Reynolds reflects on issues facing Iowa’s rural health care providers

by Jay Waagmeester, Iowa Capital Dispatch
August 1, 2023

Gov. Kim Reynolds hit the road Tuesday to meet with three Sioux County hospital administrators and discuss issues facing Iowa’s rural health care providers.

Sioux Center Health CEO Cory Nelson said his biggest ask of Reynolds in the meeting — which was closed to members of the news media — was to maintain a partnership that moving forward will developing new policies, improve access to care and address workforce issues.

“Government can make the policies and we have to carry out the policies,” Nelson said. “So, just continuing to make sure we have those connections and dialogues as we go forward, that simply is our discussion point.”

Nelson said that being able to have an open discussion was “really great, and that’s what we want to continue.”

Issues

“We’re always going to continue to look at access to quality health care across the state of Iowa,” Reynolds said. “We made some significant gains in the last legislative session.”

Reynolds pointed to tort reform, which she said will help Iowa attract and retain physicians.

“We continue to look at access, we continue to look at quality care, we continue to look at workforce as a big issue,” Reynolds said.

Even with the help of the government, Reynolds said, it will take time to bounce back from the workforce and financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nelson said the pandemic required solution searching, noting that his organization was nearly $5 million over budget in fiscal year 2022.

“Throughout the pandemic, obviously a lot of our costs went up as organizations,” Nelson said. “And really trying to collaboratively find solutions that help make sure we maintain the high quality of care that we have and expect of ourselves and all of our customers expect.”

Forgivable loans and the creation of centers of excellence were two issues raised by Reynolds in discussing teh growth of rural health care in Iowa, adding that two new centers of excellence will be announced soon.

“So even though we have some challenges, we were just named the No. 2 state in the country for health care,” Reynolds said, referencing a recent WalletHub ranking.  “I think a lot of the things that we’re doing are moving the state in the right direction. And so I’m excited about that, excited about the recognition, but you never stop, you continually are looking for ways to improve on the programs that we put in place. Continuous improvement is something I’m proud of.”

Nelson said both Reynolds and U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, a Repubican from Hull, have been “great advocates for us in health care.”

Policy development comes from days like this, Reynolds said.

“That’s the benefit of getting out on the road and sitting down with, like, hospital CEOs, nursing homes, just industry in general,” she said, adding that the purpose is “to really not only find out what’s working but to have a good idea of what’s not working,”

Sioux Center Health has expanded since it was built in 2014 and it now serves a community of more than 8,000 people, offering care from the beginning of life to the end.

During a tour of the facility led by Nelson, Reynolds said she was impressed with the productivity of the facility as well as the number of young people working there.

After the tour, Reynold provided four minutes of media availability to two reporters, answering three questions in total before heading to Le Mars for ice cream and an evening event in Sioux City.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.