Hunter
01/25/22
The University of Iowa received significant pushback from local medical professionals when seeking a certificate of need from the State Health Facilities Council for their ambitious North Liberty campus. Now, they’re doing the same as another group seeks to build a surgery center.
The Gazette reports that the Council is set to consider an application for a $19.2 million Steindler North Liberty Ambulatory Surgery Center near Interstate 380 next month. The site is about a mile and a half from the $395 million project being developed by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Community health care providers raised issues with the UIHC project and it was rejected last February before being approved six months later. Those same providers are expressing concerns about the Steindler facility and University of Iowa Health Care is joining them.
The newspaper quoted a letter UIHC sent this week to the state, which said they are “concerned that the data presented to date suggest construction of six new ambulatory operating rooms would duplicate existing, not fully utilized space at Mercy and the Iowa City Ambulatory Surgery Center.
The Steindler project, if approved, hopes to be completed and functional by January 2024. The newspaper reports that it’s part of a long-range plan for the 36-acre site that includes an orthopedic clinic, hospital, medical office building, and hotel with event space.
Outgoing UIHC Chief Executive Officer Suresh Gunasekaran signed the letter to the state, which asks them to evaluate the need for the Steindler facility using the same data submitted by medical professionals who opposed their project, and use that data to “address, evaluate, and attempt to reconcile any discrepancies” between the UIHC and Steindler applications.
One of the groups opposing the Steindler application, Johnson County Surgical Investors, is pursuing possible legal action to prevent its construction.