Articles Tagged: University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics

As Monday’s final sale hearing approaches in the historic and heated bankruptcy of Iowa City’s oldest and only-remaining community hospital, precarious deals are being tested by objections and rising tempers – including from Mercy Hospital partners and creditors unlikely to get the millions they’re due.

Just southeast of where the ballooning University of Iowa Health Care operation is planning to build a new $1 billion inpatient tower, UI President Barbara Wilson on Tuesday surveyed a hole in the ground that will – among many things – make that new tower possible.

The accident at Mid-Iowa Coop in Toledo highlights the way Iowa’s agriculture and construction industries depend on contractors and subcontractors — many that employ vulnerable employees — to do some of the most dangerous jobs.

A sale for the assets of Iowa City’s 150-year-old Mercy Hospital was underway in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon — although details about bidders and results weren’t immediately made public.

Mercy Iowa City has received at least one bid to compete with the University of Iowa’s $20 million offer to purchase substantially all its assets as part of the hospital’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy — triggering an auction on Wednesday morning in Chicago.

The Muscatine County family that last year sued Iowa City-based ENT Medical Services and one of its otolaryngologists after a 2-year-old died following a routine procedure to put tubes in his ears have added a third defendant to its lawsuit: the State of Iowa – for its oversight of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

The Iowa Board of Regents and University of Iowa administrators toured the under-construction hospital Wednesday morning. The facility is on schedule to open for patient care in 2025.

Two years after Iowa’s Board of Regents gave the University of Iowa permission to build a new 469,000-square-foot hospital on 60 acres of vacant land in North Liberty, regents on Wednesday donned hard hats to tour the highly-technical steel and concrete structure that has emerged from the visionary renderings they first OK’d in September 2021.

The State of Iowa, on behalf of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, has agreed to pay a former pediatrics fellow more than a quarter million dollars to settle a lawsuit in which she accused UIHC of denying her disability accommodations, retaliating against her, and breaching its contract with her – “kneecapping Dr. Riley’s career aspirations.”

Mercy Iowa City has arranged tours of its health care facilities next week for potential bidders interested in competing for its assets against the University of Iowa – which last month made an initial “stalking horse” bid of $20 million to buy the 150-year-old community hospital. Also, Mercy pensioners have obtained an attorney to ensure continued payment.

The State Appeal Board on Tuesday agreed to pay $2.52 million to settle six lawsuits against University of Iowa Health Care — with the university paying most of that total under a new agreement inked last week upping the cap on what doctors and their insurance will cover.

Although Mercy Iowa City two weeks ago told participants of its 55-year-old pension plan – via mailed letter – that they will, for now, “continue to receive your monthly pension checks,” hospital leadership Thursday announced the temporary but immediate suspension of three other benefit programs.

Although Mercy Iowa City wants an expeditious sale of its assets – after the 150-year-old hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month – its bondholders and creditors this week asked a judge to tap the brakes to give them time for due diligence and to maximize the “value of the sale.”

Having an early detection strategy for skin cancer that includes seeing a dermatologist is important to minimizing risk. A dermatologist from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics shares key signs, how to minimize risk and how to protect your skin from the sun.

Although Mercy Iowa City has signed a letter of intent to sell most of its assets to the University of Iowa for $20 million, a review of assessment records show the 150-year-old community hospital’s 19 properties – all of which are intended for UI – are valued at more than $137.3 million.