The Eastern Idaho Forensic Pathology Center recently took two major steps toward becoming a reality, even though officials still don’t know how much it will cost to fund the project.

Bannock County Commissioner Jeff Hough continues to maintain that it won’t exceed the budgeted $3.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds that have been earmarked for the project. In fact, that threshold is a “deal breaker” point for all the commissioners.

The pathology center’s first step forward was holding a pre-bid meeting. According to Hough, the commission had five interested firms attend the voluntary meeting. Usually having more interest makes the bids more competitive.

All bids to construct the center will be due by Monday, March 12. But that often isn’t the end of the story, unless there is a bid that meets the commissioners’ maximum threshold. If not, there have been some offers from other counties to make up the difference between the county’s maximum and the lowest responsible bid. Because of the ARPA fund deadline, the decision to proceed or not will have to be made by the end of March, at the latest.

Of note is that the location of the forensic pathology center is settled. If it becomes a reality, it will be located near the county’s driver’s license building on South Fifth Avenue in south Pocatello. Besides taking advantage of land the county already owns, it is conveniently located between two Interstate 15 exits — the South Fifth Avenue exit and the exit near the Portneuf Gap near Century High School. For the coroners from other counties, this more direct access is quicker and means they don’t have to navigate a city they may not be familiar with.

Meanwhile, step two forward for Bannock County was testing the interim set up of lab space in Portneuf Medical Center with a temporary forensic pathologist. Fremont and Lemhi counties each brought decedents to run the temporary facility through its paces. The results? Hough characterized it as a “success,” perhaps partly because it revealed a few small technology problems that are being resolved. Now Bannock County officials know they are fully ready to operate.

Since this was a test run, the participating counties weren’t charged for the autopsies, though Bannock County paid for the hospital space and the forensic pathologist per the contracts they have finalized. These startup costs were paid for through the state Legislature’s one time allocation of $900,000 for the project.

Bannock County is finalizing its fee schedule and preparing for a public hearing on March 21 regarding the fees. Presently the cost is set at $2,300 per autopsy, echoing Ada County’s fees. Ada County operates the only other regional autopsy facility in Idaho. Contracts with that fee schedule have been sent to all the interested counties in East Idaho.

The current contracts with the Ada County Coroner’s Office require that they be notified within 15 days of any new contract made to use another autopsy center. However, it doesn’t say that counties must terminate their contract with Ada County to use another facility.

In a previous article concerning Idaho autopsy facilities, it was erroneously stated that they make large profits on each autopsy. Since then, it was found that the sources used weren’t factoring in the full picture. In reality it is barely a break-even endeavor when you consider all the overhead costs such as employee benefits, utilities, finance payments, hazardous waste removal, office and morgue supplies, and federal taxes and fees. After a recent audit of the Ada County facility, they were advised to increase their per autopsy fee by $300 to be sure to stay in the black financially.

Additionally, these are county facilities and are not established to make a “profit,” a valid point raised by Ada County Coroner Rich Riffle. Officials feel that using the term “profit” is inappropriate for government programs which don’t run on free market principles. In Ada County, if there are any funds leftover after expenses following autopsies, the monies are put into the county’s general fund. The Eastern Idaho Forensic Pathology Center will be holding any excess funds in reserve for replacing equipment and handling emergencies.

Clarifying his position concerning a new forensic autopsy center in Pocatello, Riffle provided this statement: “I am in full support of the eastern facility and, yes, I would be in complete support and quite welcoming of a third facility in northern Idaho. It is my stand that the Ada County Coroner’s Office will support, collaborate, and cooperate within our means to help make these facilities become a reality. Although I’ve only been in office for a year, I truly and completely understand that the coroner system in Idaho needs additional services, regardless of who provides them. However, I would prefer those services stayed in Idaho.”

The need for more autopsies, which will require more regional forensic autopsy centers, was echoed in the just released study, County Coroners and Death Investigation. The study was performed by Idaho’s Office of Performance Evaluation, a nonpartisan and independent office of the state Legislature. The study found that Idaho state code is unclear on procedures for coroners as they work with law enforcement and medical doctors and doesn’t outline what types of deaths need to be autopsied. Without this guidance and without any state level oversight or support, the local coroners’ decisions on whether to require an autopsy or not have been heavily influenced by county budget restraints and the time and labor costs of traveling to Ada County’s facility.

In the study, the national rate of autopsies was tabulated during 2018-2022, half of which were COVID years. However, the study separated out COVID fatalities. The study found that the overall rate of autopsies performed in Idaho ranked third lowest in the U.S. at 3.9 percent of all deaths, half of the national rate of 7.8 percent. Concerning child deaths from external or unknown causes, Idaho ranked last in the nation with a rate of 49 percent compared to the national rate of 79 percent.

Speaking of the study, Hough said, “The report validates the need for a regional center on this side of the state.”

Because of that need they keep taking steps forward to establish the Eastern Idaho Forensic Pathology Center. And yet, there are still many more bridges to cross before the project is a certainty. Next step? The March 12 bid opening. Mark your calendars and stay tuned.