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Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries

BACKGROUND: In the face of rising demand for medical services due to ageing populations, physician migration flows are increasingly affecting the supply of physicians in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD) countries. This paper offers an integrated perspective on the impact...

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Autores principales: Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa, Simoens, Steven, Giuffrida, Antonio
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2004
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC493284/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15257752
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-2-12
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author Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa
Simoens, Steven
Giuffrida, Antonio
author_facet Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa
Simoens, Steven
Giuffrida, Antonio
author_sort Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In the face of rising demand for medical services due to ageing populations, physician migration flows are increasingly affecting the supply of physicians in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD) countries. This paper offers an integrated perspective on the impact of physician migration on home and host countries and discusses international regulation and policy approaches governing physician migration. METHODS: Information about migration flows, international regulation and policies governing physician migration were derived from two questionnaires sent to OECD countries, a secondary analysis of EUROSTAT Labour Force Surveys, a literature review and official policy documents of OECD countries. RESULTS: OECD countries increasingly perceive immigration of foreign physicians as a way of sustaining their physician workforce. As a result, countries have entered into international agreements regulating physician migration, although their success has been limited due to the imposition of licensing requirements and the protection of vested interests by domestic physicians. OECD countries have therefore adopted specific policies designed to stimulate the immigration of foreign physicians, whilst minimising its negative impact on the home country. Measures promoting immigration have included international recruitment campaigns, less strict immigration requirements and arrangements that foster shared learning between health care systems. Policies restricting the societal costs of physician emigration from developing countries such as good practice guidelines and taxes on host countries have not yet produced their expected effect or in some cases have not been established at all. CONCLUSIONS: Although OECD countries generally favour long-term policies of national self-sufficiency to sustain their physician workforce, such policies usually co-exist with short-term or medium-term policies to attract foreign physicians. As this is likely to continue, there is a need to create a global framework that enforces physician migration policies that confer benefits on home and host countries. In the long term, OECD countries need to put in place appropriate education and training policies rather than rely on physician migration to address their future needs.
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spelling pubmed-4932842004-07-30 Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa Simoens, Steven Giuffrida, Antonio Hum Resour Health Research BACKGROUND: In the face of rising demand for medical services due to ageing populations, physician migration flows are increasingly affecting the supply of physicians in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD) countries. This paper offers an integrated perspective on the impact of physician migration on home and host countries and discusses international regulation and policy approaches governing physician migration. METHODS: Information about migration flows, international regulation and policies governing physician migration were derived from two questionnaires sent to OECD countries, a secondary analysis of EUROSTAT Labour Force Surveys, a literature review and official policy documents of OECD countries. RESULTS: OECD countries increasingly perceive immigration of foreign physicians as a way of sustaining their physician workforce. As a result, countries have entered into international agreements regulating physician migration, although their success has been limited due to the imposition of licensing requirements and the protection of vested interests by domestic physicians. OECD countries have therefore adopted specific policies designed to stimulate the immigration of foreign physicians, whilst minimising its negative impact on the home country. Measures promoting immigration have included international recruitment campaigns, less strict immigration requirements and arrangements that foster shared learning between health care systems. Policies restricting the societal costs of physician emigration from developing countries such as good practice guidelines and taxes on host countries have not yet produced their expected effect or in some cases have not been established at all. CONCLUSIONS: Although OECD countries generally favour long-term policies of national self-sufficiency to sustain their physician workforce, such policies usually co-exist with short-term or medium-term policies to attract foreign physicians. As this is likely to continue, there is a need to create a global framework that enforces physician migration policies that confer benefits on home and host countries. In the long term, OECD countries need to put in place appropriate education and training policies rather than rely on physician migration to address their future needs. BioMed Central 2004-07-16 /pmc/articles/PMC493284/ /pubmed/15257752 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-2-12 Text en Copyright © 2004 Forcier et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
spellingShingle Research
Forcier, Mélanie Bourassa
Simoens, Steven
Giuffrida, Antonio
Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries
title Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries
title_full Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries
title_fullStr Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries
title_full_unstemmed Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries
title_short Impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in OECD countries
title_sort impact, regulation and health policy implications of physician migration in oecd countries
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC493284/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15257752
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-2-12
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