Branstad addresses Tennessee company’s request to build psychiatric hospital in Iowa

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, in a visit to the Quad-Cities on Tuesday, said he intends to interview somebody soon to fill a vacancy on the state panel overseeing whether a Tennessee company can build a psychiatric hospital in Bettendorf.

At the same time, the governor continued to express misgivings about the process that requires the state's approval before new health facilities can be built.

The five-person State Health Facilities Council eventually will decide whether Strategic Behavioral Health, LLC, is allowed to build a 72-bed psychiatric hospital at Golden Valley Drive and Tanglefoot Lane in Bettendorf. The Memphis-based company proposed the hospital last year, but it is being opposed by Genesis Health System and UnityPoint Trinity.

Branstad addressed the matter in a stop at Scott Community College's culinary arts program. After a tour there, he told reporters he intends to meet with a prospective council member 'in the very near future.” The governor did not say when a replacement might be selected, but when he was asked whether he would share his concerns about the process with the new appointee, he said: 'I want to share my concern about the fact that this is something that may not continue on.”

Branstad has said that he believes the certificate of need process has not stopped cost increases in the medical field, and that it has sometimes served as a way to limit competition.

'That's why I'm somewhat skeptical about its continuation,” he said Tuesday. As for the new council member, he said: 'we want to find the very best person and somebody that would be fair and really recognize the need to provide the best health care to the citizens of Iowa.”

The health facilities council deadlocked earlier this year on whether to grant a certificate of need allowing Strategic to build the hospital. The council was scheduled to take it up again last week, but the resignation of a council member and the absence of another forced a delay. The council plans to meet again in October.

Who Branstad names as a replacement is a key question. The person who resigned from the council voted against Strategic's application earlier this year, so a replacement has the potential of tipping the balance.