Role of International Medical Graduates Providing Office-based Medical Care: United States, 2005–2006

NCHS Data Brief ■ No. 13 ■ February 2009
Medical graduates from outside the U.S. now perform medical care at about a quarter of all office visits in the U.S. each year. (Source: National Health Care Survey, "Role of International Medical Graduates Providing Office-Based Medical Care: United States, 2005-2006")

1. In 2005–2006, about one-quarter (24.6%) of all visits to office-based physicians were to international medical graduates. Hispanic or Latino and Asian or Pacific Islander patients made more visits to international medical graduates (24.9%) than to U.S. medical graduates (12.4%). International medical graduates also saw a higher percentage of visits made by patients expecting to use Medicaid or State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) as their primary payment source (17.6 %) compared with U.S. medical graduates(10.2 %).
2. In 2005–2006, international medical graduates comprised 24.5% of all office-based physicians. International medical graduates were more likely to be of Asian or Pacific Islander (31.6 % compared with 4.9 % of U.S. medical graduates) and Hispanic or Latino descent (6.7 % compared with 1.5 % of U.S. medical graduates).
3. International medical graduates were more likely to practice in primary care shortage areas outside of metropolitan statistical areas (67.8 %) than U.S. medical graduates (39.8%).