Iowa news
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to break ground on new North Liberty facility
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics broke ground Thursday on its nearly $400 million North Liberty hospital. The facility, which received approval in September, will be located at the corner of Forevergreen Road and Highway 965. UIHC said it will be able to accommodate up to 48 beds, 21 emergency care rooms, 16 operating rooms and two more procedure rooms, laboratories, a pharmacy, advanced diagnostic imaging, outpatient clinics and teaching and research space. (KCRG)
Iowa will use $3.8 million from opioid settlement to improve addiction treatment
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has announced that his office has awarded $3.8 million to the University of Iowa Hospitals, which will use the money to expand training of health care professionals who want to prescribe addiction-treatment medicine. The five-year grant comes from a $4.7 million settlement Iowa reached with McKinsey and Company, a consulting company that was involved in marketing opioid painkillers. (Des Moines Register)
Through organ and tissue donation, working together to transform lives
Locally, Iowans are saving more lives than ever before through organ donation. Iowa’s sole Organ Procurement Organization, Iowa Donor Network, has already surpassed its previous record of 103 organ donors in a single year, and it’s only October. The previous record, set in 2020, marked an 87% increase in deceased organ donors since 2016 and resulted in 300 organs transplanted. (Des Moines Register)
National news
States can order COVID-19 vaccines for kids 5-11 starting Oct. 20
On Oct. 7, Pfizer submitted its request for the FDA to extend its COVID-19 vaccine’s emergency-use authorization to include children 5-11. Since then, the CDC released a guide to which states can refer when making plans ahead of the FDA’s decision. (Becker’s Hospital Review)
First hospital system in Louisiana creates Medicare Advantage plan
New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System is the first hospital system in Louisiana to create a health insurance arm selling Medicare Advantage policies. Ochsner’s Medicare Advantage plans include prescription drug coverage, fitness, dental, hearing and vision. Ochsner’s premiums and copays begin at $0. The Medicare Advantage plan is integrated into the health system, according to the hospital network. (KTBS)
Nebraska governor issues executive order to expand workforce capacity in hospitals
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has signed an executive order to expand workforce capacity to ensure Nebraskans retain access to health care workers. The executive order suspends some licensing requirements for specialist health care professionals including registered dietitians, radiographers and speech-language pathologists and allows them to practice with out-of-state licenses. It also allows pharmacists to have an unrestricted number of pharmacists and technicians under them to aid in vaccinations. The order is set to expire Dec. 31. (Becker’s Hospital Review)