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Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine outlines workforce gains, urges focus on prevention and retention
Summary
Dr. Tracy Farnsworth, president of the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee that ICOM has grown enrollment and graduate placement, outlined partnerships with Idaho State University, and urged legislative attention to prevention and the aging population as Idaho faces a physician shortage.
Dr. Tracy Farnsworth, president of the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, told the Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee that the medical school has expanded enrollment and is beginning to return graduates to Idaho as the state addresses a longstanding physician shortage.
Farnsworth said Idaho ranks near the bottom nationally in physicians per capita and in resident physicians per capita, with an aging physician workforce and rapid population growth increasing strain on access to care. “You would have to bring in roughly 1,400 additional physicians into this state just to be at the national average of physicians per capita,” Farnsworth said, describing workforce gaps and noting roughly one-third of Idaho physicians are over age 60.
Farnsworth updated the committee on ICOM’s development: the school matriculated its first class in 2018, the accrediting body recently authorized an increase in class size from 150 to 220 students per year, and the college has graduated roughly 450 physicians with more than 99.5% of those graduates placed into residency programs. She said approximately one quarter of the school’s students are Idaho residents and that about 230 alumni are from Idaho.
The president described ICOM’s close partnership with Idaho State University on the Meridian health sciences campus, shared facilities (including anatomy and simulation labs), interprofessional education with nursing and pharmacy students, and a newly announced research collaboration that allows dual appointments and affiliate faculty roles between the two institutions. Farnsworth said the school is pursuing institutional accreditation to offer additional academic degrees that complement the osteopathic degree.
Farnsworth also said the college is privately owned in part by Rice University and that Rice is considering stepping away from ownership in the coming months; she said the college is preparing for that transition and welcomed questions.
Student doctors Annie Hoffman and Joshua Morcom briefly described why they chose ICOM — Hoffman cited local community ties after attending Boise State, and Morcom described family and regional ties, including a father who worked for federal land-management agencies. Hoffman and Morcom also highlighted hands-on training opportunities and a culinary medicine course taught by Dr. Sarah Brandecker and Dr. Gary Brandecker that focuses on diet and prevention.
Senators thanked the visitors for campus tours and said they plan to continue engagement with the medical school. Farnsworth closed by thanking the legislature for its support and reiterating the college’s emphasis on growing Idaho’s physician workforce and preparing providers for primary care and elder-care needs.
