Hunter
08/25/24
A new study says more health care facilities have closed in Iowa than new ones opening to replace them.
The Des Moines Register reports mental health care centers are especially hardest-hit, with centers closing at the highest rate over the past decade.
The report was published this week by Common Sense Institute Iowa. It says over 600 healthcare facilities closed between 2008 and 2023, compared to fewer than 450 new facilities opening.
Available mental health facilities have decreased 94 percent since 2008. Of the 180 facilities that closed up, over half of them shut down between 2020 and 2023.
Another concern found by the research is the financial vulnerability of Iowa’s hospitals, with more than half operating at a loss in 2022. Data from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform estimates 28 hospitals in the state only have enough reserves to cover their losses for six to seven years, with ten hospitals only having about three years of reserves to keep their doors open.
The report also estimates a significant shortage in the healthcare workforce, mainly the product of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel growing older and retiring at a higher rate. In their report, Common Sense Institute Iowa urges lawmakers and the healthcare industry to come up with ways to increase incentives for younger people to get into the medical profession.