Idaho’s first medical school is inching closer to its August 2018 finish line by hiring critical faculty members, developing programs, and constructing facilities.
The privately funded, for-profit Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine is expected to help with Idaho’s physician shortage. Construction of the school on Idaho State University’s Meridian campus is ahead of schedule and set to be finished in the spring.
The proposed medical school currently has pre-accreditation status and is expected to be officially accredited before the end of the year, which means it can start recruiting 150 students to fill its first graduating class.
ICOM founding dean Dr. Robert Hasty says Idaho is the most populous state without a medical school of its own, and the Gem State ranks 50th in terms of primary care physicians per capita. Hasty says a medical school of Idaho’s own will ensure a supply of physicians to Idahoans and rural areas, helping the physician shortage and allowing medical students to practice in their home state. ICOM admissions priority will be given to Idahoans and students from Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming.
ICOM will have 75 full-time positions by the time it opens its doors next August and in 2022, when the first class graduates, the college will employ 104 full-time faculty and staff in addition to hundreds of clinical and adjunct faculty. (AP)
