ACR Voices Support for Conrad 30 Program

The American College of Radiology® (ACR®), along with 45 other healthcare organizations, voiced support this week for bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress to reauthorize Conrad 30, a program that enables international medical graduates to immediately practice in the U.S. following completion of residency and foregoes visa requirements that would force them to return to their home country for at least two years. Support was communicated in separate letters to bill sponsors in the U.S. House and Senate thanking them for their leadership and advancing one policy solution aimed at addressing the ongoing physician shortage.

Created in 1994, the Conrad 30 program gives states the ability to waive the “return to home country requirement,” if the physicians agree to practice in a medically underserved area for at least three years. The reauthorization legislation — the Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act (H.R.1585 / S. 709) — would extend the program for three years and create a process to gradually increase the total number of waivers beyond 30 per state. 

For more information or if you have questions, contact Ashley Walton, ACR Government Affairs Director.