Idaho’s medical doctor training program is in jeopardy under a bill on its way to the House floor.
House Bill 176 from Rep. Dustin Manwaring (R-Pocatello) would sever ties with the University of Washington and the WWAMI program beginning in 2027.
Instead, he told the House Education Committee Friday that the University of Utah and other medical schools like the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine could take up the slack.
Manwaring acknowledged Idaho ranks last in the country in doctors per-capita.
“We have to address this issue in Idaho and we have to find new relationships that work for us and we have to keep and retain more doctors in the state of Idaho – 70% is not good enough,” he said.
Right now, Idaho funds 40 spots for medical students in WWAMI, which allows students to take the first two years of their medical instruction in their home states. The third and fourth years focus on clinical work at doctors offices and other health care facilities across the program’s partner states.
State lawmakers asked WWAMI in 2023 to add five more student slots beginning this year – something that hasn’t come to fruition.
“[WWAMI] has been a program partner that has been unwilling and unable to expand capacity,” Manwaring said.
University of Utah Medical School reserves 10 spots for Idaho students currently, though any expansion of capacity as envisioned in this bill would require approval from the Utah state legislature.
“I’m getting indications that a lot of our stakeholders here in Utah are very much on-board with this plan,” said Dr. Benjamin Chan, the university’s associate dean of admissions for Idaho residents.
Manwaring also said UW has yet to sign an agreement that taxpayer money won’t pay for abortion-related education. WWAMI representatives repeatedly assured him those funds are separate and that the agreement is on the university president’s desk.
Several on the committee, like Rep. Dan Garner (R-Clifton), said this approach is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
“To all of a sudden stop a program that is working and then go to another program that might work in the future scares me to death,” Garner said.
Most of those who testified, who said they were WWAMI participants, faculty or advisors, urged the committee to kill the bill. They warned it would exacerbate Idaho’s doctor shortage instead of helping solve it.
“To break ties with the University of Washington would be a devastating decision at this point in time,” said Meagan Boll, a WWAMI graduate completing her medical residency in Boise.
The House Education Committee rejected motions to hold the bill for five days or kill it outright. It now goes to the House floor.
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