International Medical Graduates Assistance Act of 2022

Bill: 117-hr-8022
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9]
Introduced: 2022-06-09
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Area studies and international education

Congressional oversight

Education programs funding

Foreign labor

Foreign language and bilingual programs

Health personnel

Health programs administration and funding

International exchange and broadcasting

Licensing and registrations

Medical education

Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
Latest action: action_date: 2022-06-09
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-06-09
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>International Medical Graduates Assistance Act of 2022</strong></p> <p>This bill authorizes grants and makes other changes to facilitate the practice of medicine by international medical graduates who are lawfully present in the United States and graduated from a medical school outside of the United States or Canada.</p> <p>Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services may award grants for states and territories to</p> <ul> <li>establish programs that allow such international medical graduates to practice medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician while completing the first two steps of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, and</li> <li>provide assistance (e.g., costs to take the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination and career counseling) to such international medical graduates.</li> </ul> <p>The bill also exempts under certain circumstances such international medical graduates from the cap on full-time equivalent residents that is otherwise applicable for purposes of graduate medical education payments under Medicare.</p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8022 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 9, 2022 Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself and Ms. Roybal-Allard ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce , and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means , for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To address barriers immigrants and refugees face to entering the health care workforce, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the International Medical Graduates Assistance Act of 2022 . I Incentivizing States to allow transitional practice by international medical graduates 101. Grants (a) In general The Secretary of Health and Human Services may award grants to States to develop and implement programs to allow eligible international medical graduates, for a period of up to 4 years while completing steps 1 and 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination, to practice medicine in the respective State under the supervision of a fully licensed physician. (b) Definition In this section: (1) The term eligible international medical graduate means an individual who— (A) graduated from a school of medicine outside of the United States or Canada; and (B) is— (i) lawfully admitted for permanent residence; (ii) admitted as a refugee under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1157 ); (iii) granted asylum under section 208 of such Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1158 ); or (iv) an immigrant otherwise authorized to be employed in the United States. (2) The term State includes the District of Columbia and any territory of the United States. 102. Exemption of certain eligible international medical graduates from application of FTE cap (a) In general Section 1886(h)(4)(H) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4)(H) ) is amended by adding at the end the following new clause: (vii) Exemption of certain foreign medical graduates from counting towards cap (I) In general For purposes of applying the limit described in subparagraph (F), a specified resident (as defined in subclause (II)) shall not be taken into account in determining the total number of full-time equivalent residents before application of weighting factors (as determined under this paragraph) with respect to a hospital’s approved medical residency training program. (II) Specified resident defined For purposes of subclause (I), the term specified resident means an eligible international medical graduate (as defined in section 101(b) of the Pathways to Health Care Act of 2022) who is a resident in a hospital’s approved medical residency training program, but only if such hospital— (aa) has in effect an agreement with a Federally qualified health center under which residents training in such program spend time training at such center; (bb) is located in a State that allows such eligible international medical graduates to practice medicine as described in section 101(a) of such Act; and (cc) predominantly serves medically underserved populations (as defined in section 330(b)(3)(A) of the Public Health Service Act), as determined by the Secretary. . (b) Study on removal of resident cap Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to Congress a report on the possibility of removing the resident cap under section 1886(h)(4)(F) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4)(F) ). II Assisting international medical graduates during pursuit of licensure 201. Grants (a) In general The Secretary of Health and Human Services may award grants to States to provide assistance to eligible international medical graduates while such graduates are completing steps 1 and 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. (b) Covered assistance Assistance provided to an eligible international medical graduate pursuant to this section may include paying the costs of the United States Medical Licensing Examination, career counseling, case management, classes in English as a second language, assistance in diploma verification, and test preparation courses. (c) Definition In this section, the terms eligible international medical graduate and State have the meanings given to those terms in section 101.