Report: Iowa hospitals provided billions in wages, community benefit

Iowa Hospital Association report tallies hospital financial impact

Jul. 23, 2022 5:45 am

Brian Boots (left), RN and Medical ICU shift supervisor, wheels a patient into an elevator while Callie Tjaden, respiratory therapist. provides ventilation as they move a patient from the COVID-19 floor to the normal intensive care unit at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids in September 2021. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Chris Mitchell, new president and CEO of the Iowa Hospital Association. Starts October 2021, from Michigan Health and Hospital Association. (submitted)

A new report from the Iowa Hospital Association shows Iowa hospitals served more than 2.6 million people and provided $742 million in “community benefit” in 2021.

Community benefit provided by hospitals across the state includes uncompensated care and charity care, as well as other programs that range from immunizations to support groups to nutrition services, according to the report from association, which represents all hospitals in Iowa.

“Iowa’s hospitals and health systems implemented the programs and services accounted for in this study in response to their communities’ needs,” IHA President and CEO Chris Mitchell said in a statement.

“Many of these programs and services wouldn’t exist without hospital support and leadership.”

The IHA’s report includes hospital-submitted data about their community benefit programs and services. It also includes data from the American Hospital Association’s annual survey of hospitals, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

It’s estimated Iowa hospitals employed more than 149,000 individuals statewide last year, accounting for $8.8 billion in total wages.

In addition, hospital expenses accounted for more than $20 billion of the state’s gross domestic product.