with this Foreign Licensed Medical Doctor that comes into a Shift Change in a Trauma ICU and the previous treating Physician has explicit medical treatment indtructions with specialty medical treatment and the administration of drugs with dosing and avoiding lethan interactions? By this Foreign Doctor proved that he can order a Hot Dog at the Hot Dog Wagon outside in the Parking Lot but doesn’t understand the requirement of the administration and continued maintaining paralyzing medicine to prevent injuries post-operating with a Cardiac Trauma Patient that has his/her Chest Cracked and repaired?
On another related issue, Arizona Grade School Students have an average Proficiency Rate of 20% for BASIC MATH Proficiency at the 8th Grade level.
BASIC MATH IS MASTERED IN 3RD OR 4TH GRADE.
Instead of Lowering the Proficiency Standards and “Rubber Stamping” and approving these People wanting to occupy Life or Death Occupations;
How about we focus on fixing the ROOT PROBLEM.
Maintain or increase the Proficiency Standards across the board, starting in Grade School all the way up to Graduate Level and Medical Schools.
OUR ARIZONA PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE POTENTIALLY CRIMINAL MANNER. CAUSING STUDENTS TO BE ILLITERATE AND A POTENTIAL DANGER TO THEMSELVES OR OTHERS.
America is in the LOWER 10% proficiency rating of all Schools in the World.
That means that 90% of ALL Schools Students have a higher proficiency in most subjects.
But the U.S. is the HIGHEST SPENDING PER STUDENT CAPITA IN THE WORLD.
DOGE couldn’t of arrived at more of a perfect time.
DOGE;
Please SAVE OUR KIDS AND YOUNG ADULTS FROM BEING ILLITERATE AND STUPID and hurting and/or killing themselves from a Mistake from not having a Basic Life Skill(s).
We all hear, “We need more doctors!”, and then to read that 1,500 medical school graduates can’t find a residency is positively flabbergasting. What in the name of a Three-Stooges skit is wrong with our medical establishment? This bill, prima facia, sounds like a commonsense approach to addressing a bureaucratic roadblock. Maybe one day soon the legislature(s) can address the root cause(s).
you a VA patient ? Have a “REAL DOCTOR” as your primary care? I would bet ‘ near zero ‘ have a ‘Doctor’ driving the boat. WHY? Because being a ‘federal employee’ sucks! Great for RNP’s with retirement which is the ‘catalyst’ for working VA. IT results in ‘ blah ‘ I do like RNP’s but there are limits and the RNP’s are required to perform beyond their limits. RNP’s as add in’ personal to MD’s – good – RNP being all care available with a TV doctor of the week – or resident of the rotation being ‘the Doctor’ results in confused and dangerous level of bureaucratic care. Want to place doctors – THE VA IS IN SERIOUS NEED OF “PHYSICIANS”
Not just the VA.