Health Care Provider Impact Statement for Douglas County
Number of docs in 2009: 25. That’s 6.7 physicians per 10,000 population1: the third lowest rate in eastern Washington. Washington’s rate is 21.2 physicians per 10,000; the national average is about 20.2 per 10,000.[2] Washington imports about 85% of its physicians from other states or nations.3
Health professional breakout:
---Okanogan Douglas Hospital in Brewster (operated by the Okanogan Douglas County Hospital District) lists nine physicians on its roster.
---Wenatchee Valley Medical Center has 15 MDs, three physician assistants and three nurse practitioners practice at its East Wenatchee clinic.4
Number of current WWAMI Spokane medical students from Douglas County: zero
Number of current WSU pharmacy students from Douglas County: one
Number of current WSU nursing students from Douglas County: nine
UW School of Medicine clinical faculty in Douglas County: three MDs5
Health professionals in Douglas County who graduated from Washington colleges: unknown6
The East Wenatchee Clinic isn’t listed as a formal medical education clinical site, but the UW medical clinical roster includes three of the clinic’s doctors as ‘clinical instructors’.7
About 600 medical professionals in 26 eastern and central Washington communities serve as preceptors (instructors) for UW/WSU medical students. About a third of them work in small cities and towns. In addition, Douglas County hosts a few of the 378 providers who train pharmacy students at clinical sites in eastern and central Washington.
Douglas County unemployment rate (Nov. 2012): 7.3% (state average 7.8% seasonally adjusted, 7.3% not seasonally adjusted)8
Health care/social assistance employment in Douglas County9: 637 (out of 12,600 jobs). It’s the county’s fifth-largest employer, providing about $4.6 million in payroll, about 5.3% of the county’s total payroll.
Tripp Umbach estimate of annual impact of Spokane academic health sciences on Douglas County (2009): seven jobs, $1.4 million in economic impact, $110,000 in local taxes
Tripp Umbach projection of annual impact of Spokane academic health sciences on Douglas County (2030): 61 jobs, $10.5 million in economic impact, $735,000 in local taxes
1UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
2UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
3Association of American Medical Colleges
4Numbers gleaned from hospital and clinic websites
5UW Clinical faculty listing: http://depts.washington.edu/fammed/clinical_faculty/listings
6Numbers calculated from hospital and clinic websites
7http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Education/WWAMI/Documents/2011%20WWAMI%20Maps.pdf
8Washington Department of Employment Security
9Washington Department of Employment Security (third quarter, 2010)