Like every state in the nation, Iowa is dealing with a shortage of doctors and healthcare staff, rising costs of care, and the need to ensure access to quality services in rural and underserved areas of our state. But we have a strong foundation on which to build:
Iowa’s 2024 Healthcare rankings:
1st — Lowest Healthcare Costs (WalletHub, 2024)
4th — Best Healthcare System (WalletHub, 2024)
9th — Healthcare Access (US News & World Report, 2024)
10th — Healthcare Quality & Prevention for Women (Commonwealth Fund, 2024)
11th — Best State to Have a Baby (WalletHub, 2024)
12th — Healthcare Outcomes (WalletHub, 2024)
14th — Women’s Health (Commonwealth Fund, 2024)
Leveraging our strong public-private partnerships, we will continue to build upon this foundation and confront any challenges head on. To that end, the Governor is proposing comprehensive rural healthcare legislation to continue to promote the health and well-being of all Iowans.
GOV. REYNOLDS PROPOSES:
- Investing $642,000 into newly unbundled Medicaid maternal rates
- Working with CMS to implement a funding model to stabilize labor and delivery units and incentivize regional partnerships between hospitals
- Consolidating and more than doubling funding for our student loan repayment programs
- Establishing a Medicaid Graduate Medical Education (GME) enhanced payment to draw down over $150 million in federal dollars for more residency slots in Iowa's 14 teaching hospitals
- Streamlining the approval process for certificates of need (CON) to build new healthcare facilities or enhance current ones
- Improving the Health Information Exchange network by authorizing HHS to competitively procure and manage it
Maternal Health Investments
We must make sure that mothers and their babies are well cared for throughout pregnancy and beyond. On average, Iowa women are only an 11-mile drive from a birthing hospital, but not every hospital has the capability to address a complex pregnancy and delivery.
Over the last four years, we have worked with the legislature to fund three “Centers of Excellence” across the state to focus on maternal healthcare.
To further develop this “hub-and-spoke” model and support maternal health providers across the state, the Governor’s proposal will:
- Invest $642,000 into unbundled Medicaid maternal rates, including for midwives and doulas
- Direct Iowa HHS to seek federal approval to provide more Medicaid rate flexibility, with the goal of incentivizing creative regional partnerships
Streamlining the Medical Facility Approval Process
The Governor’s proposal will streamline the approval process for CONs to build new healthcare facilities or enhance current ones by eliminating the Health Facilities Council and shifting the review to HHS with the support of a new health care economist.
The new health care economist will also help to develop the report on the state of Iowa’s healthcare economy and the CON process required by a law passed last session.
Physician Recruitment & Retention
The entire country is currently grappling with a worsening physician shortage, resulting in a fierce competition for medical professionals. At 44th for physicians per capita, Iowa must do better.
To recruit and retain more physicians in high-demand fields, Governor Reynolds proposes to:
- Consolidate and more than double our investment in five existing state healthcare loan repayment programs
- Establish a Medicaid GME enhanced payment to draw down more than $150 million federal dollars to create a projected 115 new residency slots at our 14 hospitals, fully implemented over four years for 460 new physicians trained right here in Iowa
Health Information Exchange Improvements
To prepare for the future of healthcare and better support patients, we need to continue to buildout a superhighway of data sharing to connect all of Iowa’s hospitals and health providers.
Governor Reynolds’ bill provides HHS with the authority to competitively procure and manage the network and replace the board with an advisory committee.