Thank you for writing about what is happening to rural healthcare. I wish this legislature and this governor would write legislation that deals with the future of our state instead of focusing on these dangerously silly culture issues that cause many more problems than they will ever solve.
This is a sobering analysis, which, as a recently retired physician and longtime advocate for better rural health, comes as no surprise. Thank you for laying this out so coherently. I wish our local state senator and representative would read this and comment in public, as would our governor, whom I am now convinced is infatuated with power and cares not a whit about this state. (BTW I live only a few miles away from you.)
Great post, great information. I recently read that Iowa is the only state in which the number of cases of cancer is increasing. Yet the legislature is doing nothing to address that. There are lots of challenges to life in rural Iowa as the population in many counties continues to age and decline in number.
This is an excellent, knowledgeable exploration of rural hospital survival; however a poor selection of an example: if 1.5/day inpatients (licensed for 49!) and 24 outpatient visits/day is accurate in a town with nearly 10,000 residents then this facility is moribund and should be put to sleep.
Obviously residents are electing to go elsewhere for care (Fort Madison is 30 minutes to the north and Quincy, IL is less than an hour to the south). Whether this is due to community reputational disaster or administrative mismanagement is moot and the residents are voting with their feet.
I suspect a major factor is a lack of medical professionals to staff the facility and parade through patients from which competent administration can extract fees for lab, imaging and surgical services to keep the hospital afloat. Particularly crucial are the surgeons, in residence or visiting, which are the facility's bread and butter.
Resuscitation is possible--after all, the buildings still stand and I don't see online a competing organization. But this would require recruitment of a competent and complementary physician staff and a new adminstration, both of which would require some start-up funding. Given the size of the community this will likely happen at some point.
Thank you for the excellent review of rural hospital situations and available and evolving support.
Yes. In fact, the current leadership seems to not respect any advice from healthcare professionals, going against scientific studies on mask wearing for example, ignoring carcinogens, and of course being contrary to advice from the AMA concerning legal abortion. I one time wrote Joni Ernst because she was accusing doctors of infanticide. I asked her to consult with national groups to get the facts because she was making a dangerous climate for doctors. Instead, I got a form letter in reply accusing doctors of infanticide. (She also accused hospitals of making extra money from covid.) Besides having few doctors, Iowa hospitals have scant security for their healthcare professionals while subjecting them to hostility.
Thank you for writing about what is happening to rural healthcare. I wish this legislature and this governor would write legislation that deals with the future of our state instead of focusing on these dangerously silly culture issues that cause many more problems than they will ever solve.
This is a sobering analysis, which, as a recently retired physician and longtime advocate for better rural health, comes as no surprise. Thank you for laying this out so coherently. I wish our local state senator and representative would read this and comment in public, as would our governor, whom I am now convinced is infatuated with power and cares not a whit about this state. (BTW I live only a few miles away from you.)
Great post, great information. I recently read that Iowa is the only state in which the number of cases of cancer is increasing. Yet the legislature is doing nothing to address that. There are lots of challenges to life in rural Iowa as the population in many counties continues to age and decline in number.
This is an excellent, knowledgeable exploration of rural hospital survival; however a poor selection of an example: if 1.5/day inpatients (licensed for 49!) and 24 outpatient visits/day is accurate in a town with nearly 10,000 residents then this facility is moribund and should be put to sleep.
Obviously residents are electing to go elsewhere for care (Fort Madison is 30 minutes to the north and Quincy, IL is less than an hour to the south). Whether this is due to community reputational disaster or administrative mismanagement is moot and the residents are voting with their feet.
I suspect a major factor is a lack of medical professionals to staff the facility and parade through patients from which competent administration can extract fees for lab, imaging and surgical services to keep the hospital afloat. Particularly crucial are the surgeons, in residence or visiting, which are the facility's bread and butter.
Resuscitation is possible--after all, the buildings still stand and I don't see online a competing organization. But this would require recruitment of a competent and complementary physician staff and a new adminstration, both of which would require some start-up funding. Given the size of the community this will likely happen at some point.
Thank you for the excellent review of rural hospital situations and available and evolving support.
Yes. In fact, the current leadership seems to not respect any advice from healthcare professionals, going against scientific studies on mask wearing for example, ignoring carcinogens, and of course being contrary to advice from the AMA concerning legal abortion. I one time wrote Joni Ernst because she was accusing doctors of infanticide. I asked her to consult with national groups to get the facts because she was making a dangerous climate for doctors. Instead, I got a form letter in reply accusing doctors of infanticide. (She also accused hospitals of making extra money from covid.) Besides having few doctors, Iowa hospitals have scant security for their healthcare professionals while subjecting them to hostility.