Articles Tagged: Rural hospitals

Other projects include facility upgrades in Lee County and surgical tech improvements in Winneshiek County

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “Healthy Hometowns” plan aims to modernize rural hospitals with federal aid from a new $50 billion fund — but health leaders warn it won’t fully offset sweeping Medicaid reductions.

The Democratic candidate for governor hosted a roundtable discussion with rural Iowa health care stakeholders

Many veterans live hours from VA facilities, or they need health services that aren’t readily available from the VA. In such cases, the department is supposed to provide a referral and pay for private care. Critics say it often hesitates to do so.

Nationwide, states are racing to win their share of a new $50 billion rural health fund. But helping rural hospitals, as originally envisioned, is quickly becoming a quaint idea.

Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday he is committed to investigating the members of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who served during the Biden administration over indictments against President Donald Trump.

Plans by Senate Republicans to scale back a Medicaid provider tax that states like Iowa use to fund their Medicaid program could deal a greater financial blow to rural hospitals, state and national hospital groups warn.

As the country grapples with a health care workforce shortage, health care facilities across Iowa, especially in rural areas, will see some assistance under legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Iowa, with 3.2 million residents, has a total of about 760 inpatient mental health beds that are staffed to care for patients. The Treatment Advocacy Center says the “absolute minimum” of such beds would translate to about 960 for Iowa’s population, and the optimal number would be about 1,920.

The U.S. faces a crucial shortage of medical providers, especially in rural areas. The problem has been building for a while, experts say, but the pandemic accelerated it by pushing many doctors over the edge into early retirement or other fields.

The physician shortage is not exclusive to Iowa, as the projected physician shortfall could reach as high as 86,000 physicians by 2036, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. But compared with other states, Iowa’s shortage is one of the most dire.

Also, House lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that would make it a crime to send unsolicited sexually-explicit photos or videos. One legislator dubbed it the “anti cyber flashing” bill.

Also, new Iowa House Rep. Blaine Watkins — elected to replace Rep. Martin Graber — is sworn in

Hospital leaders gathered Tuesday at the Iowa Capitol to show support for Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to improve access to high-quality health care in rural Iowa and address the state's shortage of health care professionals.

Plans outlined this week by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to address the state’s physician shortage by increasing medical residency slots in the state could help bolster access to physician services and rural health care. One Iowa hospital CEO says the challenge will be making sure new residency slots can be supported at hospitals across the state.