ABOUT STATE IMPACT

This article was produced by StateImpact Idaho, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio (KBSX News 91.5) and NPR. StateImpact Idaho reporters Molly Messick and Emilie Ritter Saunders travel the state to explain how economic issues affect you. Visit stateimpact.npr.org/idaho.

COMPARING DOCTOR SHORTAGES IN SMALL STATES

Among states with fewer than 2 million people, Idaho has the fewest number of doctors per capita.

Idaho is facing a shortage of physicians of all types, particularly general practitioners, and the state isn’t alone. Idaho has fewer doctors per capita than every state in the U.S. except Mississippi.

Idaho doesn’t have its own medical school. Instead, it offers 28 seats per year for the cost of in-state tuition at the University of Washington and the University of Utah medical schools. Dr. Ted Epperly, CEO of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho, says Idaho must train more students in medicine, though not necessarily through an in-state medical school.

Nebraska shows that a state’s medical schools do not guarantee more doctors in the state. Nebraska has two medical schools, at Creighton University and the University of Nebraska, yet it’s ranked 34th in the country in the number of physicians per capita. Nebraska has 219 doctors for every 100,000 people. Idaho has 184.

At the other end of the spectrum, Delaware doesn’t have its own med school, yet it’s ranked 14th in the nation for physicians per 100,000 people.

Access to medical school in states with fewer than 2 million people:

State • Medical Schools • Physicians sper 100,000 people

Idaho • 0 • 184

Wyoming* • 0 • 193

South Dakota • 1 • 216

Nebraska • 2 • 219

Montana* • 0 • 227

North Dakota • 1 • 238

Alaska* • 0 • 242

West Virginia • 3 • 245

Delaware • 0 • 268

New Hampshire • 1 • 292

Hawaii • 1 • 305

Maine • 1 • 307

Vermont • 1 • 322

Rhode Island • 1 •332

*States that pay to help educate students at the University of Washington medical school through the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) program.

Source: Idaho Board of Education Report, Association of American Medical Colleges