New study shows ‘rapidly declining maternal health workforce’ in Idaho

BOISE – Last year, a report from a group of local physicians found a significant decline in the number of obstetricians practicing in Idaho since the state’s strict abortion ban took effect. Now the number of maternal health care providers appears to have fallen further.

Idaho had a net loss of 35%, or 94, of its 268 practicing OB-GYNs between when the ban took effect in August 2022 and December 2024, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA.

Those physicians either left the state, closed their practices or retired, according to a news release from the Idaho Medical Association.

“This study clearly shows how our legal environment is causing physicians to leave the state and making it more difficult to recruit new ones to take their place,” Susie Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association, said in the release. “Idaho is digging a physician workforce hole that will take years, if not decades, to fill.”

Keller said the association has been raising the alarm about unintended consequences of the ban since it took effect.

The net loss accounts for the 20 new OB-GYNs recruited into Idaho during that timeframe. Had those physicians not been recruited, the situation “would be even more grim,” with a total loss of 43%, or 114, of the 268 OB-GYNs, the release said.

The research was led by Dr. Edward McEachern, a general internist, pathologist and health services researcher who retired last year and works at Boise State University as a distinguished scholar in residence.

“This statewide study is unique in that we were able to directly confirm granular practice changes with the physicians themselves, rather than relying solely on large credentialing and administrative datasets,” McEachern said in the release. “These results provide a stark picture of a rapidly declining maternal health workforce in our state.”