I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3733 To address barriers immigrants and refugees face to entering the health care workforce, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 25, 2023 Mr. SMITH of Washington introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To address barriers immigrants and refugees face to entering the health care workforce, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Medical 4 Graduates Assistance Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3733.IH H3733 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3733 IH TITLE I—INCENTIVIZING STATES 1 TO ALLOW TRANSITIONAL 2 PRACTICE BY INTER- 3 NATIONAL MEDICAL GRAD- 4 UATES 5 SEC. 101. GRANTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 7 Human Services may award grants to States to develop 8 and implement programs to allow eligible international 9 medical graduates, for a period of up to 4 years while com- 10 pleting steps 1 and 2 of the United States Medical Licens- 11 ing Examination, to practice medicine in the respective 12 State under the supervision of a fully licensed physician. 13 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section: 14 (1) The term ‘‘eligible international medical 15 graduate’’ means an individual who— 16 (A) graduated from a school of medicine 17 outside of the United States or Canada; and 18 (B) is— 19 (i) lawfully admitted for permanent 20 residence; 21 (ii) admitted as a refugee under sec- 22 tion 207 of the Immigration and Nation- 23 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3733.IH H3733 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3733 IH (iii) granted asylum under section 208 1 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1158); or 2 (iv) a person otherwise authorized to 3 be employed in the United States. 4 (2) The term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of 5 Columbia and any territory of the United States. 6 SEC. 102. EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN ELIGIBLE INTER- 7 NATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES FROM AP- 8 PLICATION OF FTE CAP. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1886(h)(4)(H) of the So- 10 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4)(H)) is amend- 11 ed by adding at the end the following new clause: 12 ‘‘(vii) EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN FOR- 13 EIGN MEDICAL GRADUATES FROM COUNT- 14 ING TOWARDS CAP.— 15 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For purposes 16 of applying the limit described in sub- 17 paragraph (F), a specified resident 18 (as defined in subclause (II)) shall not 19 be taken into account in determining 20 the total number of full-time equiva- 21 lent residents before application of 22 weighting factors (as determined 23 under this paragraph) with respect to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3733.IH H3733 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3733 IH a hospital’s approved medical resi- 1 dency training program. 2 ‘‘(II) SPECIFIED RESIDENT DE- 3 FINED.—For purposes of subclause 4 (I), the term ‘specified resident’ 5 means an eligible international med- 6 ical graduate (as defined in section 7 101(b) of the Pathways to Health 8 Care Act of 2022) who is a resident 9 in a hospital’s approved medical resi- 10 dency training program, but only if 11 such hospital— 12 ‘‘(aa) has in effect an agree- 13 ment with a Federally qualified 14 health center under which resi- 15 dents training in such program 16 spend time training at such cen- 17 ter; 18 ‘‘(bb) is located in a State 19 that allows such eligible inter- 20 national medical graduates to 21 practice medicine as described in 22 section 101(a) of such Act; and 23 ‘‘(cc) predominantly serves 24 medically underserved popu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3733.IH H3733 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3733 IH lations (as defined in section 1 330(b)(3)(A) of the Public 2 Health Service Act), as deter- 3 mined by the Secretary.’’. 4 (b) STUDY ON REMOVAL OF RESIDENT CAP.—Not 5 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 6 this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 7 shall submit to Congress a report on the possibility of re- 8 moving the resident cap under section 1886(h)(4)(F) of 9 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4)(F)). 10 TITLE II—ASSISTING INTER- 11 NATIONAL MEDICAL GRAD- 12 UATES DURING PURSUIT OF 13 LICENSURE 14 SEC. 201. GRANTS. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 16 Human Services may award grants to States to provide 17 assistance to eligible international medical graduates while 18 such graduates are completing steps 1 and 2 of the United 19 States Medical Licensing Examination. 20 (b) COVERED ASSISTANCE.—Assistance provided to 21 an eligible international medical graduate pursuant to this 22 section may include paying the costs of the United States 23 Medical Licensing Examination, career counseling, case 24 management, classes in English as a second language, as- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3733.IH H3733 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3733 IH sistance in diploma verification, and test preparation 1 courses. 2 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the terms ‘‘eligible 3 international medical graduate’’ and ‘‘State’’ have the 4 meanings given to those terms in section 101. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3733.IH H3733 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB