The Trump administration has reversed a travel ban related policy that had frozen visa extensions, work permits and permanent residency applications for doctors from 39 countries, allowing them to remain in the United States. The change, posted quietly online by the federal government, means applications for medical physicians will continue to be processed after hospitals placed some doctors on leave and others faced losing their jobs.

The decision comes as the United States confronts a shortage of about 65,000 physicians, a gap expected to grow as the population ages and more doctors retire. Foreign trained physicians make up one quarter of the nation’s doctors, with more than 60 percent working in primary care fields such as family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, often in underserved communities.

Medical organizations had warned that roughly 1,000 doctors finishing training this spring, along with hundreds more set to begin residencies in July, were at risk of losing placements. Advocacy groups and attorneys called the exemption a significant development for patient care, though some affected physicians are still awaiting formal notification about their visa status.