Many developed countries are net recipients of skilled health professionals from developing countries. Potentially these movements provide major economic benefits to developed countries. The distribution of any benefits and any associated health and social costs, however, need investigation that is more systematic and thorough than has been documented thus far, especially the consequences to net donor countries. This article proposes a model that could be adopted to examine systematically the impact of the international movement of health workers upon the health of populations (and health related institutions) affected by these movements.