Iowa Ideas 2023

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Health Care

Physical and behavioral need for generations.
  • SESSION 6

    Creative Career Pathways

    A discussion on health care careers through the lens of Iowa’s newest and longest-term health care staff and to what extent technology can help ease workforce pressures. Are enough students progressing through the different disciplines as proponents suggested? What can be done to draw in the internationally-trained workforce?

    October 12, 2023 at 10:10AM

    • Anne Boesen

    • Katie Lyman

  • SESSION 7

    Cancer in Iowa

    Iowa’s cancer rate was second only to Kentucky, with more than 20,000 new instances of cancer expected to be diagnosed in Iowans this year. Why is the rate so high and what can be done to bring numbers lower? This discussion will include a look at the rates across population segments, access to treatments as well as a look at clinical trials being done within Iowa.

    October 12, 2023 at 11:15AM

    • Dr. Richard Deming

    • Sarah Nash

    • Dr. Michael Henry

  • SESSION

    Mental Health

    How should Iowa’s mental health system be reimagined to solve access, fragmented care and high out of pocket costs and create a system that operates more seamlessly? What are the main barriers that are impacting the adult system, and what needs to be done to help scale up a system focused on children?

    October 12, 2023 at 1:20PM

  • SESSION

    Leadership Roundtable

    This session will feature a panel of Iowa’s health care leaders to talk about major health issues, including systems, facilities and patient care. Topics will include current trends and issues in the state’s hospitals, nursing homes and care facilities and what’s being done to address the challenges.

    October 12, 2023 at 2:25PM

    • Michelle Niermann

    • Brent Willett

  • SESSION

    Preventative care

    This session will look at the shift to focus on preventative health care measures. Have the measures helped return to pre-COVID numbers, or has the pandemic shifted the trajectory? While cost of care are always identified as a challenge, what’s being done to shift mindset to focus on taking steps and changing patient behaviors to focus on things before they’re in response to a medical condition.

    October 13, 2023 at 8:30AM

    • Jared Kast

    • Dr. Dustin Arnold

  • SESSION

    Rural Health Care in Iowa

    How will rural Iowans access health care close to home in 20 years? This session will look at the new emergency rural hospital designation and other steps that are being put into place in Iowa’s rural health system. The session will look at what steps may also be needed, as well as how folks can tell whether the programs are working.

    October 13, 2023 at 9:40AM

  • SESSION

    The Needs of Aging Iowans

    Aging in place is something many older Iowans want to do. Are the supports necessary to help Iowans do it in place? This session will look at ideas being tried to help address concerns as well as what can be done in scalable ways in Iowa.

    October 13, 2023 at 10:45AM

    • Shelly Sindt

    • Paige Yontz

    • Angela Van Pelt


Health Care Articles

  • Emergency preparedness plans take into account unconnected disasters taking place at the same time. But the confluence of the derecho and pandemic — and the need to follow public health measures that, at times, clashed with typical natural disaster response — placed an additional burden on Cedar Rapids hospitals.
  • Even as much of the nation began to emerge from the pandemic this summer, some have struggled to feel as if things are back to normal. The percentage of Americans reporting feelings of anxiety or depression spiked this past year as the COVID-19 spread across the globe and into the United States by early March 2020.
  • The pandemic public health emergency placed an overwhelming burden on an already underfunded and understaffed public health workforce. For at least 15 months, staff at public health agencies have worked seven days a week, sometimes unable to take more than two hours away at a time from their email and phones, administrators told The Gazette. The...
  • The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the state's health care system in truly unique ways as elective and preventive care was put on hold for weeks. What did health care systems learn from the pandemic and how does it change how the state's health care system will work going forward? How did health care come together, and how can it be improved? We'l...
  • The COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice protests following the murder of George Floyd brought the disparities that communities of color have with health care. We'll take a look into the gaps Blacks and Latinx communities face when it comes to health care access. What is being done to close these gaps and what challenges exist in Iowa? Panelis...
  • Prescription drug prices is a pocketbook issue with voters, but progress in controlling prescription drug pricing has been difficult to get traction on. The COVID-19 pandemic complicated an already difficult scenario too. How have state reforms been working and what will it take to get meaningful on the issue? Panelists Include: Anthony Carroll,...
  • With Iowa's rural health providers seeing challenges even in the best of times, the coronavirus pandemic has brought forth an entire new host of challenges for Iowa's rural health providers. The pause on appointments had a big impact to finances, but how did telehealth help and could some of those changes become permanent? How does Iowa's rural ...
  • The elements of 2020 are ingredients for a dramatic increase in mental health issues across the state. Quarantine fatigue, political stressors, shifts in family and social dynamics are jolting all areas of life. How do we differentiate between expected bouts of anxiety vs. high-risk, long-term impact? Panelists include: Peggy Huppert, NAMI; Jaco...
  • The coronavirus pandemic has created an especially challenging set of conditions for delivering care to Iowa's aging populations, who are especially vulnerable to the effects of COVID. What will this mean for the future of care facilities – from design to care? How is this impacting hospice and family caregivers? Panelists Include: Brent WIllett...
  • With EMS not considered an essential service, providing emergency medical services in rural Iowa is becoming an increasing challenge. Lower reimbursements and fewer volunteers are making providing an ambulance in rural areas a real challenge. Panelists include: Jack Seward, Washington County Iowa Supervisor, Andi Deering, Allamakee-Clayton Elect...

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