Q. Can you provide me with information on physician placement services?

A. At one time, the AMA maintained a physician placement service but it was discontinued a number of years ago. There are reputable placement services for physicians in most large metropolitan areas which must be personally identified. The AMA does not endorse or sponsor any such placement services.

Q. How can I go about getting into research medicine?

A. If you intend not to be licensed to practice medicine in any state jurisdiction, ECFMG certification is unnecessary. You need to be in contact with a physician placement service in the location where you want to engage in this research or seek out opportunities in other ways.

Q. If there are cutbacks in residency slots in certain specialties, which ones will be affected most?

A. There is no way to adequately answer this question at the present time. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 capped residency slots as December 1996 levels and authorized the first of a series of reductions in the indirect medical education adjustment (IMEA). The latter change, which affects a significant funding stream for residency training, may force some hospitals to cut positions or merge programs. Other factors come into play, but an educated guess is that there will be at least some reductions in the resident population over the coming years.

Q. Can you provide me with those residency programs that are willing and interested in accepting IMGs?

A. The policy of the AMA is that residency selection should be on the basis of merit and not on where one received his medical education. This policy is regularly made known to program directors. However, the policy has no force with program directors and, regrettably, other criteria are often used. For some, it is a long and arduous task to be selected for a residency position, and there is little that the AMA can do to change this except to continue to announce its policy and urge fairness. Specifically to the question, we do not have the information on residency programs that is being requested.

Q. What services does the AMA provide through its IMG Services Unit and from the IMG Section?

A. It is very important to understand the way in which the AMA provides support to IMG issues, and to understand also that the AMA is unable to offer individualized assistance to IMGs or to any other group of physicians, for that matter. The AMAÆs primary function is to establish policy for all matters dealing with health care, through the mechanism of the House of Delegates, and to make certain that adopted policy carries into programs and legislative efforts. All issues are thoroughly debated in the House of Delegates which is why it is very important for IMGs to be represented, and be AMA members. Otherwise they have no input into AMA policy decisions. Beyond that, there are not adequate staff or resources for assistance to individuals. Additionally, Internal Revenue Service regulations prohibit the AMA from undertaking any activity that would inure to the benefit of an individual member. The answer to the question then is that the AMA is a democratic organization that creates and implements policy on all medical issues, both scientific and socio-economic; it does not provide specific services to individual members.

Q. Can you tell me those states that are favorable to IMGs?

A. There are a number of states with significant numbers of IMGs in practice. Generally, though, these are large states that have greater needs and opportunities. They are also states with medical societies that sponsor either an IMG Section or an IMG Committee. Beyond that, there is almost no way to determine those that are more favorable to IMGs. Some place artificial barriers in the way of licensure or make it more difficult for an IMG to obtain a license, but it is almost impossible to challenge these barriers because they apply to all. The AMA has advocated for many years that there be similar residency requirements for IMGs as for U.S. medical graduates and has model legislation to this effect that it regularly distributes, but progress has been slow to bring about change.

Q. Would you please send me all of the OB programs participating in the NRMP?

A. You should contact the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at 409 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024-2188, (202) 863-2525 or the Directory of Graduate Medical Education Programs, known as the Green Book, available from the AMA by calling 1-800-621-8335.

Q. Does the AMA have available the E-mail addresses of all residency program directors?

A. Yes, contact information for all residency programs is listed on the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access (FREIDA) Online on the AMA Web site http://www.ama-assn.org/cgi-bin/freida/freida.cgi