A recent report by Forbes said the Department of Labor’s inspector general has requested hiring data from Rochester General Hospital in western New York following viral, unverified claims that 80 of its 82 incoming medical residency positions were filled by foreign workers on visas.
Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito, who was appointed by President Donald Trump last year, asked Rochester Regional Health to “show us the numbers” and amplified a post from an anonymous X account claiming there was a disproportionate number of foreign hires.
D’Esposito asked the health system how many residency positions went to visa holders and how many went to American applicants. He also raised the possibility of “visa abuse” and said he would work with the White House fraud task force to “expose it.” He was responding to an initial viral post from the X account “Expose H1B Fraud,” an account focused on alleged H-1B abuse. The post claimed that 80 of the 82 incoming residents at Rochester General Hospital were foreign workers on H-1B or J-1 visas. It included a video showing photos of the incoming resident class.
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The 80-of-82 figure has not been independently verified. Publicly available residency information identifies the medical schools attended by residents but does not establish their visa or citizenship status.
Rochester Regional Health said it is “proud to recruit and train highly qualified physicians who meet the rigorous standards of our accredited graduate medical education programs.”
The Forbes report mentioned that the cohort of incoming residents graduated from medical schools in 22 different countries. The largest share, 20 students, graduated from medical school in India, followed by Pakistan with 12, Sudan with seven, the United Arab Emirates with four and Nepal with four. The two residents who graduated from medical schools in the U.S. both attended Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, about 200 miles from Rochester General Hospital.
New York state Sen. Jeremy Cooney pushed back against the criticism. “More than 240,000 internationally trained physicians care for families across the nation. Their role has never been more important amid a nationwide doctor shortage,” he said on X.
Health care advocates, including those affiliated with the Rochester medical community, have pointed out that safety-net systems such as Rochester General rely on international medical graduates because some domestic applicants do not apply for primary care and internal medicine positions in smaller or nonmetropolitan regions.
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Medical professionals have also noted that graduating from a foreign medical school does not automatically mean a doctor requires an H-1B or J-1 visa. Some international medical graduates are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and do not require employment visa sponsorship. The publicly available information on Rochester General’s incoming residents does not establish the immigration status of individual doctors.
Rochester Regional Health’s residency programs accept graduates of medical schools outside the U.S. and Canada, subject to requirements including certification by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. At least some of its residency programs also sponsor J-1 and H-1B visas.
About 25% of practicing physicians in the U.S. graduated from international medical schools, according to the American Medical Association, representing more than 240,000 active physicians.
The U.S. is also facing a significant physician shortage. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.Internationally trained physicians play a significant role in filling gaps in the U.S. health care workforce, particularly in specialties and regions that have difficulty attracting enough physicians. The Rochester controversy has renewed debate over residency recruitment, visa sponsorship and the role of international medical graduates in addressing the physician shortage.