What began as a way to determine if foreign doctors were bringing down the quality of American health care has found just the reverse: They actually do a slightly better job at keeping their patients alive.

That's according to a study by researchers at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health published Thursday in The BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal.

They found the difference in patient death rates within 30 days following hospitalization was small - 11.2 percent compared to 11.6 percent. But when that small gap is applied to hundreds of thousands of patients, it adds up.

For every 250 patients, one death would be prevented if the doctor treated the patient in the manner taught at medical schools outside the United States, said the study authors. 

Foreign-trained doctors now make up a quarter of physicians practicing in the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, according to the study.

To see what kind of a job they were doing, the researchers looked at the medical records of 1.2 million Medicare patients that were admitted to a hospital in 2011-14. In all, those patients were treated by roughly 44,000 internists.

The authors said they don't know what accounts for the difference. It might have little to do with the training doctors trained elsewhere receive. But it more likely has to do with the pool of doctors who decide they want to practice in the United States. Perhaps as a group, they are slightly better doctors than their countrymen and women who decide against emigrating. 

In short, it might not be the training that is better, but the person receiving the training.

The study comes out at a time when the medical community is trying to determine how President Donald Trump's new travel ban will affect the health care field.

For some medical students, the new regulations have thrown into turmoil their further studies, according to Kaiser Health News, which reported medical students from the seven countries with restricted travel don't know if they can risk traveling to accept a residency.

Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

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