Need for doctors in rural areas deepens

Few J-1 visa waivers are being issued via the Dept. of Health and Human Services, leaving many clinics with vacancies.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. July 26, 2004.

Medically underserved areas in Texas would have a lot more physicians if the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture were still sponsoring J-1 visa waivers, according to Dave Pearson, spokesman for the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals.

"If not for the state Conrad 30 program, we wouldn't have any J-1 placements in the state," Pearson said.

Texas used to get about 100 doctors a year through the USDA. Now it's only able to get 30 physicians a year, and that's through the state Conrad program, a device authorized by Congress that allows participating states to sponsor up to 30 J-1 visa waivers a year.

"We certainly have felt the impact of losing the USDA program," said Connie Berry, manager of the Texas Dept. of Health Primary Care Office.

The pinch Texas is feeling also is being experienced in underserved areas, both rural and urban, across the nation, experts said.

In February 2002, the USDA opted to stop sponsoring waivers because of security concerns following Sept. 11, 2001. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services volunteered to take over the program, but it has not approved nearly the number of applications that the USDA approved.

From 1994 through 2001, the USDA approved more than 3,000 applications. From June to September 2002, HHS processed 43 applications. It then closed the program for evaluation and reopened it in December 2003 with new requirements. Since that time only 10 physicians have been granted waivers.

Alan Morgan, vice president of government affairs for the National Rural Health Assn., said the change under HHS has been dramatic.