Saint Alphonsus and Mountain States Institute Announce New ACGME Accredited Family Medicine Residency Program

Partnership Will Educate the Next Generation of Family Medicine Physicians in Idaho

Saint Alphonsus Health System and Mountain States Institute for Graduate Medical Education and Research (MSI) have announced the health system’s first Family Medicine residency program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

The goal of this Saint Alphonsus/MSI partnership is to address the growing need for primary care physicians trained to provide comprehensive, compassionate care with particular attention to the needs of patients from diverse and vulnerable backgrounds.

This new program will launch at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Nampa in July 2025. There are currently 796 Family Medicine Residency programs in the United States with approximately 11,400 resident physicians in training. In Idaho, there are 9 programs, including our newly accredited program. Idaho’s population has grown significantly in the past decade but ranks 45th/50 for the number of primary care physicians per 100,000 population, 47th/50 for the number of resident physicians per 100,000 population, and 50th/50 for the total number of physicians per 100,000 population.

According to Saint Alphonsus Health System and West Region President, Odette Bolano, “This partnership will expand access to care, and will fulfill the need to train the next generation of Family Medicine physicians for our region. Family Medicine physicians serve as the primary providers of medical care for individuals and families, offering comprehensive and compassionate health care unique to their specialty. We are proud to inaugurate this program and look forward to welcoming the first cohort of residents in July 2025.”

Heidi Shields, MD, Program Director notes “As a Family Medicine physician practicing for over 20 years in Nampa, I’ve had the opportunity, unique to Family Medicine, of taking care of multiple generations of the same family, from seeing them through the happy birth of a new baby I helped deliver; to caring for them through medical crises; and guiding them through the death and dying process of a beloved family member. Working with the patient through all levels of their care creates a deeper meaning and trust between doctor and patient. When you know everything about your patient without looking at the chart, and your patient knows and trusts you as a doctor, that is when the care of the patient truly rises to its highest level. This is the kind of physician I want to train, in the residency program that I am excited to build.”

The program’s focus will be on providing full-scope Family Medicine training to our residents including obstetrics and gynecology, newborn, pediatrics, inpatient medicine, emergency medicine and critical care, among other areas of focus. Residents will experience training primarily at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Nampa as well as in community health and rural settings, including Terry Reilly Health Centers. A Nampa-based Family Medicine residency clinic, where residents will establish their own panel of patients as their primary physician will open in summer/fall 2024. This comprehensive education will prepare residents to thrive in urban, rural and critical access settings as independent physicians in the future.

Learn more about the Saint Alphonsus/MSI Program here:

• Family Medicine Residency - Nampa
• Family Medicine - SAHS — Mountain States Institute for Graduate Medical Education and Research/li>