A bill to make it easier for foreign-trained doctors to practice in Georgia passed a Senate committee with a unanimous vote on Wednesday, opening the way for the measure to pass two years after it was first proposed.
A similar bill last year failed to gain approval before the end of the session. This year, the bill gained the sponsorship of a powerful Republican backer, Dr. Ben Watson, a Savannah doctor who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services committee.
The measure would create a pathway for lawfully present doctors who trained in other countries to practice in Georgia if a long list of conditions are met. The idea is to match foreign-trained doctors to medically underserved areas.
If Georgia adopts the measure, it would join a growing list of states – at least 17, according to the American Medical Association — that have done so, including neighboring Tennessee, Florida, and, most recently, North Carolina, whose law took effect in January.
Senators said they support the bill because it could help ease Georgia’s rural physician shortage. The state is short by more than 8,000 physicians, according to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. That’s especially pronounced in rural areas, with 10 counties without any physicians at all and 63 counties lacking pediatricians in 2023-24, according to state data.
“If it helps in any way address the shortage in rural areas, then it’ll be a great thing,” Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, a Republican from Rome, said.
Watson said the extensive requirements in the bill would help ensure that the foreign-born doctors are able to provide high-quality care.
To qualify for the program, the doctors must have practiced for at least five years – and in some cases 10 – after training at a medical school listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools.
Doctors must also demonstrate they have passed a major medical exam, typically by passing all three parts of the United States Medical Licensing Examination, or an equivalent foreign exam, or gaining board certification in a medical specialty. They must also pass an English proficiency exam.
If a doctor has met all those requirements and has an offer of employment under a supervising physician in a rural county or at a hospital or medical school, he or she can obtain a limited provisional license.
The doctor must then practice for four years under the supervising physician before he or she can apply for a full license. After obtaining the full license, the doctor must continue to practice for two more years in an underserved area, which includes rural areas, as well as federally qualified health centers that serve un- and underinsured Georgians in urban and rural areas.
While the bill eventually gained unanimous support, some senators expressed initial concerns about the proposal. For example, Sen. Ed Setzler, an Acworth Republican, said he wanted to make sure that businesses or hospitals cannot recruit foreign doctors to work here for lower rates than domestically trained doctors.
Advocates say the bill would increase the supply of doctors who can connect with Georgia’s diverse population.
“Many immigrant physicians are already here. They’re trained, they’re experienced, and they’re ready to work,” said Stefanie Zaenker, strategic director of the LIBRE Initiative, a free market advocacy group focused on the Latino community.
“These doctors bring critical language skills and cultural understanding to underserved Latino communities and other minority communities, which improves trust, communication, and health outcomes,” Zaenker said.
There’s no straightforward data on how many doctors in Georgia would qualify for the program, said Darlene Lynch, legal and policy director for the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. She has been advocating for the measure for years.
Lynch said she knows of internationally trained doctors who have left Georgia because they cannot practice here – or decided to pursue another profession entirely, like social work.
“We know there are a lot of doctors who were working in ICU for decades, or as OB-GYNs or or primary care docs and [are now] literally selling Uber Eats or working at the CVS,” Lynch told Healthbeat after the hearing.
“They worked super hard, and they want to practice medicine, and they want to help people. And if Georgia doesn’t give them a way, they will go somewhere else,” Lynch said.
The Senate rules committee – of which Watson serves as vice chairman – must now decide to send the bill to the Senate floor for a vote before March 6, the deadline by which bills must get the approval of their home chamber to have a chance of passing this session.
Rebecca Grapevineis a reporter covering public health in Atlanta for Healthbeat. Contact Rebecca at rgrapevine@healthbeat.org. Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News.