An Open Letter to

President-Elect Biden U.S. Health Care Hangs in the Balance

As the clock ticks on the current administration, a rule change to nonimmigrant visas proposed recently by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement threatens our country's ability to deliver health care during the worsening pandemic. The change will lead to thousands of physicians in J-1 visa status becoming unable to continue their medical training and patient care. We ask you and your transition team to keep a watchful eye over the next 10 weeks. If the rule change is pushed through during this period, your administration should strike it down on January 20.

Right now, more than 12,000 physicians train in J-1 visa status at more than 750 teaching hospitals across the nation like St. Francis Healthcare, Christiana Care, and Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. These highly qualified physicians provide critical health care services for patients, and our country needs them more than ever as we face the escalating health care crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing national physician shortage. The patients most impacted will be those in rural areas and those living in critical access points in large cities.

The current system works well and guarantees oversight and monitoring of all J-1 physicians in the United States. Leading organizations in medical education and health care agree that the proposed change will provide no added benefit for monitoring these physicians. They also agree that the rule

change will have a devastating impact on patient care.

Much hangs in the balance-our ability to provide accessible health care for Americans, our success in recovering from the current health care crisis, and the long-term quality and sufficiency of our physician workforce. In the interest of our nation's already overburdened health care system and the lives of the patients it serves, we ask for your commitment to uphold the "duration of status" provision and stem the tide ofuninformed decision making that will continue to create chaos in our country and cost even more

American lives.

Respectfully,

William W. Pinsky, MD President & CEO, Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates\ Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research

president@ecfmg.org

ECFMG® FAIMER®

. "This will have an incalculable negative effect on patient care ... and create chaos at U.S. teaching hospitals.''

- Joint objection letter submitted October 26, 2020 by

. ECFMG IFAIMER American Board of M~dical Spe_cialties • Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Ed f

A . _American ~osp1tal Association• American Medical Association uca ion

ssoc1at1on of American Medical Colleges• National Resident Matching Program