Saltzer Health may be closing its doors and if the group’s 11 Treasure Valley clinics go away ... what will happen to their 100,000 patients?

The Idaho Statesman reported last week an official at Saltzer was told by their parent company - Salt Lake City’s Intermountain Health Care - that "financial woes" would force the clinics to close by the end of March unless someone buys the group.

Saltzer sent a letter to its 100,000 patients Thursday saying they would “cease or sell all operations” by March.

We've been hearing from many people who want to know where will Saltzer's patients go if the group does close its clinics and will those patients put further strain on healthcare which is already stretched thin?

So we asked Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke’s Health System and our resident doctor on our Wednesday Doctor Roundtable, to help break this down.

Both St. Luke’s and Saltzer Health have been sponsors of Boise State Public Radio.