The House Education Committee Friday advanced a bill that would sever Idaho’s ties with Washington’s medical school — after half the committee voted to delay a vote until next week. 

Supporters are moving quickly on House Bill 176, which would phase out the University of Idaho’s participation in WWAMI, the University of Washington’s multi-state medical education program, named for the member states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. 

Introduced last week, the bill would direct the Idaho State Board of Education to partner with two other medical schools in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming or Montana by 2027-28. Idaho Education News reported Thursday that the University of Utah is an early favorite to fill one of these slots. The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM) and Brigham Young University, which is launching a medical school, could also be candidates. 

Rep. Dustin Manwaring — a co-sponsor along with House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, and Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls — on Friday framed the proposal as a way to increase medical school capacity amid a doctor shortage and improve Idaho’s return on investment in medical education.

He also pointed to some recent gripes with the University of Washington. The Idaho Legislature in 2022 passed a resolution asking for 10 additional WWAMI seats — five by the end of this fiscal year and five more in two years — but the seats have yet to materialize. And Washington hadn’t signed an agreement that it won’t spend Idaho money on abortion care or training. 

“If they want to be a good partner, then show us you’re a good partner and sign that request,” said Manwaring, R-Pocatello. “Show us that you’ll respect Idaho values. They’ve had over a year to do that.”

The Idaho Press reported that University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce signed an amended contract restricting abortion training for Idaho students on Friday.

Suzanne Allen, vice dean for academic, rural and regional affairs for Washington’s medical school, said the University of Washington does not use Idaho money to fund abortion care or abortion training. And the university is “working very diligently” to expand WWAMI seats for Idaho students. 

“We are committed to that expansion,” said Allen, a Boise-based family physician. “Currently, we do not have enough clinical training in the state of Idaho for us to be able to do that expansion.”

Manwaring also shared details on the financial incentive to finding a new medical school partner. WWAMI tuition for 40 Idaho students is $13.83 million over four years, he said, and Washington keeps 68% of the money. A partnership with Utah “would flip that on its head,” and Idaho would keep 65%, Manwaring said.

House Education Committee members had a lot of questions Friday, and several asked to hold off on voting for at least a few days. “The old phrase, ‘This is as serious as a heart attack’ comes to mind,” said Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint. “…I don’t think this is ready for prime time. We need a lot more work to be done on it.”

Rep. Chris Mathias said he has two unanswered questions: What are the “precise points of disagreement” on the delay in adding Idaho WWAMI seats? And where does the Idaho State Board of Education’s Graduate Medical Education Committee stand on the proposal? 

“I read a quote from one of the bill sponsors saying that the University of Washington has been playing politics with us and ‘that’s not cool,’” said Mathias, D-Boise, referring to Moyle’s recent interview with EdNews. “I feel like some of the politics is being played with me.”

A motion to table the bill until next week failed on a 7-7 tie vote. The committee later voted 9-5 to send the bill to the House floor. Reps. Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, and Tony Wisniewski, R-Post Falls, supported the successful motion after previously voting to table the bill. 

The votes followed a public hearing in which half a dozen doctors, WWAMI graduates and current enrollees touted the value of the partnership with Washington’s medical school and urged the committee to oppose the bill. 

Crystal Pyrak — a family physician in Coeur d’Alene, WWAMI graduate and president of the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians — said the program is a national leader in rural and primary care training, and its “complex” network of clinical sites across Idaho “can’t be easily transferred into another program.” 

“It will be impossible for any other medical school program to replace it,” Pyrak said. 

Two physicians and WWAMI graduates, including former Idaho lieutenant governor Jack Riggs, said they would support transitioning to a new partner as long as Idaho maintains its doctor of medicine (MD) degree path.

Riggs, who is also a member of WWAMI’s advisory board, said the MD is “critical” for Idaho, and “simply cutting ties” with WWAMI “would be a great mistake and totally unacceptable.” But transferring to “a new, out-of-state medical school partner, in my opinion, would be acceptable.”

In January, the University of Idaho and University of Utah signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to collaborate on a “regional campus model … that guarantees Idaho residents access to a medical school.”

Russell Baker, associate director of medical research at U of I, assured the committee that U of I could manage a transition to partnering with the University of Utah. It’s been a “fantastic partner” so far, Baker said, and has provided “greater flexibility and greater autonomy in building our curriculum and establishing training programs in our rural communities.”

“It’s not to disparage what we’ve done with the University of Washington. It’s to say that if times change and our state has different needs, and we have to find a way to get there, that this provides a fantastic opportunity to do so.”

Rep. Jack Nelsen said he’s worried about “burning things down” with WWAMI before Utah makes a commitment to take additional Idaho students.

“One of my concerns is jumping with, frankly, no place to land,” said Nelsen, R-Jerome. “If the Legislature in Utah decides not to fund it, we’re kind of stuck in the middle with nowhere to go.”

Currently, 82% of seats in the Utah medical school are reserved for Utah residents or in-state graduates, said Benjamin Chan, associate dean of admissions and Idaho affairs at Utah’s School of Medicine. But a forthcoming bill in Utah’s Legislature would increase the university’s cap on medical class sizes, Chan said. 

“That will allow us to dramatically increase our class size, perhaps taking into account these 40 additional University of Idaho students. I’m getting indications that a lot of our stakeholders here in Utah are very much on board with this plan and are very supportive.”

HB 176 now heads to the full House.