T h e I d a h o P h y s i c i a n W e l l - B e i n g A c t i o n
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D e b R o m a n c o - c h a i r t h e I d a h o P h y s i c i a n W e l l -
B e i n g A c t i o n C o l l a b o r a t i v e
W e h a v e c u l t i v a t e d a s t r o n g n e t w o r k o f h e a l t h c a r e
p r o f e s s i o n a l s w h o o p e n l y s h a r e i d e a s , i n s i g h t s ,
a n d e x p e r i e n c e s a n d a r e c o m m i t t e d t o d o i n g t h i s
w o r k t o g e t h e r . O u r “ r o u n d t a b l e i s n o w v i e w e d a s
a p l a c e w h e r e p e o p l e w i t h d i f f e r e n t p e r s p e c t i v e s
a n d e x p e r i e n c e s c a n c o m e t o g e t h e r t o a c t i v e l y
a n d e f f e c t i v e l y a d d r e s s c o m p l e x s y s t e m - l e v e l
h e a l t h c a r e i s s u e s
P a r t i c i p a n t s i n c l u d e r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m o u r f i v e
m a j o r i n s u r a n c e p a y e r s , t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f
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C o u n t y M e d i c a l S o c i e t y , t h e I d a h o M e d i c a l
A s s o c i a t i o n , t h e I d a h o A c a d e m y o f F a m i l y
P h y s i c i a n s , t h e I d a h o R e t a i l e r s A s s o c i a t i o n , t h e
I d a h o S t a t e P h a r m a c y A s s o c i a t i o n , t h e I d a h o D a t a
E x c h a n g e , a s w e l l a s i n d e p e n d e n t p h y s i c i a n s ,
p h a r m a c i s t s , a n d i n d u s t r y c o n s u l t a n t s
THERE IS A STRAIN BEING PLACED ON MEDICAL PROVIDERS IN IDAHO
Obstetricians leaving
Idaho in 15 months, from August 2022November 2023
The net supply of obstetricians practicing obstetrics in Idaho went down between 40 and 60 doctors in the 15-month period between August 2022 and November 2023, from 268 to about 210 providers for ~962,000 Idaho women 1
Two hospital OB programs closed in that time period; another will close its obstetrician program by April 1, 2024 (West Valley Medical Center) due to the inability to recruit obstetricians.
At least one more OB hospital program is in serious jeopardy of closing
22%
Idaho has lost 22% of its practicing obstetricians in the 15 months since the abortion bans went into place.
Nearly 85% of OB/GYN providers practice in the 7 most populous counties.
This number decreased from 227 in 2022 to about 176 in 2023, a loss of nearly 50 providers.
There are now only 210 obstetrician providers in the state of Idaho and probably less than that number in Full Time Equivalent (FTE) workers as not all practice full-time
HRSA projected in 2018 there was a need for 250 full-time obstetricians in Idaho, growing 10% over the decade as the population grows to 275 in 2028
58% of OB/GYN’s report being burned out
Only 22 of 44 Idaho counties have access to any practicing obstetricians
Of those 22 counties, every county except Boundary and Power counties lost OB’s in that time period (Bonners Ferry and American Falls picked up one OB each)
In the 15-month period of this study, only two new OB’s moved to Idaho, while between 40 to 60 obstetricians quit practicing, left the state, or retired altogether.
The ratio of people serviced by OB’s went from 1 OB per 6,668 Idahoans to 1 OB per 8,510 Idahoans
National average live births per OB = 94
Idaho average live births per OB = 107
In August 2022, Idaho OB’s practiced at 258 unique office locations By November 2023, that number shrank to 201 unique locations
Many rural Idaho counties have no OBGYN and rely on consult services from more urban areas where coverage is already stretched thin
The top six metro areas have nearly 80% of physicians; the top 10 metro areas have nearly 90%
Outside of Ada and Canyon Counties, only Bannock and Twin Falls counties have more than 10 OB’s
Idaho struggles to meet bare minimum coverage standards
It takes a bare minimum of three doctors to cover call 24/7/365.
Of the 22 counties that have OB’s, only 10 counties have more than three doctors (down from 12 counties in August 2022)
34 counties in Idaho are in jeopardy of losing their OB coverage if one doctor from that community leaves
The American College of Surgeons Level II trauma certification requires there are two OB’s on call, on in-house and one within 15 minutes of the hospital
Without OB coverage, there is no real trauma coverage
There are about 947,504 women in Idaho and 210 OB/GYN’s, making the ratio of 2 22 / 10,000 women one of the lowest in the country (4 44 / 10,000 Idahoans) From 1997 - 2008, the median US number of OB/GYN’s per 10,000 people was fairly constant at 14 1 - 14 7 per 10,000 persons 7 8
Idaho struggles to retain and recruit new doctors
OB/GYN’s train family medicine residents and medical students in obstetrics The departure of OB/GYN’s will affect the ability to train Idaho resident family medicine physicians who usually stay in Idaho
In 2000, Idaho was 50th out of 51 (including Puerto Rico) in doctors per capita at 192.6 per 100,000 residents. In 2018, that ratio had fallen to 188.4 per 100,000 residents.
In 2018, the population’s demand in Idaho for OB/GYN’s was 250 fulltime doctors. As of today, there are 210 licensed doctors. In other terms, we only have the ability to cover 92% of the need adequately.
In 202, prior to losing a large percentage of our workforce, Idaho ranked 28th out of 50 in the “best place to have a baby ”
85% of practicing OB/GYN’s identify as female All of the OB’s practicing in Idaho have been trained elsewhere and chose to move to Idaho
Maternal Mortality is at risk
CMS data has Idaho at the 10th percentile of maternal pregnancy outcomes This means that 90% of the United States has better maternal pregnancy outcomes than Idaho
Idaho is currently the only state that does not track or report maternal outcomes
55% of high-risk obstetricians (Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors or MFM’s) have left the state in that 15-month period
There are less than 5 full-time MFM’s for the entire state practicing in Idaho
Questions to consider
What happens with maternal care in Idaho when just a few OB/GYN’s quit practice or leave the state due to ‘hostile conditions’?
What happens to providers when just one doctor shows up on the front page in handcuffs for saving a pregnant person’s life?
What happens to Idaho’s key high-paying industries and their ability to recruit/retain young workers to Idaho?
What happens to the ability to retain workers who have an opportunity to live anywhere else when even basic maternal standards of care are suboptimal to other regional states?
If Idaho wanted to be the best place in the USA, what would we need to do to get there?
Citations
1.
Data is compiled from publicly and commercially available data sources, credentialing files, and regulators, as well as local knowledge from members of IPWAC
https://bhw hrsa gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/data-research/state-ofprimary-care-workforce-2023 pdf
https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/dataresearch/projections-supply-demand-2018-2030 pdf
4. https://www cdc gov/nchs/hus/contents2019 htm#Figure-016 5 HRSA projections of supply and demand for women’s health services providers March 2021 – DHHS, HRSA, BHW
American Medical Association Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the US 1997/8-2008 USA: AMA; 8 See: https://www.idahohealthymoms.org/ 9.
T h e I d a h o C o a l i t i o n f o r S a f e H e a l t h c a r e ’ s m i s s i o n i s t o e n s u r e I d a h o a n s h a v e s a f e , l e g a l , a n d e q u i t a b l e
a c c e s s t o e v i d e n c e - b a s e d m e d i c a l c a r e , t h a t p h y s i c i a n s a n d h e a l t h c a r e p r o f e s s i o n a l s a r e a b l e t o p r o v i d e
a c c e p t e d s t a n d a r d s o f c a r e , a n d t h a t h e a l t h c a r e d e c i s i o n s m a d e w i t h i n a p a t i e n t - p r o v i
a r e h o n o r e d a n d p r e s e r v e d
C o n t a c t I d a h o C o a l i t i o n f o r
S a f e H e a l t h c a r e
P O B o x 7 2 1 2 , B o i s e , I D 8 3 7 0 7
C o n t a c t I d a h o P h y s i c i a n W e l l -
B e i n g A c t i o n C o l l a b o r a t i v e
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