Section 2111 Appointment

General Information

The 2111 Appointment is for a foreign medical school graduate who has an appointment with the DGSOM. The regulations require the physician to have 3 years of postgraduate basic residency training and be board-eligible, board-certified or equivalent in their basic discipline prior to requesting a Section 2111 appointment. The physician must be in the U.S. in the appropriate visa status. The 2111 appointment is only for incidental patient care activities, defined as 20% or less time.

Length of Eligibility

Section 2111 appointments may be renewed annually for up to 3 years.

Terminology

The international physician shall be known as "Section 2111 visiting fellow".

Activities

The Section 2111 visiting fellow may participate in the professional activities of the inviting department.

Limitations to Activities

The Section 2111 visiting fellow may NOT write prescriptions, bill patients for services, independently sign patient charts, serve as a primary care physician, or present him or herself as having a license to practice medicine in California.

Postgraduate training received under the Section 2111 may not be used to meet California medical licensing requirements. Professional activity is limited to the DGSOM’s affiliated hospitals, medical centers, and clinics.

All J-1 researchers sponsored by UCLA cannot scrub in the Operating Room or assist in any capacity in surgeries unless they are directly supervised by their faculty supervisor.

Sponsorship/Supervision

The 2111 visiting fellow must be sponsored and directly supervised by an active DGSOM faculty member, who has valid California medical licenses. The DGSOM department chair must approve the sponsorship/supervision. The DGSOM faculty supervisor may not be on a J-1 visa. If the DGSOM faculty supervisor is practicing medicine under a Certificate of Registration, he or she may not supervise a physician who is in the UCLA J-1 program.

Please note that there may be federal regulations that place additional restrictions on foreign-educated physicians. For example, foreign nationals who enter the U.S. under the visa waiver program, B-1 business, or B-2 tourist non-immigrant visas are not eligible to participate in Section 2111 clinical activity. UCLA-sponsored J-1 visa holders must be involved in research or teaching activity. Their clinical activity must be "incidental" to their research and teaching activity.

2111 Key Issues for Medical Board

Please be aware that J-1 research visas will further restrict the 2111 appointment.

Appointments

• Are not allowed to do any clinical/patient care until an appointment from the School and approval by the Medical Board are received.
• Each appointee has a specific mentor and one or more supervisors.
• The Medical Board prefers to call the trainees "Visiting Fellows" to provide clarity around supervision and to patients.

Teaching

• May teach in research areas
• May teach in a clinical setting but no action may be taken without the attending/supervisors’ input and decision.

Patient Care

• No patient care may occur prior to receiving Board approval.
• The only amount of clinical activity and at Medical Center(s) in the original letter of request may be done.
• All clinical activity must be supervised. The level of supervision is dependent on the clinic's circumstance and level of potential risk, e.g. 1)Anesthesia - must have an attending present at ALL times. 2) Outpatient follow-up - can review with the attending after the patient is seen by the Visiting Fellow but before any decisions are made or the patient is released.
• NO night call.
• The supervisor may be any faculty member who has a current unrestricted license.
• Visiting fellow may write notes, order, or prescriptions BUT must be reviewed, approved, and cosigned by the supervisor before any action occurs.
• May only do procedures under the direct supervision and if this was part of the "training" requested in the original letter.

Supervision

• Must be performed by faculty with a valid California medical license.
• Must be on-site and in-room (see above).
• All documentation of clinical activities must be cosigned.
• Supervision is most closely aligned to that of a third or fourth-year medical student, not at the level of an intern, fellow, or instructor (regardless of title and education in home country).
• Need to have a level of supervision of 1:1 (student/faculty) and the supervisor must have adequate availability and time for review.

Medical Staff

• Are NOT members of any Medical Staff.
• Cannot obtain medical privileges.
• Cannot work independently or suggest they are independent.
• May NOT directly bill or have their "services" billed for.

Credit

• May receive a Non-University certificate for a "special program".
• No credit for Licensure, Boards or ACGME residency.

Future Plans

• 2111's must be renewed yearly.
• Maximum of 3 years

Overall

Special program applications will no longer be presented at the Medical Board meetings. Please allow 60-90 day processing time at the Medical Board.
 
Appointments are only made after a review of the individual's credentials.