This has become a big issue in Arizona. The federal government has been reimbursing border hospitals for care provided to uninsured illegally present immigrants and the funding for the program ends this week unless Congress extends the program.

One of the problems in addressing this issue is that the federal government is having problems determining the actual costs of the care.

The House and Senate agreed to an extension of the physician immigration program until March 6, 2009. It began its sunset on June 1, 2008 so the need to extend was growing more urgent. Conrad 30 doctors are permitted to remain in the US after their graduate medical training programs end on condition of working in areas considered to be medically underserved. Each state can sponsor up to 30 doctors per year under the program and all 50 states and four US territories have established Conrad programs.

One substantive change in the program that is very helpful. Under current rules, each state has five "flex" slots they can use for facilities that are not in federally designated shortage areas if the state health officer certifies that that the doctor is serving a substantial patient population coming from designated shortage areas. This is often the case for physicians working in regional health facilities or at university hospitals serving large regional populations. Congress doubled the number of Flex slots to 10. The President is expected to sign the bill soon.

The Senate passed by voice vote an extension of the Conrad 30 J-1 program until March 6, 2009. The House will likely act tonight. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll get the ten flex slots that are in the prior House version.

Federal funding to reimburse border state hospitals for care provided to illegally present immigrants is set to end at the end of the fiscal year on September 30th and efforts to preserve the funding are running out of time in Congress.

AcademyHealth, a non-partisan, scholarly society for health services researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners, has published the Voluntary Code of Ethical Conduct for the Recruitment of Foreign-Educated Nurses to the United States. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation also provided funding for the project. Here is information on the Code and its related web site.

AcademyHealth, along with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation and a taskforce of diverse stakeholders, has released the
Voluntary Code of Ethical Conduct for the Recruitment of Foreign-
Educated Nurses to the United States (the Code) and its Web site,
www.fairinternationalrecruitment.org.

The Web site serves as a comprehensive resource and media center for
information related to the background, development, and
implementation of the Code—including FAQs, a list of endorsers,
reading lists, Webcasts, press releases, tool kits, and external
resources.

The Code, designed to increase transparency and accountability
throughout the process of international recruitment and ensure
adequate orientation for foreign-educated nurses (FENs), also
provides guidance on ways to ensure recruitment is not harmful to
source countries. See the list of endorsers and supporters.

H.R. 5924, a bill which allocates 20,000 visas for nurses for three years, was marked up by the House Judiciary Committee today. Next stop - the House Floor.

December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
July 2010
August 2010
November 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
August 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
March 2012
September 2012
October 2012
November 2012
February 2013
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
September 2013
January 2014
March 2014
April 2014
July 2014