Loebsack, HCHC officials discuss rural health care

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

U. S. Congressman Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, told Henry County Health Center (HCHC) administrators yesterday that he feels their pain.

?There is a real lack of understanding concerning the rural areas in Congress,? Loebsack told HCHC administrators. ?The rural areas are not being represented (in Congress).?

Loebsack said he is trying to pick up the slack. ?One of my jobs (in Congress) is to impress upon people how important these rural hospitals are,? he continued. ?There seems to be a feeling in Congress that we have to urbanize health care and that makes no sense in Iowa. Rural health care is being pinched and that is not acceptable to me.?

HCHC CEO Robb Gardner said a recent regulation that is impacting rural hospitals is the direct supervision of outpatient therapy services.

?That kind of became an arbitrary thing,? Gardner noted. ?All of a sudden it came out of a bill that was passed.?

The regulation requires that in certain therapeutic services (out-patient clinics) the hospital has to have providers on campus with credentials to provide the services. Gardner said HCHC can meet the regulation, largely through services provided by the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics.

However, Gardner continued, the providers are not at HCHC every day. For instance, the oncologist spends one day a week at the health center.

That constitutes, he said, an inconvenience for patients. ?There is no reason people should have to drive when they could get the services locally. Many times, patients have to amend their schedules to make their appointment.?

?A lot of people in Washington (D.C.) don?t understand that people have to drive,? agreed Loebsack.

The congressman said his voice has been reduced in Congress since he is a member of the minority party, but quickly added that health care is one area of legislation that receives bipartisan support.

?A lot of times the Republicans come to me because they know I am interested in rural health care,? Loebsack remarked. ?A lot of times it doesn?t make any difference which party you belong to.?

HCHC is fortunate, Gardner pointed out, in a lot of areas. ?We are an independent facility but integrated with regional institutions,? he said. ?We have a great relationship with area hospitals. Secondly, we have a great medical team.?

A couple of other areas discussed were the recent announcement that four large health-insurance providers would be assuming the Medicaid managed system in Iowa and the closure of the Mt. Pleasant Mental Health Institute (MHI).

Gardner noted that all four of the large health-insurance providers ?have had problems.? The number of Iowans on either Medicaid or Medicare is growing daily, he said. Iowa has 560,000 Iowans on Medicaid, Gardner said, and of that number, 4,000-5,000 live in Henry County.

?Our concern is that 50-60 percent of our patients have Medicare and another 17-18 percent are on Medicaid,? he explained.

Loebsack shared Gardner?s concern, relating that he ?has a lot of issues with a lot of the things going on in the state.?

He pointed to the closure of the Mt. Pleasant MHI as being a mistake. ?Even Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) expressed concern with closing the MHI and people having nowhere to go.?

The congressman alleged, ?there wasn?t a lot of thought put into some of these decisions.?

?Closure of the local MHI is very, very unfortunate,? Gardner began. ?It?s unfortunate for the patients and the staff as well. Since it has closed, we have taken patients as far as Sioux City (for treatment).?

Dave Weiss, executive director of clinical services at HCHC, briefed Loebsack on satellite medical clinics the health center has started in Wayland and Winfield.

?We started these as a service,? Weiss explained. ?We don?t make much money on them and (we) subsidize them. However, I think this is an example of health care helping with economic development.?

Gardner thanked Lobesack for visiting the health center and praised him for being a friend of rural health care. ?You?ve been so responsive,? Garnder said. ?We appreciate all your attention to rural health care. Whenever, I have approached you, you have been so attentive.?