Residency directors tell JFAC: funded residencies expand Idaho’s physician pipeline; state share remains critical

Program directors and legislative analysts told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee that state support of graduate medical education remains vital to Idaho’s physician pipeline, and they asked the committee to continue stable funding as program expansion reaches maturity.

Kevin Campbell, a budget analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee that Idaho residency programs consistently spend their appropriations and that the state’s portion of a typical residency cost has enabled programs to exist. "During that time, the new doctor is treating patients under the supervision of one or more experienced supervising physician teachers," Campbell said while describing the residency phase that follows medical school.

Directors from several programs gave operational details and near‑term requests. Dr. Matt Larson, psychiatry program director at Eastern Idaho Medical Residency (EIMR) in Idaho Falls, explained that psychiatry training in his program is a four‑year residency and that EIMR requested a $240,000 ongoing increase to support four additional psychiatric residents (the packet listed the funding request as the third‑year funding step in a four‑year…