Lara Ramps Up Efforts to Remove Obstacles Preventing Foreign Trained Healthcare Providers From Practicing in Michigan

By: Jesse Adam Markos, Esq.
Wachler & Associates, P.C
2/2/2024

Michigan is currently facing a shortage of healthcare providers that has escalated to unprecedented levels. In response, Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (“LARA”) has taken steps to enhance efforts to recruit and retain providers. One such step is the formation of a task force to identify obstacles that prevent Foreign Trained Medical Professionals (“FTMPs”) from practicing in Michigan and to create recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the licensing process. The resulting Michigan Task Force on Foreign Trained Medical Professional Licensing (“Task Force”) has done just that in its recently released Final Report.

As background, the Task Force was created pursuant to Public Act 166 of 2022, and representatives from state government, higher education, hospitals, and other professional associations were invited to meet with LARA to help identify the issues confronting FTMPs. Michigan is following in the footsteps of a number of states that have been actively turning to FTMPs, who were trained in other countries and have the experience and skills necessary to deliver healthcare services, to address provider shortages.

LARA believes that there are approximately 6,000 FTMPs in Michigan with sufficient training and degrees, who are ready and able to help alleviate the provider shortage, but who are nonetheless unemployed or underemployed. And, since LARA estimates that most primary care physicians can treat up to 2,500 patients, each one of these FTMPs has the potential to make a substantial impact with regard to access to care, especially in Michigan’s most underserved communities.

The Task Force focused on the often confusing and costly licensing process that providers trained outside of the U.S. face in Michigan. This process often serves as a barrier to entry or creates undue delay during which sufficiently trained, educated, and experienced FTMPs are forced into lower-level jobs. The Final Report provides a number of proposals to reduce licensure barriers and help ensure that qualified providers have the ability to practice at a level commensurate to their training.

The highlights of the Final Report include the proposed development of new transitional licensure pathways for FTMPS that would allow applicants to begin practicing under appropriate supervision while preparing to meet the technical requirements for full licensure. It also includes a recommendation to rescind the currently existing English language proficiency requirements for applicants in order to increase the number of providers available to treat underserved, non-English speaking patients. Also of note is the recommendation to update LARA’s online resources to include licensure guides in multiple languages, as well as to establish a full-time employee position within LARA specializing in providing direct assistance to FTMP applicants.

It is incumbent upon LARA to help ensure that Michigan, with its aging population, is in a position to attract and retain a sufficient number of healthcare providers to appropriately address its needs. And FTMPs can play a key role in doing so. For additional information or assistance regarding licensing or any other healthcare related issue, please contact Jesse Adam Markos of Wachler & Associates, P.C., at (248) 544-0888.