Labor Department Presses Rochester Regional on Visa Residents

Rochester (N.Y.) Regional Health is responding to scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Labor's inspector general over its hiring of foreign-trained resident physicians. In a Sept. 27 post on X, Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito asked the system how many residency slots at Rochester General Hospital went to H-1B and J-1 visa holders, and whether American applicants were passed over in the process, according to Becker's Hospital Review.

The questions land on a workforce that many U.S. teaching hospitals lean on heavily. International medical graduates fill a large share of residency positions, particularly in primary care and in rural and underserved communities where American graduates are harder to recruit. H-1B and J-1 visas are the main pathways that let these physicians train and practice in the country.

For hospital leaders, the inquiry is a signal that federal agencies are scrutinizing how visa-sponsored roles are filled. Systems that rely on international recruits should expect closer questions about hiring decisions, documentation, and whether qualified domestic candidates were considered.