title: International medical graduates and the primary care workforce for rural underserved areas.
abstract: The proportion of international medical graduates (IMGs) serving as primary care physicians in rural underserved areas (RUAs) has important policy implications. We analyzed the 2000 American Medical Association Masterfile and Area Resource File to calculate the percentage of primary care IMGs, relative to U.S. medical graduates (USMGs), working in RUAs. We found that 2.1 percent of both primary care USMGs and IMGs were in RUAs, where USMGs were more likely to be family physicians but less likely to be internists or pediatricians. IMGs appear to have been no more likely than USMGs were to practice primary care in RUAs, but the distribution by specialty differs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: George E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Fryer
authors.forename: Nerissa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koehn
mesh_terms: D000574:American Medical Association; D005550:Foreign Medical Graduates / Q000145:classification / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D010820:Physicians / Q000145:classification / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011365:Professional Practice Location / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019035:Rural Health Services; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce