(upbeat music) - Welcome to Crosscut Now.

In today's episode, a public health institution is training the next wave of physicians right here in Washington.

Learn how WSU'S Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine is working to eradicate healthcare disparities in rural communities.

We'll also take a look at what it means for Washington if Kroger and Albertsons get the green light to merge and why the state's AG is weighing in.

And state lawmakers will put artificial intelligence bill proposals under the microscope.

I'm Paris Jackson, and today's top story, a milestone is approaching for Washington State University's medical school.

We'll explain what that is and how its graduates and administrators are working to meet a need for better healthcare access on the east side of the state.

This spring, a new crop of doctors will graduate from Washington State University's medical school.

It will mark the fourth class to graduate from the only public medical school in Washington east of the Cascades.

Washington State University opened the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in Spokane in 2017.

In rural eastern Washington communities, there are profound healthcare access disparities across primary care, surgical and sub-specialty services.

The need for more doctors on the eastern side of the state has led to the university seeking to train young doctors from the region who may want to stay and practice there.

Medical student, Pierce Classen of Clarkston is one example.

While in school, he returned to his hometown as part of a WSU clinical rotation in family medicine at Tri-State Health.

The American Medical College's Association says about 41% of new doctors practice in Washington if they attended medical school in the state and if they completed their residency in Washington, that figure upticks to 70%.

That data also accounts for the state's larger medical school at the University of Washington.

I sat down with journalist Megan Burbank to learn how Washington State University's relatively new medical school is fairing, and to hear about its efforts to keep the physicians they're training right here in the state.

- Welcome, Megan, thank you for joining us today.

- Thanks for having me.

- We hear a lot about the University of Washington's Medical School, rightfully so.

It's been around for about seven decades, but in your new story, you're focusing on Washington State University's School of Medicine and a new crop of doctors are soon gonna be graduating from there.

- Yeah, that's right, WSU's College of Medicine was officially founded 11 years ago, but wasn't immediately accredited, so they didn't start graduating classes right away.

It's our state's second public medical school, and it's based in Spokane, although students do rotations all over the state and clinics.

And it was really founded with the idea of kind of like growing our own doctors in Eastern Washington due to a number of disparities and access that you find in terms of getting basic medical care between the eastern side of the state and the western side of the state.

- And one thing about those disparities that you found in your reporting is there are also disparities facing these students in the classroom.

And that is in terms of residencies, what is the university doing to mitigate that?

- Right, exactly.

So there are over a hundred residencies in Washington state, and the vast majority of them are based west of the Cascades.

And that's a problem because one of the things that we find when we look at residencies is that location has a huge impact on where people end up practicing when they start their own practice as doctors.

And so if your community doesn't have residencies, it becomes pretty hard to build a consistent and strong base of providers.

And so this program, actually, one of the things that it's incorporated in addition to its medical education is two residencies that are based in eastern Washington.

One is in pediatrics and the other one is in family medicine.

And it's a way to kind of create that pipeline so that medical education is happening in this community that needs it.

And then the hope is that when students graduate and go onto their residencies, they have opportunities to learn where they are and potentially to practice later on.

- And you touched upon some of the disparities over in Eastern Washington in terms of access to healthcare.

Kind of dig into that.

How great is the need for people that live on that side of our state?

- Yeah, well, the medical student that I interviewed for the story who actually grew up in eastern Washington, did his undergraduate at WSU's Pullman campus and is now in the medical school program.

He put it this way, he said they need every kind of doctor in eastern Washington.

And I think that speaks to this disparity.

And I think when you are in a place like Seattle, it's easy to look around and say, well, we have all of these research institutions and all kinds of longstanding healthcare institutions.

You mentioned the University of Washington.

That's a great example, but it's much more difficult to access those kinds of care in eastern Washington.

And it's compounded because for the folks who are working in eastern Washington as providers, they're actually not just addressing disparities, healthcare disparities within the state, they're also addressing healthcare disparities across state lines.

- Let's dig into that because your reporting also touches upon a controversial issue with regards to even abortion.

And we're talking about Idaho, how a physician in eastern Washington are taking care of folks that also live in our neighboring state.

- Yeah, I think abortion care is a really great example.

It's kind of a heightened example, but when you look at Idaho.

Idaho has a number of abortion bans and restrictions that either went into effect or were enacted after Roe versus Wade was overturned in 2022.

And so what that means is that people in Idaho who already were routinely traveling to Washington for abortion care, are now doing so in much greater numbers.

And it is sort of creating a capacity strain on clinics that are located close to the border.

An important caveat there though is that actually that is reflective of a dynamic that is much more expansive and longstanding for a lot of folks who live in Idaho closer to these border communities.

They already come to Washington for medical care.

And what I hear from providers that I speak to for a number of stories I've done is that they're seeing patients from Idaho pretty routinely for all kinds of healthcare.

And so when we're talking about sort of disparities or a need for a greater number of providers, that's also a huge part of it is that eastern Washington, more so than Western Washington, it's in a position where it's needing to accommodate this other population of patients.

- Great reporting, thank you so much for joining us, Megan.

- Thanks for having me.

- If you would like to read more of Megan's full story, all you need to do is go to crosscut.com.

(calm music) The largest supermarket merger between Kroger and Albertsons is being vetted.

We'll tell you why the State Attorney General is trying to stop it.

A merger that would be considered the largest supermarket consolidation in history is up for consideration and it could impact more stores in Washington than in any other state.

Now the State Attorney General is suing to try to stop the deal.

Kroger, the mega supermarket owner of QFC and Fred Meyer hopes to unite with Albertsons, the owner of Safeway in a $24.6 billion deal.

The companies announced as part of an antitrust deal to try to win over the Federal Trade Commission, a plan to sell more than 400 stores nationwide.

104 of those stores are in Washington because of the significant market overlap.

The Federal Trade Commission has been aware of the proposed deals since it was announced in October of 2022, but has yet to make a ruling.

In mid-January, Washington State Attorney General, Bob Ferguson sued to try to block the merger on the grounds that it could raise prices and hurt consumers.

The union representing workers at both Kroger and Albertsons stores says grocery workers often rely on meaningful competition to win wage and workplace concessions, which could also be lost in the merger.

(calm music) Washington State lawmakers plan to consider artificial intelligence legislation this session, which includes debate about how to even define AI, we'll explain.

The new Washington legislative session is underway, and some state lawmakers hope there will be some debate about artificial intelligence.

But the state legislators behind AI bills at least three in question also say they are nervous about venturing too far too fast into uncharted territory.

One proposed bill will require companies using artificial intelligence to inform their employees and customers that AI is being used.

Another aims to create a task force to map out how Washington should regulate AI.

And the third proposal, House Bill 1951 would forbid the use of AI algorithms that lead to discrimination.

Last year, the legislature passed a minor bill on artificial intelligence that required disclosure, if audio or images in a political advertisement are manipulated.

Under the law, manipulating a candidate's images and audio without that person's consent gives them cause for legal action.

The bills up for possible discussions spend a lot of time just establishing what the definition of AI is.

Since there's not a universal definition.

The CEO of Washington Technology Alliance says legislating out of fear and moving too quickly would be a pitfall because the pace of technology and legislation is a mismatch.

I'm Paris Jackson, thank you for watching Crosscut Now, your destination for nonprofit Northwest News.

Go to crosscut.com for more.

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