University of Washington Boise Program

Program Identity & Fit

UW Boise Internal Medicine is a University of Washington-affiliated community-based program built around the Boise VA Medical Center plus two regional referral hospitals (St. Luke's and Saint Alphonsus), giving residents graduated autonomy across VA, community hospitalist, and rural/community clinic settings rather than a single quaternary academic center. The program explicitly prioritizes outpatient primary care and hospital medicine, with 85% of graduates remaining in general internal medicine and the majority staying to practice in Idaho or the surrounding region, signaling a strong workforce-for-the-region orientation. Scholarship and fellowship preparation are supported (point-of-care ultrasound simulation, resident research) but described as secondary to the program's core identity of producing versatile, autonomous general internists who serve Idaho and the Northwest. Leadership consists of UW-trained hospitalists and medical educators with strong regional society involvement (ACP, SGIM), reflecting a culture centered on teaching and community/regional service rather than subspecialty research output.