House approves bill to reshape medical education program
Proposal would cut 10 seats from WWAMI each year while adding seats to a new partnership
BOISE — A bill to reduce at least 10 seats from Idaho’s partnership with the University of Washington medical school and other Western states advanced out of the House on Thursday.
In a 46-21 vote, members approved House Bill 368, which would look to build up 30 seats with a new medical education partner as it reduces seats in WWAMI — which stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska and Idaho.
Bill sponsor Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, said the bill is meant to be a step toward Idaho addressing its severe doctor shortage; the state is ranked last in physicians per capita. He also expressed frustration with the program, which has been in place for more than 50 years.
“We have to do more to be able to be in control of admissions,” Manwaring said. “We also need to do better at having a say in the clinical process.”
The bill would require 10 seats a year to be increased at another medical school each year until they grow to 30. The legislation doesn’t name the new partner, but Manwaring in committee and on the floor Thursday named the University of Utah as a likely new partner, as well as potentially the private school Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. The State Board of Education would also be tasked with creating a plan for the future of medical education in Idaho.
University of Utah currently has 10 seats for Idaho students at its school of medicine.
The effort to pull back from WWAMI has spurred an outpouring of support for the program from graduates and clinical instructors, the Idaho Press previously reported.
The University of Idaho hosts Idaho’s WWAMI students for their first two years of classroom instruction. In January, UI signed an agreement with the University of Utah to grow the medical education partnership, amid apparent pressure from the Legislature and growing skepticism of WWAMI, Idaho Education News reported Thursday.
Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, said she was in support of HB 368 and that UI was in support. She also highlighted that there were other changes needed to address the shortage of health care professionals.
“The other thing I want to point out is that there are doctors that have been in Idaho that have left, so we have another big hurdle to get over in our medical world, and that is we need to work on our women’s health issues, because it’s all tied to this,” McCann said, in an apparent reference to Idaho’s felony abortion ban with criminal penalties for doctors who perform them.
McCann previously said she wants to add a health exception to the current ban at the request of doctors.
Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, also supported the bill.
“WWAMI was a good partner for a long time, and they still are, in some regards, but they have not been as cooperative as we have asked them to be around policy changes, around abortion funding and giving us more seats when we requested them.”
The Legislature had sought an amendment to the state’s contract with UW to stipulate that no Idaho funds may be used for abortion training for Idaho students. The agreement went unsigned for more than a year. Manwaring cited the unsigned agreement earlier this session when he proposed another bill, HB 176, that would have completely withdrawn Idaho from WWAMI; the University of Washington confirmed it signed the agreement shortly after the hearing on HB 176.
UW officials have also said they’ve struggled to add seats because of the difficulty in finding in-state sites for the added Idaho students to do their clinical rotations.
Multiple legislators spoke about their concern that cutting WWAMI seats was seemingly in conflict with the intended goal of adding doctors in Idaho, as well as over reducing seats in a program ahead of getting the report from the committee to be established under the bill that would make recommendations on medical education.
“My first concern is the jumping out of the WWAMI plane before we know the University of Utah parachute works,” Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, said.
Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Coeur d’Alene, also argued it could take years for the University of Utah to get the necessary approval from its accreditor to make the change, but the bill would require at least 10 WWAMI seats to be eliminated by the 2026-27 academic year.
“I think walking from the WWAMI program that has a great history of success, great return on investment, and a great number of doctors here in our state, that we’re talking away from a good thing and we do not have to leave that,” Sauter said.
Manwaring said that if the accreditor needs more time, then those 10 seats being pulled from WWAMI could go somewhere else or nowhere.
“We could say that those seats are seats that we purchase from (the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine), for example, or we could choose not to fund those if they’re not ready,” Manwaring said. “What’s the harm in that?”
The measure now heads to the Senate.
How they voted
Yes: Kyle Harris-R, Dale Hawkins-R, Lori McCann-R, Brandon Mitchell-R, Heather Scott-R, Charlie Shepherd-R
Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.
