Why 100s of Idaho doctors ask lawmakers to vote no on ‘premature’ medical-education bill
Several hundred physicians in Idaho have signed a letter asking state legislators to vote against a bill that would discontinue Idaho’s partnership with one of the top medical education programs in the country.
House Bill 176, advanced by the House Education Committee on Friday, would phase out the University of Idaho’s participation in WWAMI, the University of Washington’s multistate medical education program, named for its member states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. The bill would instead direct the Idaho State Board of Education to partner with two other medical schools in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming or Montana by 2027-28, Idaho Education News reported.
The decades-old program reserves a few dozen undergraduate medical education slots for Idaho students, and the state subsidizes part of the cost of tuition and fees for each student admitted to the program.
The Idaho Academy of Family Physicians said in a news release Wednesday that the bill would create “dire disruptions” in Idaho’s physician workforce pipeline and further cement the state’s dismal physician to population ratio.
Idaho ranks at the bottom of all 50 states for its supply of doctors per capita, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. In 2022, the latest year for which data is available, there were an estimated 3,723 physicians practicing in Idaho. Of those, nearly 20% were above retirement age.
The state is projected to be short 1,743 doctors by 2030, according to a study published in Human Resources for Health that forecast nationwide physician shortages.
The news release said that of the 747 Idaho graduates of the program, 367, or 51%, have returned to the state to practice.
“If there is an interruption to this program and a disruption of that medical education pipeline, there will be severe downstream impacts including less access to physicians and quality care for patients throughout Idaho, especially in rural areas,” said Liz Woodruff, executive director of the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians.
Woodruff told the Idaho Statesman that it would be a mistake to end the WWAMI partnership without a plan to replace it.
“This bill is very premature and needs to be delayed,” Woodruff said by phone. “There is no plan in place. There is no contract signed. There is no agreement on that.”
Rep. Dustin Manwaring, a Pocatello Republican and co-sponsor of the bill, proposed at a Feb. 7 hearing that Idaho enter new medical education partnerships with other universities, such as the University of Utah. The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine and Brigham Young University were also contenders, Idaho Education News reported.
Woodruff said it would costly and time-consuming to transition the program to another school, because each medical education program operates differently.
“I find it really hard to understand why our lawmakers would want to eliminate an enormous asset to the state that gives Idaho kids an opportunity to go to a premier medical school in the country with guaranteed seats,” she said. “The only explanation I can think of is that this has to do with politics, and we really shouldn’t be playing politics with the future of medical education and the primary care workforce in Idaho.”
Manwaring had complained that the University of Washington School of Medicine hadn’t signed an agreement saying it won’t spend Idaho money on abortion care or training. Idaho law says state funds may not be used to perform or promote abortion, provide counseling in favor of abortion, make a referral for an abortion, provide facilities for an abortion, or provide training to perform abortions.
“If they want to be a good partner, then show us you’re a good partner and sign that request,” Manwaring said. “Show us that you’ll respect Idaho values.”
The school signed an affidavit dated Feb. 14, which Woodruff shared with the Statesman, that said no funds provided by the state of Idaho are used by the University of Washington for abortions or abortion-related activities, and pointed to a audit report available online.
The school said in the affidavit that it looks forward to continuing the partnership.
“To hastily end that program and just try to transplant it somewhere else, it logistically won’t work, and it will actually set us back,” Woodruff said.
