Local lawmakers present plan to address Idaho’s doctor shortage

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Idaho would need to add an additional 1,400 medical professionals today just to catch up to the national average for the number of physicians per capita, an Idaho state legislator said while presenting a new report Thursday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. 

On Thursday, Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, and Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, told the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee about the shortage of doctors and presented recommendations from the state’s Undergraduate Medical Education Plan Working Group. 

Overall, Manwaring called for state legislators to support and expand the state’s medical education program and seats, arguing that future medical professionals who train in Idaho will be more likely to practice medicine in Idaho. 

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“We can’t go backwards,” Manwaring told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

Recommendations from the report include:

• Idaho must maintain undergraduate medical education capacity, both through the Idaho WWAMI program partnership with the University of Washington, as well as with the University of Utah.
• Grow new undergraduate medical education capacity through University of Utah and Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine.
• Increase graduate medical education capacity, particularly for rural Idaho.
• Support a new office at the Idaho State Board of Education to coordinate and expand clinical placements and preceptors.

Manwaring estimated it would cost $350,000 to $485,000 this year to expand undergraduate medical education by 10 seats. He said it could also cost another $350,000 for the new office to coordinate clinical placements. 

Rep. Rod Furniss, R-Rigby, asked about funding additional incentives, such as repayment of medical school debt. Last year, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee zeroed out a request from Gov. Brad Little to expand the Rural Physician Incentive Program, which provides $25,000 a year to help physicians who are practicing in areas facing health care shortages repay their medical school debt.

“Again, it’s about what are we willing to pay for?” Manwaring said. “Those incentives do work but we have to pick and choose and prioritize how much we can incentivize and how much we do it. But there is no question that works.”

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This year every dollar of state funding is going to be tight. Idaho’s state budget is projected to run a deficit in the current fiscal year 2026 and next year in 2027. But Little and state legislators have vowed to cut spending during this legislative session to avoid a budget deficit. The Idaho Constitution requires the state to pass a balanced budget where expenses do not exceed revenue.

Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.

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