Week in Iowa, Oct. 27, 2024: Recap of news from across the state

New nursing home owner has history of violations: The private equity firm that recently purchased 29 Iowa nursing homes has been hit with 17 times as many federal fines for poor quality care as the homes’ previous owner, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported, citing federal data.

The real estate brokerage firm of Marcus & Millichap announced the $85 million sale of 29 Iowa nursing homes by the Iowa-based ABCM Corp. to a private equity firm called the Cascade Capital Group. The sale includes nursing homes in Independence, Lisbon and Mount Vernon.

Marcus & Millichap told Skilled Nursing News the transaction represents the largest nursing home sale ever recorded in Iowa, with the 29 facilities representing 7 percent of the 410 nursing homes operating in Iowa.

The national trend of nursing homes and hospitals being acquired by private equity firms has raised concerns in Congress and among consumer advocates who fear that such firms may pursue short-term returns for investors at the expense of patients.

“Private equity firms aren’t buying nursing homes because they are humanitarians driven by a desire to help people lead better lives,” John Hale, an Iowa consultant and advocate for seniors, told the Iowa Capital Dispatch. “They are doing it because they see an opportunity to make money for investors. They value profits over people.”

Hinson, Ernst seek more rural birth control options: As Democrats seek to make the right to contraception an election issue amid a growing partisan clash over reproductive rights, Iowa Republicans U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst are focusing attention on their efforts to increase birth control options for women in rural Iowa.

The pair last month wrote a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office requesting information on federal resources and inventory stocking of contraception options for women through federally qualified health centers, which serve rural areas.

According to the letter, in 2020 more than 12,000 of the centers provided care for more than 28 million people, many of them women of reproductive age.

Bohannan campaign pulls ad amid UI trademark dispute: Eastern Iowa Democratic congressional candidate Christina Bohannan’s campaign ended a TV ad amid a dispute over alleged misuse of a University of Iowa trademark.

UI General Counsel and Vice President for Legal Affairs James Jorgenson had sent Bohannan’s campaign a letter requesting it cease and desist from further use of the UI’s protected marks. The letter came after an attorney for Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ campaign alerted his office to an apparent unauthorized use of a university trademark by Bohannan’s campaign in an ad that began airing Oct. 19.

In the ad, Bohannan wears a black T-shirt with gold, all-capital lettering reading “IOWA” and the phrase “TEAM IOWA” on the back. The ad shows Bohannan — a UI law professor whose expertise is intellectual property law — running on a track and accusing Miller-Meeks of panicking voters about girls’ sports instead of focusing on tougher problems faced by Iowans.

They said ...

“Our letter to USDA will help us get answers for our growers and address the federal government’s carelessness with taxpayer dollars.” — Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s aid to embattled Pure Prairie Poultry, after the state announced it had finished culling over a million birds as a result of the company’s inability to care for the broiler chickens.

“We will closely review any action relating to the voter lists for compliance with court orders and federal law to ensure the full protection of voting rights for all eligible voters in Iowa.” — ACLU of Iowa Executive Director Mark Stringer on the state's inquiry into noncitizen voters.

Odds and ends

Iowa precipitation below ideal levels: Iowa’s soybean harvest was nearly complete late last month, with the corn harvest not far behind, as the state neared the end of one of its driest Octobers.

The crop progress and condition report for Oct. 21 through Oct. 27 showed a continued decline in soil moisture conditions. Topsoil rated 75 percent short to very short, and subsoil moisture condition rated 80 percent short to very short.

State climatologist Justin Glisan reported precipitation totals for that week were higher than the past four weeks combined, yet still below the state’s average during the period.

Water cooler

Hinson condemns racist remarks at Trump rally: “I condemn any remarks like that,” Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, told reporters last Monday. “They're not funny. Those kinds of jokes are not funny. But, I think when you look at the people who were showing up at his rally yesterday, he does have a wide spectrum of support across multi generations and lots of different racial backgrounds.”