The Department of Health and Human Services has a program to grant J-1 2 year home residency waivers for clinical care physicians. Under this program, the physician must be working in a Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (CHC), as designated by the government. Because of the current pandemic, however, and the great need for primary care physicians, HHS has decided to expand the pool of doctors eligible to apply for a waiver through HHS (this does NOT affect eligibility for such a waiver through a state HHS agency).
Under the revised rules, any facility, such as a hospital or private practice, can apply for an HHS waiver as long as they have an HSPA score of at least 7 and the physician will provide primary care treatment. HPSA scores are developed by the National Health Service Corps to determine the areas in most need of assigned physicians. The higher the score, the greater the need. Primary care and mental health clinicians are scored between 1-25. The waiver is not available for specialists but for extremely limited exceptions for those with a 1 year fellowship in a primary care field, such as geriatrics.
Those interested in the requirements for a clinical care waiver request, they can be found under the Supplement B section on the HHS website here. If you are interested in determining if you would qualify for such a waiver, or to get more information, you can also contact me at adam.frank@fdimmigration.com.
Please remember, as always, this blog does not offer legal advice. If you need legal advice, consult with a lawyer instead of a blog. Thank you.
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