Emilie Ritter Saunders was StateImpact Idaho's multimedia reporter until the project merged with the Boise State Public Radio site in July 2013. She previously worked as the Capitol Bureau Chief for Montana Public Radio and was a Senior Fellow with NPR's Economic Training Project from 2009 until 2010. She graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2007.
Among states with fewer than 2 million people, Idaho has the least amount of doctors per capita.
Just because a state doesn’t have its own medical school, doesn’t mean it will have a higher proportion of doctors than states with med schools.
Take a look at this table showing states with populations of less than 2 million people. Fewer than half of these 14 states don’t have their own med school (although some, like Idaho, are part of an agreement to educate doctors through the University of Washington and University of Utah). Continue Reading →
In case you missed something, here’s a look back at the five posts you’ve read, shared, or commented on the most. Check them out, and let us know what you think.
Tax collections to the state’s main bank account came in 3.7 percent above expectations for the month of September.
Three months into this fiscal year, Idaho tax collections are 5.7 percent above the previous year.
Division of Financial Management
September's general fund revenue report.
The Division of Financial Management’s general fund revenue report shows individual income tax, sales tax and product tax collections exceeded the monthly prediction.
Corporate income tax collections and miscellaneous revenue clocked in below forecast amounts. Continue Reading →
The Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center will receive up to $31,500 to train ten registered nurses and a child life specialist for its new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.
The hospital is the first medical center to receive a workforce development training grant through the Labor Department. The grants are a reimbursement of training dollars, paid for by a 3 percent tax on businesses.
The department reports the average wage for these jobs is $24 per hour. In order to receive a training reimbursement, businesses must pay at least $12 an hour plus benefits. Continue Reading →
Idaho has fewer doctors per capita than every state in the nation except one.
A few years ago, the Idaho Board of Education, which oversees colleges and universities in the state, put together a list of priorities to increase the number of doctors in Idaho.
While nearly every state in the country is facing a shortage of doctors to a certain extent, there are fewer doctors per capita in Idaho than every state in the country except Mississippi.
At its April 2009 meeting, the board agreed to work on 10 things. Just four have been fully or partially implemented.
A view of the Thompson Creek mine near Challis, Idaho. Thompson Creek has been Custer County's largest employer.
The Thompson Creek molybdenum mine issued 105 layoff notices today according to the Idaho Business Review.Â
Molybdenum is a metal with a high melting point used in steel alloys, among other things.
The central Idaho mine is operated by a company based in Denver and Vancouver, B.C. The Business Review reports the company estimates it will save nearly $110 million in operating costs and expenditures through the job cuts.
The layoffs are effective Oct. 5.
Last year, CEO of Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc. Kevin Loughrey, spoke with Bloomberg Television’s Pimm Fox when the price of molybdenum was $17 per pound.
University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Science Hall in 1903, home of the University of North Dakota's original medical school. Science Hall was razed in 1999.
With about 680,000 people, North Dakota has less than half as many residents as Idaho. Yet North Dakota has something that Idaho does not: its own medical school.
North Dakota’s school got its start in 1905 as a two-year program, where students would have to leave the state to finish their education. Since 1976, the University of North Dakota has had a full-fledged, four-year medical school to educate doctors in-state. Continue Reading →
The public will have a chance to weigh in on the state’s vacant governor’s mansion this afternoon at the State Capitol.
The mansion, which hasn’t been lived in since the Simplot family donated it in 2004, made headlines earlier this year after a Democratic lawmaker said the state shouldn’t continue to pay to maintain the home.
Data StateImpact obtained through a public records request show the hilltop mansion has been used 42 times in three years, while costing more than $100,000 per year in upkeep.
The hearing is at 4:30 p.m. MST at the State Capitol.
Dr. Jennifer Petrie, 40, knew she wanted to be a rural, family physician since she was in high school in Lewiston, Idaho. Her office at the Emmett Medical Center is cluttered with photos of her kids, their drawings, and stacks of patient charts.
Emmett, Idaho resident Rebecca Smither (left) talks with Dr. Jennifer Petrie (right). Petrie is a graduate of the WWAMI program and now practices in Emmett.
Dr. Petrie checks the progress of Rebecca Smither’s pregnancy.
Dr. Ted Epperly is the Program Director of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho.
Dr. Jennifer Petrie sees patients at the Emmett Medical Center four days a week.
Five-month-old Olivia Vandermate gets examined by Dr. Petrie during a recent check up. Petrie was Olivia’s delivery doctor and has taken care of her since.
Dr. Jennifer Petrie has known since she was a high school student in Lewiston, Idaho, that she wanted to be a rural family physician.
Petrie works at the Emmett Medical Center, less than an hour’s drive north of Boise. She sees patients four days a week in her small, sparse examining room here and also works the emergency room shift a couple times a month at the neighboring hospital.
Dr. Petrie is a generalist. She didn’t want to choose a high-paying specialty. For her, seeing all kinds of people was the most appealing thing about being a doctor. Continue Reading →
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