Henry County Health Center CEO receives award

MT. PLEASANT – Robb Gardner, CEO of Henry County Health Center in Mt. Pleasant, and vice president of government affairs at Great River Health System, West Burlington, recently received the American Hospital Association (AHA) 2019 Grassroots Champion Award. Gardner received the award at the Iowa Hospital Association Annual Meeting in October recognizing his strong track record in grassroots advocacy for HCHC and GRHS and his involvement with AHA advocacy initiatives.

The American Hospital Association Grassroots Champion Award recognizes hospital leaders who:

· Act as tireless advocates for hospitals and patients.

· Effectively educate elected officials about how major issues affect hospitals' vital roles in communities.

· Have broadened the base of community support for hospitals.

Gardner has served as CEO of HCHC since 2009. He has been actively involved in the Iowa Hospital Association, currently serving on the IHA Board of Trustees and Chair of the Council for Health Information. As a member of the IHA Board, Gardner was appointed as a member of IHA's Rural Health Care Innovation Task Force. The task force has focused for the last year on assessing various proposals for rural reform across the country, working to gain support from Iowa hospitals and health systems, and assisting with modeling the proposal to assess the financial impact. This work resulted in a unified Iowa proposal that was presented to Iowa's Congressional delegation in September. Gardner has made numerous trips to Washington DC to advocate on behalf of HCHC and Iowa hospitals and is a regulator attendee at IHA's Hospital Day on the Hill.

'Robb continues to show exceptional leadership in generating grassroots and community activity in support of Henry County Health Center's mission and rural health care as a whole,” said Maureen Keehnle, senior vice president and general counsel, IHA Government Relations and Advocacy. 'He's exceled in hospital advocacy and has consistently shown strong participation in advocacy events and programs, including the IHA PAC.”