Congrats, now fix the rest of your problems
Tuesday, Mar 3, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This is classic Illinois. Create a new program without first fixing very serious problems with existing programs and then take years to implement the new program…
Today marks a major milestone for the Pritzker Administration as it continues its strong commitment to expanding and strengthening Illinois’ healthcare workforce.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) Division of Professional Regulation issued the very first license under a new pathway that will allow internationally trained physicians to provide care to the people of Illinois.
“Today marks the beginning of what we hope will become the standard among states in not only alleviating the strain being caused by healthcare staffing shortages but also lead to a greater appreciation of the tremendous contributions immigrants make every day to the state and the country,” said IDFPR Secretary Mario Treto, Jr.
As announced last September, the International Medical Graduate (IMG) licensure pathway gives trained, qualified, healthcare professionals the opportunity to practice medicine in Illinois under the supervision of a fully licensed physician at an approved institution for a period of two years.
Upon successful completion of the two-year supervised period, IMGs may then apply for an International Medical Graduate Restricted License, which will allow them more independence to practice within an area that has been designated to have a shortage of health professionals. IMGs are then eligible to apply for a full Illinois medical license after two years of practicing under the International Medical Graduate Restricted License.
That program was created four years ago.
I’m sure it will be a very good program if it actually operates as advertised.
It’s just that thousands more people have struggled mightily to obtain state licensure through IDFPR for years and only a handful of those bottlenecks have been resolved. Click here for some of our coverage.
And it’s not just IDFPR. Creating new programs is so much splashier and fun than making existing programs run the way they’re intended to.
- thisjustinagain - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 1:28 pm:
Classic Illinois, indeed, Rich. Wonder if the budget funded the IMG process the first three years, or it sat dormant until this fiscal year?
- 40,000 ft - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 1:36 pm:
You sure got that all correct.
- Archpundit - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 1:42 pm:
It’s a bit more complicated at the physician level from what I understand, but I’ve worked on a project below the doctor level and we were able to do it through credit for prior learning and additional coursework if necessary. Embedding the licensure process in your educational requirements makes this much easier.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 1:48 pm:
===so much splashier and fun than making existing programs run the way they’re intended to. ===
One also doesn’t have to develop expertise for those existing programs or rely on funding for program evaluation, redesign, or reimplementation. It takes funding to have the program. It takes funding to check if the program is working. It takes money to make a program work better.
Developing the splashy new program is so much easier and cheaper than fussing with the old to make it work better and now you’re stuck with agencies like DFPR that can’t address their structural problems with short cuts and a DHS that spent many a year ignoring what contributes to application errors and now it is a sudden crisis.
For decades we have stretched our public budgets by refusing to adequately fund the internal process that studies our bureaucracies and programs with the intent to make them better and better at meeting the stated goals of the programs.
===I’m sure it will be a very good program if it actually operates as advertised. ===
It’ll just be 6 to 12 months for them to get their licenses approved while their employers languish with unfilled positions, or worse, have to pay their salary while they’re not able to practice.
In Illinois we build stairs to a better future so that when we trip over our plans, we’re at least tripping up.
- Anyone Remember - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 2:46 pm:
“Creating new programs is so much splashier and fun than making existing programs run the way they’re intended to.”
My experience (Thompson to Rauner) is that the people who make “… existing programs run the way they’re intended to(.)” are the targets of the Rauners, Quinns, Filans, & Blago good idea fairies, and Thompson / Edgar / Ryan patronage apparatchiks. We told the truth, we predicted what’d fail, and we were correct. For that we were targets.
- Chrissie - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 3:14 pm:
File this one under “believe it when we see it.” This has been a problem for this agency for years, while other states have all figured it out. This is a prime example of government incompetence and hurts the reputation of our state government. I hope they finally fix it.
- Sir Reel - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 3:17 pm:
It’s just like capital projects. Always more fun to cut the ribbon on a new highway than to announce the repaving of an existing highway.
- Overbay - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 3:41 pm:
Licensing is a mess in Illinois. Has been for a long time under Treto’s leadership. But it’s not all on him. Procurement is also part of the problem and sets up failure. It needs a substantial update and no one is willing to take that on the General Assembly.
- Sledcom2.2 - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 3:48 pm:
Workforce shortages are real. Many of our downstate communities need physicians and it’s only going to get worse. Did IDPFR take too long to find the solution? Sure. But it’s hard to ignore the bigger picture here.
Creating an international physician license doesn’t seem like the “easier” or “fun” route. Anyone who drives 57 knows how long State projects take.
We should expect faster movement on the licensing but dismissing this as a distraction misses the broader policy concern. This is a meaningful step forward.
- JB13 - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 3:53 pm:
– Create a new program without first fixing very serious problems with existing programs and then take years to implement the new program –
Hey Siri, set a reminder to clip and paste this in five years when discussing Chicago transit reform
- Archpundit - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 4:46 pm:
I’m not defending IDPFR here at all, but Illinois is ahead of a lot of other states on this. That doesn’t mean IDPFR is doing well, it means the legislature did move on this particular issue and IDPFR didn’t screw it up and the medical associations went along.
A related issue is that doctors from some parts of the world may not qualify as a physician here but might as a Nurse Practitioner or Nurse. That can be handled in most states through Credit for Prior Learning and potentially some coursework if there isn’t a 100% match. Same with Nurse to Nurse. The public colleges and universities could drive a lot of this if you set up system to review background and skills (possible Illinois has done this, but I kind of doubt it) and then provide the documentation to the accreditors and licensing board.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Mar 3, 26 @ 6:07 pm:
===Anyone who drives 57 knows how long State projects take.===
You’re comparing printing licenses to building a gigantic miles long concrete structure outside in the middle of no where while people countinue to use that structure?
- Sledcom2.2 - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 7:44 am:
@Candy
Yes, I am. You haven’t stopped receiving essential services from the folks they license while this major system is being rebuilt. The simple point is, ma’am, large-scale state projects take time, and the international license bringing needed help to our communities shouldn’t be diminished.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Mar 4, 26 @ 8:40 am:
===Yes, I am.===
Then you’re silly. Apples and oranges. Candy Dogood is correct.