Senate panel advances bill to create licensure pathway for internationally trained physicians

The Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee on Feb. 25 recommended passage of Senate File 509, a bill to create a licensure pathway for internationally trained physicians living in Minnesota.

Sen. Mann moved the bill with an author's amendment that the committee adopted. The motion to recommend SF 509 as amended passed by voice vote and the measure was referred to the Committee on State Government.

The bill would remove the current blanket requirement that physicians trained abroad repeat U.S. residency training before practicing in Minnesota and replace that requirement with a set of conditions for experienced international medical graduates (IMGs). Under the proposal presented to the committee, an IMG would be eligible for licensure if the physician has graduated from medical school, has passed all three USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) step exams, has been practicing medicine for at least five of the last 12 years, and completes two years of supervised practice in a rural or underserved Minnesota setting. The substitute pathway would require documented competencies equivalent to resident documentation, multiple letters of recommendation, and periodic check-ins with the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice; if those conditions are met, the physician would receive a license.

Sen. Mann said the current residency requirement effectively bars experienced foreign-trained physicians from practicing because there are not enough residency slots in the United States. "We are preventing people from practicing medicine because there are no residency slots, not because they don't know how to practice medicine," Mann said, and estimated "about 220 to 300 doctors" living in Minnesota are ready to practice but cannot under current rules.

Several testifiers supported the bill. Azar Maloki, a physician trained in Baghdad who completed research fellow work at the University of Minnesota and passed the USMLE exams, described years of training and expense and said the bill would have shortened a decade-long process for him and allowed him to serve underserved patients sooner. Mike Zimmer of World Education Services, a nonprofit that advises states on credentialing pathways, told the committee that multiple states have passed similar reforms and that SF 509 "includes important provisions to safeguard the health and safety of the public" by requiring USMLE passage, board oversight and supervised practice tied to a fully licensed provider.

Dr. Natalia Danokova, a Ukrainian-trained ophthalmologist practicing in Minnesota, and Eric Van Kuyck, former head of ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota, also testified in support, each recounting lengthy U.S. retraining experiences and saying the change would allow skilled physicians to reenter practice more quickly.

Committee members asked about opposition. Sen. Abler noted the bill sponsor had engaged stakeholders and that there were "no letters of opposition" at the time of the hearing. The committee record shows the bill includes language authorizing the Commissioner of Health to issue corrective orders as provided in section 1 of the bill, and the referral is to the Committee on State Government for further consideration.

Next steps: SF 509 as amended was recommended to pass and referred to the Committee on State Government for additional review and possible further action.

Votes at a glance: The committee approved SF 509 as amended by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.