JFAC supports WWAMI increase
BOISE — The Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee (JFAC) approved funding for five additional seats to be added to the WWAMI program for Idaho medical students Friday morning with a 19-1 vote.
By approving the budget recommendation, JFAC fulfills year three of a four-year plan to fund five additional WWAMI seats available to Idaho students annually. The plan was first introduced in 2009, when the Idaho State Board of Education (SBOE) recommended doubling state funded WWAMI seats from 20 to 40.
Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, motioned to send the budget with a “do-pass” to the House and Senate floors for approval. He said the four-year WWAMI program is a “good partnership” with the University of Washington.
“It benefits Idaho students primarily that they get to spend more time at home in Idaho, and I think that increases the possibility … to come back to Idaho and practice, so I am very excited by that,” Johnson said.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, Idaho is 49th in the U.S. for the number of doctors per capita, and more medical practitioners are expected to retire in the coming years.
Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, was the lone legislator to reject the budget. He said since 1975, only 50 percent of WWAMI students have returned to Idaho to practice medicine, which he said “isn’t sufficient.”
JFAC’s approval mirrored the State of the State recommendation given by Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter to increase WWAMI seats. The budget has to be passed by both the House and Senate, and be approved by Otter for it to go into effect.
The four-year WWAMI program is a partnership between the University of Washington School of Medicine and the five states the program’s acronym represents: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.
Currently, Idaho offers 30 first-year medical students each year the ability to complete the first year of the WWAMI program taking courses at the University of Idaho and at Washington State University.
Upon completion of the first year, Idaho WWAMI students transfer to University of Washington for their second year of study. The third and fourth years consist of clinical rotations in different locations within the region comprised of WWAMI-affiliated states.
George Wood Jr. can be reached at [email protected]