Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and the web.
Iowa news
Mercy Iowa City set to open eastern Iowa’s first rehabilitation hospital
After more than one year of construction, a new rehabilitation hospital in Johnson County is set to open next week. Leaders with Mercy Iowa City said the facility, located at 2801 Heartland Drive, fills a desperate need in eastern Iowa, and it is the first of its kind in the area. Laura Phipps, the CEO of the Mercy Iowa City Rehabilitation Hospital, explained the hospital is exclusively for patients who have experienced a serious or traumatic event. Johnson County and the surrounding counties has a need of at least 74 rehabilitation beds daily to help patients recover. (KCRG)
First patient with rare child syndrome linked to COVID-19 released from UnityPoint
An inflammatory disease in children linked to COVID-19 has surfaced in northeast Iowa, children have begun to be diagnosed with a rare illness called PMIS or MIS-C (Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children) as it’s also known. Today, the first patient diagnosed with MIS-C in Iowa, 8-year-old Fortune Djagni was discharged from UnityPoint Hospitals in Cedar Rapids after a 9-day stay in their clinic. (KWWL)
Celsi: Iowa Legislature returns with focus on health care, education
The Legislative session was suspended March 16 and since then, Iowa’s 50 senators and 100 representatives have been working from home. Unfortunately, there is currently no legal way for us to conduct Legislative business remotely, so we must return to the Capitol on June 3 to finish the legislative session. The 2021 fiscal year budget must be completed so it can go into effect on July 1, 2020.
National news
Hospitals, health care sector reel from COVID-19 damage
The global coronavirus pandemic has created a huge need for health care in the U.S., but it also is delivering a devastating financial blow to that sector. COVID-19 worries have kept patients away from doctors’ offices and forced the postponement and cancellation of non-urgent surgeries. The pandemic also has shut down large portions of the American economy, leaving many would-be patients without insurance or in a financial pinch that makes them curb spending. All of this has forced hospitals, health systems and doctors to lay off staff, cut costs and hope a return to normal arrives soon. (Statesville Record Landmark)
US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has teamed up with US Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to introduce bipartisan legislation to ensure sufficient COVID-19 assistance reaches rural health providers. The Save Our Rural Health Providers Act (S.3823) would require the US Department of Health and Human Services to set aside 20 percent of the total $175 billion Provider Relief Fund for rural health providers. The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has added to the financial stresses that are causing the closure of rural hospitals. (Yall Politics)
A bipartisan Senate bill would inject $2 billion to the Rural Health Care program in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The RHC—maintained by the Federal Communications Commission—provides funding to eligible health care providers for telecommunications and broadband services related to health care, including telehealth services. (NextGov.com)