Adding to the growing list of construction and renovation projects that University of Iowa Health Care is pursuing in and around its campus, UIHC now is asking a development team to design, plan and build a new primary care medical office building in Iowa City.
The goal of erecting a UIHC-operated location in the same town as its main sprawling campus of more than 1 million square feet is to “increase access to primary medical care for the local community as well as train physicians in a setting most similar to other Iowa primary care offices.”
“UIHC will be the long-term tenant of the facility following successful completion of the project,” according to a request for qualifications from prospective developers. “The building will consist of exam rooms, diagnostic imaging, pathology lab, and associated spaces.”
Advertisement
The project comes as UIHC is building or pursuing a growing list of facility endeavors — like a $525.6 million hospital in North Liberty; a $95 million vertical expansion of its existing inpatient tower; a $24.6 million renovation of its emergency room; an $8 million conversion of its south wing into inpatient rooms; and an entirely new inpatient tower it expects to spend $620.9 million on in the next five years.
UIHC officials have cited soaring patient demand, full beds and tight quarters in making the case for its explosive growth. When arguing last year for state approval to build in North Liberty, UIHC emphasized its focus on advanced and acute care that only it — as Iowa’s single academic medical center — can provide to the state’s sickest patients.
“The kind of care UIHC delivers cannot be relocated to a community hospital,” UIHC officials in August 2021 told a state board considering approval of the North Liberty project — disputing assertions the university was veering out of its lane and threatening community hospitals.
“Expansion of tertiary care services at UIHC does not threaten community hospitals,” officials said then, using the “tertiary and quaternary” term defining specialized and advance-level care.
But administrators with those Eastern Iowa community hospitals that sounded alarms UIHC was threatening their patient and staffing pool — and thus their livelihood — told The Gazette that the university’s community care development endeavor illustrates their earlier warnings and opposition.
“UnityPoint Health continues to have concerns with UIHC increasing its presence in primary care rather than focusing on tertiary health care,” Michelle Niermann, UnityPoint Health-Cedar Rapids president and chief executive officer, said in an email.
Newsletter Signup
Delivered to your inbox every day
In arguing against the need for UIHC expansion a year ago, Niermann cited there was “significant capacity” at existing hospitals across Eastern Iowa — including more than 40 percent of UnityPoint’s available space at the time, more than half of Mercy Medical Center-Cedar Rapids’ space and more than 70 percent at Mercy Hospital Iowa City.
“Given the role of our organization as a leader in primary care, market research has indicated our community is already well represented in primary and urgent care options,” Niermann said last week.
When asked how the UIHC community care expansion — which doesn’t require state approval — might affect UnityPoint Health, she said, “We remain concerned about developments that may draw care out of communities across the state and have the potential to weaken Iowa’s community and rural hospitals.
“During the State’s Certificate of Need Hearing for the North Liberty hospital, UIHC indicated their intent was not to duplicate services already offered by existing community hospitals,” Niermann said. “Since this hearing, UIHC has opened an urgent care in downtown Cedar Rapids, which is directly competing and duplicating existing options.”
Of UIHC’s 78 locations statewide, it already has 21 in the Iowa City area and another three in Cedar Rapids — most of which offer some form of “family medicine” or primary care. The state has at least 125 hospitals — including 83 in the smallest classification; four characterized as rehabilitation or long-term acute care hospitals; 15 rural or rural referral hospitals; and 23 urban hospitals.
That doesn’t include specialty clinics — like Steindler Orthopedics — and surgical centers.
“Again,” Niermann said, “research has indicated primary and urgent care needs are currently being met by community hospital options.”
A spokeswoman for Mercy Iowa City — founded nearly 150 years ago and sitting just 2 miles east of the main UIHC campus — agreed with Niermann that “the region is well served with the current number of primary care physicians, clinics, hospital beds and health care entities.”
“As Iowa City’s first and only community hospital, Mercy Iowa City is proud of its long-standing commitment to providing high quality patient care, whether it is for primary care or within our scope as a community hospital,” Lisa Steigledar, Mercy Hospital Foundation president and marketing and community relations director, told The Gazette.
The goal of erecting a UIHC-operated location in the same town as its main sprawling campus of more than 1 million square feet is to “increase access to primary medical care for the local community as well as train physicians in a setting most similar to other Iowa primary care offices.”
“UIHC will be the long-term tenant of the facility following successful completion of the project,” according to a request for qualifications from prospective developers. “The building will consist of exam rooms, diagnostic imaging, pathology lab, and associated spaces.”
Advertisement
The project comes as UIHC is building or pursuing a growing list of facility endeavors — like a $525.6 million hospital in North Liberty; a $95 million vertical expansion of its existing inpatient tower; a $24.6 million renovation of its emergency room; an $8 million conversion of its south wing into inpatient rooms; and an entirely new inpatient tower it expects to spend $620.9 million on in the next five years.
UIHC officials have cited soaring patient demand, full beds and tight quarters in making the case for its explosive growth. When arguing last year for state approval to build in North Liberty, UIHC emphasized its focus on advanced and acute care that only it — as Iowa’s single academic medical center — can provide to the state’s sickest patients.
“The kind of care UIHC delivers cannot be relocated to a community hospital,” UIHC officials in August 2021 told a state board considering approval of the North Liberty project — disputing assertions the university was veering out of its lane and threatening community hospitals.
“Expansion of tertiary care services at UIHC does not threaten community hospitals,” officials said then, using the “tertiary and quaternary” term defining specialized and advance-level care.
Opposition
But administrators with those Eastern Iowa community hospitals that sounded alarms UIHC was threatening their patient and staffing pool — and thus their livelihood — told The Gazette that the university’s community care development endeavor illustrates their earlier warnings and opposition.
“UnityPoint Health continues to have concerns with UIHC increasing its presence in primary care rather than focusing on tertiary health care,” Michelle Niermann, UnityPoint Health-Cedar Rapids president and chief executive officer, said in an email.
Daily News
Newsletter Signup
In arguing against the need for UIHC expansion a year ago, Niermann cited there was “significant capacity” at existing hospitals across Eastern Iowa — including more than 40 percent of UnityPoint’s available space at the time, more than half of Mercy Medical Center-Cedar Rapids’ space and more than 70 percent at Mercy Hospital Iowa City.
“Given the role of our organization as a leader in primary care, market research has indicated our community is already well represented in primary and urgent care options,” Niermann said last week.
When asked how the UIHC community care expansion — which doesn’t require state approval — might affect UnityPoint Health, she said, “We remain concerned about developments that may draw care out of communities across the state and have the potential to weaken Iowa’s community and rural hospitals.
“During the State’s Certificate of Need Hearing for the North Liberty hospital, UIHC indicated their intent was not to duplicate services already offered by existing community hospitals,” Niermann said. “Since this hearing, UIHC has opened an urgent care in downtown Cedar Rapids, which is directly competing and duplicating existing options.”
Of UIHC’s 78 locations statewide, it already has 21 in the Iowa City area and another three in Cedar Rapids — most of which offer some form of “family medicine” or primary care. The state has at least 125 hospitals — including 83 in the smallest classification; four characterized as rehabilitation or long-term acute care hospitals; 15 rural or rural referral hospitals; and 23 urban hospitals.
That doesn’t include specialty clinics — like Steindler Orthopedics — and surgical centers.
“Again,” Niermann said, “research has indicated primary and urgent care needs are currently being met by community hospital options.”
A spokeswoman for Mercy Iowa City — founded nearly 150 years ago and sitting just 2 miles east of the main UIHC campus — agreed with Niermann that “the region is well served with the current number of primary care physicians, clinics, hospital beds and health care entities.”
“As Iowa City’s first and only community hospital, Mercy Iowa City is proud of its long-standing commitment to providing high quality patient care, whether it is for primary care or within our scope as a community hospital,” Lisa Steigledar, Mercy Hospital Foundation president and marketing and community relations director, told The Gazette.
UI eyes new primary care expansion in Iowa City
Adding to the growing list of construction and renovation projects University of Iowa Health Care is pursuing in and around its campus, UIHC now is asking an outside development team to design, plan and build it a new primary care medical office building in Iowa City. Competing hospitals are...
www.thegazette.com