Minneapolis forum to address challenges of licensing immigrant doctors

Several hundred immigrant and refugee physicians in Minnesota are underemployed because they lack the credentials for a state medical license, according to state health officials.

A forum taking place Tuesday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is an effort to highlight the assistance available to physicians born and trained outside the U.S.

There are many benefits to helping them return to practicing medicine, said Yenda Anderson, who coordinates Minnesota Department of Health's International Medical Graduate Assistance Program.

"We have a projected shortage of physicians, and in fact if you're in some rural areas you're already feeling this shortage right now," she said. "We also have a lack of diversity in health care providers and we see that the patient population is becoming increasingly diverse."

A 2015 Minnesota health department report found it costs $7,500 to $15,000 for a foreign-trained physician to get as far as applying to a residency program, which must be completed for licensure in Minnesota. Over half of immigrant physicians surveyed for the report were eligible to apply for medical residency, but only 17 percent had been accepted into a residency program.

Most residency programs only want recent medical school graduates, Anderson said.

"They prioritize people graduating within the last five years, but for immigrant physicians, they're already at a disadvantage because they graduated a long time ago," Anderson said.