Residency directors urge continued state support as Idaho expands graduate medical education

Legislative analysts and program directors told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Monday that continued state funding for graduate medical education is crucial to expanding the physician pipeline in Idaho, increasing the number of residency slots and helping retain clinicians in the state after training.

Kevin Campbell, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, said the state’s residency programs play a key role in producing clinicians who remain in Idaho. “The American Medical Association noted in 2022 that 55 percent of graduates of Idaho residencies and fellowships stay in Idaho,” Campbell said. He added that many programs consistently spend their appropriations in full to pay training costs and trustee payments to sponsoring hospitals.

Program directors described high demand and cited retention and service benefits. Doctor Matt Larson, psychiatry program director in Idaho Falls, said psychiatry positions are heavily oversubscribed and that residents provide daily clinical care while training. “It takes 3 and a half months to get into me,”…