BOISE, ID – A partnership between universities aims to address the shortage of doctors in Idaho, especially in rural parts of the state.

The State Board of Education has approved a collaboration agreement between the University of Idaho and the University of Utah’s medical school, the first step toward increasing the number of physicians in the Gem State. The partnership still needs approval and funding from the Legislature. Idaho doesn’t have a public medical school within its own borders.

Dr. Rayme Geidl, interim co-director of the University of Idaho’s School of Health and Medical Professions, said the University of Utah is a great partner because it has a robust rural training program.

“We fully intend to pull from that part of their curriculum because it is such a great need in our state,” she said. “So, our goal would be that we would have every single student who comes into this program have rural training and rural exposure.”

Geidl noted that the University of Utah’s medical school already takes 10 Idaho students per year. Idaho has consistently ranked at or near the bottom of states in physicians per capita. As part of the program, Idaho students would sign an agreement to practice in the state for four years after they graduate. However, a tight budget year could be a barrier to lawmakers approving and funding the collaboration this year.

Geidl is also the interim regional dean for the WWAMI medical education program, which partners University of Idaho students with the University of Washington School of Medicine. She said the program plays a crucial role in increasing the number of doctors in Idaho. Geidl said the program had a record number of qualified candidates in its most recent application cycle – more than 100 – but can only take 40 students.

“We have a really large pool of qualified students who could be coming to medical school and being trained in the state if we had enough access for them,” she said.

In 2025, Idaho lawmakers passed House Bill 368 to establish a medical education workgroup, of which Geidl was a member. The program published its Idaho Medical Education Plan at the end of 2025. Geidl said it lays out both short and long-term guidance for addressing the state’s physician and health-care workforce shortage.