Physician and MSMA delegate urges board to consider 'additional pathways' for international medical graduates

Dr. Lee Walters, speaking as a past MSMA president and an international medical graduate, urged the State Board of Medical Licensure to consider creating an additional pathway for qualified international medical graduates to obtain provisional licensure and, after supervised practice, full licensure.

Walters told the board that about 25% of the physician workforce in the United States are international medical graduates and that the share is higher in some subspecialties and in rural or underserved areas. He described a joint task-force draft (as summarized to the board) involving national stakeholders that recommends a pathway in which qualified graduates from recognized foreign medical schools who complete substantially similar postgraduate training and hold a valid license in their country for several years could receive a provisional state license, work under supervised conditions and be eligible for an unrestricted license after a period of successful supervised practice (commonly three years in materials Walters cited).

Walters urged the board to study the draft recommendations and to consider which countries’ medical-education systems the board would deem “substantially similar,” noting examples he said are commonly accepted (Australia, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada). He said nine states already have programs and another nine states are moving legislation or board rulemaking to implement additional pathways.

Walters framed the proposal as a workforce and quality argument: he told the board that well-trained IMGs can fill gaps in underserved areas and subspecialties and that licensing pathways should be fair and consistent. He also raised the point that certain statutory provisions (as written in state law) can bar IMGs from serving on boards or committees unless the law is changed.

Board members asked clarifying questions about how such pathways would interact with interstate compacts and with board-by-board variations in requirements; Walters and board members agreed the issue largely remains a state-level determination and that compact implementation would require coordination across jurisdictions.

Walters offered to assist the board by providing materials from national forums and from the draft joint task-force report. The board did not vote on policy at the meeting; the discussion was presented as an informational item to guide future consideration.

Direct quotes from the exchange included Walters’ summary of the workforce share: “About 25% of the physician workforce in United States are international medical graduates,” and his description of the proposed pathway’s mechanics: “Mississippi will grant them a provisional license after they tick all the boxes … after 3 years of successful practice, then they will get the full unrestricted license.”