Upwardly Global was recently featured in the Hospice News article “Evolving Medical Licensing Laws Could Affect Hospice Workforce, Diversity Challenges,” which shines a light on state-level policy changes that would allow for international medical graduates to more easily reenter the U.S. healthcare industry and how these changes can affect the nationwide scarcity in hospice workers.
An Upwardly Global analysis dug into the Illinois policy changes, which created a permanent alternative pathway to medical licensure that replaced the residency requirement with two years of limited practice under the supervision of a licensed physician in an area of unmet need or with a provider that treats underserved populations.
These laws may be having an impact on improved clinical workforce recruitment and retention, according to Tamar Frolichstein-Appel, senior employment services lead at Upwardly Global, a national nonprofit organization that explores employment barriers among immigrants and refugees with international credentials.
“It comes from a space of realizing we have really big gaps and demand for more health care professionals in certain communities and specialties,” Frolichstein-Appel told Hospice News. “There’s acknowledgement that we need a different way to help folks who come to the United States with training and experience to join the medical field. They bring much medical and cultural knowledge and this opportunity to access talented people.”
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International medical graduates are often individuals who are representative of some of the most underserved patient populations in the United States, said Avigail Ziv, Upwardly Global’s vice president of programs.
Opening career pathways for these medical professionals could help hospice providers to break down cultural and language barriers among underserved communities, Ziv said.
“Oftentimes in a medically underserved there are many immigrants and refugees based in these communities as well,” Ziv told Hospice News. “These laws aren’t something that is ‘nice’ to have,’ this is a must have if we really want to continue to serve the health care needs for this country and fill critical gaps in the health care industry to properly care for our communities of aging populations.”
Read the full article on Hospice News here and the Upwardly Global report referenced in this article here.