Private Magic Valley medical practitioners go it alone, and have AI tools available

TWIN FALLS — A nurse practitioner in Twin Falls has seen a trend in Magic Valley health care. He calls it the reverse Walmart effect.

While studies nationwide show a decline of small, independent medical practices as hospital systems buy them up, Blake Thompson notes that in the past several years, some doctors in Magic Valley have flipped the script and broken away from the St. Luke’s clinics, deciding to open their own practices.

And he says there are tools available, notably in the AI field, to help them compete against the health care giants.

Doctors in several specialties, including urology, ENT, orthopedics and internal medicine, have opted to open their own practices, although retaining privileges at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center.

Such was the case of Magic Valley Ortho