• In Iowa, hospitals now employ more than 74,000 people.  In most counties where there are hospitals, the hospital (or hospitals) are among the five largest employers – and often the number-one employer.  Even in major cities with multiple large employers, hospitals dominate.  In Des Moines, hospitals employ more people than Principal and Wellmark combined.  Hospitals in Davenport provide more jobs than even the gigantic John Deere plant.  In Council Bluffs, the Ameristar Casino is the city’s biggest single employer, but the combined workforces of the two local hospitals are much bigger. 
• These are not ordinary jobs.  Most hospital jobs require a college degree and/or specialized training and offer pay that is commensurate with that advanced education.  Because they each have a large workforce, hospitals are places where careers can be grown and leaders are created (and hospitals will typically assist employees who want to further their education).  This means hospitals are important weapons against Iowa’s persistent “brain drain,” because they are employers that attract young workers and families and help keep them in the community for the long-term. 
• Hospitals are more than the people they employ and the wages they pay as their economic impact ripples out into the community.  In Iowa, this multiplier effect creates thousands of jobs worth billions of dollars.  Hospitals buy products that support local businesses.  They support local charities and community programs with dollars, manpower and expertise that few other organizations can muster.  Hospital employees are a huge market that helps keep local dollars in the local economy.  They buy groceries, cars, fuel, homes and countless other products.  They also pay taxes that keep schools open, streets maintained and police officers on watch. 

IHA believes it is important to view hospitals through the economic lens, especially for our government leaders who control much of the revenue hospitals depend upon.  As those leaders make important economic choices (between supporting more casinos, for example, or protecting the Medicaid budget), they must remember that hospitals are a wise investment. 

Shortchanging hospitals means shortchanging Iowa’s economy and threatening its chances for future growth.

Edra Fouts
Stoddard Care Coordinator
Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines

At the John Stoddard Cancer Center at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Registered nurse Edra Fouts makes a difference in the lives of her patients and their families on a daily basis. From the first day she arrived at Stoddard, Edra did everything possible to make sure her breast cancer patients received the best care possible.  She cares for each and every one of them with her whole heart.

Recently, Edra spent several hours at the end of her day with a dying patient to help write cards to the patient’s three children and mother for special events (birthdays, Mother’s Day, graduations). Edra didn’t think twice about spending countless hours with the patient to make sure the cards were finished.

Somehow, Edra still finds time to dedicate herself to a number of other projects, including Pink Saturdays, a free mammogram screening partnership; serving on the Polk Metro Breast Cancer Committee; traveling to Washington, D.C. to lobby for breast cancer implants for her patients; serving as a Komen for the Cure board member for one year; facilitating a multidisciplinary breast cancer conference; and mentoring new Stoddard Care Coordinators. Edra has also made herself available for countless presentation requests on breast cancer, traveling to area businesses, churches and leadership groups to share her knowledge.

Edra is a Hospital Hero because of her endless dedication to her patients and in the fight against breast cancer. Watching patients who have become friends pass away from the disease is not an easy thing to do. But Edra strives to do everything possible to make sure her patients are receiving the best care and support they need to fight cancer. She never thinks twice about giving of herself and is truly an amazing nurse, friend and hero.

Iowa Headlines

Hospice workers get life out of caring for dying
Joyce  Hutchison continues to use her passion and years of experience to educate others about the benefits of hospice. Part of that is overcoming fear. Going to hospice won’t make patients die any sooner, she said.  (November 4, Des Moines Register)

Genesis will demonstrate da Vinci surgery system
Da Vinci offers a precise, minimally invasive procedure for hysterectomies and prostatectomies. Patients benefit with a faster recovery time, shorter hospital stay, less pain, less scarring and quicker return to normal activities.  (November 5, Quad-City Times)

Harkin asks big insurers to explain rate practices
Sen. Tom Harkin said this week he was launching an investigation into health insurance pricing, asking four major insurers to justify their pricing practices.  An industry spokesman called the move unfair and misguided.  (November 4, Des Moines Register)

U.S.  Headlines

Costs at urban hospitals may get extra scrutiny in health bill
As Congress struggles to rein in health care costs as part of its sweeping reform efforts, hospitals in New York City and other urban areas that provide some of the most expensive care are among the primary targets.  (November 2, New York Times)

Health bills aim a light on doctors’ conflicts
As part of the health care overhaul under consideration by Congress, lawmakers have included so-called sunshine provisions intended to shed light on the financial relationships between the medical industry and doctors.  (November 3, New York Times)

Program will monitor Maryland doctors’ hand-washing
State officials said this week they’re creating teams of staff members at hospitals around the state to secretly monitor their colleagues’ hand-washing habits as part of a first-of-its-kind program. The monitors will contribute to a systemwide report on hand-washing, using $100,000 in federal stimulus money.  (November 3, Associated Press)

Texas lawmakers try to give doctor-owned hospitals a dose of help
Texas House members are mounting a late effort to delay new limits on physician-owned hospitals, putting them at odds with Democratic leaders who think the facilities drive up health care costs.  (November 5, Dallas Morning News)

Nurses union reaches deal on H1N1 safety in U.S.
The H1N1 pact, announced on Monday as part of a contract settlement between the California Nurses Association and Catholic Healthcare West, averted a one-day strike threatened by thousands of registered nurses at more than 30 hospitals.  (November 2, Reuters)

Hospitals make slow progress in harnessing the ‘social’ aspects of social media
Hospitals’ current social media activties can be classified across to five major areas: brand management, real-time public relations, volume generation, non-marketing functions and community building. But only a small amount of hospital activity in the social media space could be described as “social.”  Rather, the majority of these efforts are either one-way “monologues” or bounded two-way conversations with little staying power.   (October 31, iHealthBeat)

At the health care reform summit last week, President Obama told attendees, “The time for reform is now and these regional forums are some of the key first steps toward breaking the stalemate we have been stuck in for far too long.  The forums will bring together diverse groups of people all over the country who have a stake in reforming our health care system and ask them to put forward their best ideas about how we bring down costs and expand coverage for American families.”

The forum will be hosted by Iowa Governor Chet Culver and, according to a statement released by the White House, the dialogue will include “participants ranging from doctors to patients to providers to policy experts.  They will be open conversations with everyday Americans, local, state and federal elected officials both Democrat and Republican, as well as senior Obama administration officials.”

The Iowa event will be held in Des Moines on March 23 and is tentatively scheduled to be located at the Polk County Convention Complex.  The governor’s office has indicated that 200-500 individuals representing a wide variety of perspectives on the issue will be invited to attend.  The conference will begin with a video recorded by the president, a summary of the findings from the Health Care Community Discussions that took place in December and an overview of the discussion that took place at the White House Forum on Health Reform.

“The governor is thrilled that the White House has chosen Iowa to host one of these important health care meetings,” Culver spokesman Troy Price said.  “So many Iowans and Americans face challenges to accessing quality, affordable health care every single day.  Now they will be given an opportunity share those concerns.”

Iowa Senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley have both indicated they plan to attend the forum.

A live video stream of the forum is intended to be available on the newly created Health and Human Services Web site at www.healthreform.gov so that the public can be involved in what is being discussed.