Health Care Providers Impact Statement for Adams County
Number of docs in 2009: 15. That’s 8.5 physicians per 10,000 population1, the ninth 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:
---The East Adams Rural Hospital in Ritzville employs no doctors, but regularly brings in several specialists from Spokane. It also employs three physician assistants.
---Othello Community Hospital uses 10 MDs and two DOs, though none are hospital staff. The doctors are all employed by the local clinic, the Columbia Basin Health Association.4
Number of current WWAMI Spokane medical students from
Adams County: one
Number of current WSU pharmacy students from Adams County: one
Number of current WSU nursing students from Adams County: three
Number of current WSU speech and hearing sciences students from
Adams County: one
UW School of Medicine clinical faculty in Adams County: five MDs, one physician assistant5
Health professionals in Adams County who graduated from Washington colleges: none, though one of Othello’s MDs did a residency in Spokane.6
Othello serves as a site for third and fourth-year students who are doing family medicine clerkships. Othello is also a site for medical students looking to practice their skills in a rural setting between their first and second years (Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program). The county does not yet have a residency site.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 those work in small cities and towns. In addition, Adams County hosts some of the 378 preceptors who work with pharmacy students at clinical sites in eastern and central Washington.
Adams County unemployment rate (Nov. 2012): 8.8%
(state average 7.8% seasonally adjusted, 7.3% not seasonally adjusted) 8
Health care/social assistance employment in Adams County 9: 527 (out of 6,500 jobs). It’s the county’s fifth-largest employer, providing about $5.6 million in payroll, about 10.5% of the county’s total payroll.
Tripp Umbach estimate of annual impact of Spokane academic health sciences on Adams County (2009): 37 jobs, $7.1 million in economic impact, $563,000 in local taxes
Tripp Umbach projection of annual impact of Spokane academic health sciences on Adams County (2030): 312 jobs, $53.7 million, $3.75 million in local taxes
1According to the UW 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.pdf8Washington Department of Employment Security
9Washington Department of Employment Security (third quarter, 2010)
Congressional Districts: 4
Legislative District: 9
Population: 18,700
County Seat: Ritzville
Kassie Spohr from Othello spent her first year of medical school studying in Spokane.