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Idaho ranks 50th in physicians per capita and 44th in primary care access. So what’s the real plan to fix it?

In this episode, I sit down with Representative Dustin Manwaring to break down Idaho’s Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) strategy, the proposed 36-month rollout, and how it intersects with the $1 billion Rural Health Transformation Grant.

We talk through the core problem the working group set out to solve and what “Train Here, Stay Here, Grow Here” actually means in practice and how it connects with workforce pipelines, residency expansion, and long-term retention?

We also dig into the definition of “rural.” Critical access hospitals? Small towns near metro hubs? Urban hospitals that support rural areas? How the taskforce defines rural will shape who benefits and how federal dollars are distributed.

Plus:

• How the UME plan intersects with the $1B rural investment
• What legislators are watching to ensure accountability
• Whether Idaho’s low resident-to-medical-student ratio limits retention
• The future of WWAMI and how new legislation could shift seat allocations
• Whether Idaho eventually needs its own full medical school

If this plan works, what will Idaho’s physician landscape look like 10 years from now?

This is a forward-looking conversation about workforce, access, and how policy decisions today shape healthcare for the next generation.

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