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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   27855 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 18, 2024

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I would love to know why you don't think it wouldn't help with the shortage. I figure that, having a shortage of doctors willing to work in VA, combined with doctors from other countries who are willing to work at VA because it will gain them the higher US pay + a path to US citizenship, would indeed alleviate shortage of doctors at VA. However, I am not a medical doctor, so what am I missing?

However, I am not a medical doctor, so what am I missing?

Coming in way too hot.

The VA has had hiring freezes for the last two years, to my understanding. So no traditional shortage there.

Hiring extra VA physicians does nothing for the general problems we have in any case (which isn't a traditional shortage).

VA had a hiring spree last year, in large part because of the expanding benefits from the PACT Act.

Your impression of a hiring freeze remains partly correct, because VA has budget shortfalls and plans to lay off staff:

More recently, though, the VA told Congress it now expects to have about 5,000 more employees in VHA next year compared to this year. That's created a new problem, as the VA is warning it is facing a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.

I suspect that VA tends to paint a bleak picture to Congress as a standard operating procedure, in hopes of getting more funding. Though my nephew assures me from his VA experience that more funding would not go amiss.

So back to my off-the-cuff idea of importing doctors: my point is that any VA hospital that finds it challenging to attract a decent US doctor ought to be able to do what the private sector does. Right now, the VA follows AMA's standards, which require any non-US-trained doctor to do 3+ years of residency (plus other things) before they can practice medicine in US. Residency slots are, apparently, the bottleneck for US doctor supply in the first place.

My question is: just how crucial is it for someone already practicing as a doctor in a French or German hospital to do 3+ years of residency in US?

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