Articles Tagged: University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics

Continuing its outreach and expansion, in concert with an explosion of health care services in North Liberty, Mercy Medical Center Cedar Rapids is considering offering services at an “off-site location” in Johnson County — where University of Iowa Health Care is building a new 469,000-square-foot hospital and Steindler Orthopedic is constructing a new 35,880-square-foot ambulatory surgical center.

Nearly seven years after a Mt. Pleasant man underwent a coronary artery bypass graft at University of Iowa Health Care in January 2018, UIHC has agreed to pay him $250,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging negligence.

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The last 12 months have brought massive change across University of Iowa Health Care – from its name and brand to its expanding footprint to its leadership, with at least seven of the growing enterprise’s top administrators either joining the executive team or being invited to since Aug. 1, 2023.

University of Iowa Health Care – undertaking more than $1 billion in new, expanded, or upgraded facility projects – wants to increase patient rates 6 percent in the upcoming budget year beginning July 1 to keep up with health care inflation, among other things.

A former social worker with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics who was previously charged with the sexual exploitation of a patient is now facing two additional sexual exploitation charges related to a different patient.

Seven years after a Cedar Rapids-based contractor first started feuding with the University of Iowa over its work on the towering Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Iowa’s high court has weighed in and sided with the university on part of its appeal — reversing an order to pay Modern Piping another $12.8 million.

The Iowa Board of Medicine alleged Dr. Gabriel Hernandez Roman had used his status as a physician to gain access to private information about individuals with whom he engaged in romantic and sexual relationships.

Among $2-plus billion in upcoming University of Iowa Health Care construction -- including a $1 billion, 842,000-square-foot inpatient tower near Kinnick Stadium -- is an expanded burn treatment center, now facing a 10-percent budget hike due to the “challenging and complex nature” of hospital renovation work.

With more sophisticated and more expensive drugs advancing every year, the annual sum Ostrem’s work saves patients continues to climb, nearly 38 years after she started.

Hoping to address UI employment demands alongside academic needs for its students-in-training, UIHC recently partnered with the College of Nursing for what could serve as a “win-win-win.” By hiring students for a new “unit partner” position, the university aims to give them “invaluable experience while also supporting the workload of hospital staff and enhancing patient care.”

Although Theresa Sault-Brill sought $95,000 from the university to remedy what she characterized as “significant lost wages” and “emotional distress,” she signed a $20,000 settlement March 28 and agreed not to pursue or accept any future UI employment.

Facing concerns and objections from pensioners and other entities owed millions in “unsecured” claims, a bankrupt Mercy Iowa City – by means of attorneys burning through thousands by the hour – have negotiated a proposal for how to distribute the hospital’s limited resources.

Three months after hiring a leader for its complex integration with Mercy Iowa City, University of Iowa Health Care this week announced she has accepted another job and will be leaving in May -- compelling UIHC to initiate a search for a permanent chief administrator of its new downtown campus.

Including $28 million it bid in a bankruptcy auction to buy Mercy Iowa City, $8.5 million it covered of the hospital’s “cash-based operating losses,” and $3.4 million it spent resolving Mercy’s unpaid contract obligations, the University of Iowa’s total cost to acquire the 150-year-old community hospital is expected to reach nearly $40 million.