Once-threadbare public hospital opens $22 million addition

Many patients at Polk County’s public hospital will start seeing doctors, dentists and counselors in a new building next week, partly thanks to Obamacare.

Leaders of Broadlawns Medical Center celebrated the new, four-story addition Thursday. It will house an expanded dental clinic, outpatient mental-health services, addiction treatment, a pain-treatment clinic and a family-practice clinic whose goals will include training young doctors.

The gleaming building is part of a five-year, $60 million plan to rebuild and expand Broadlawns. The addition is on the east end of a hospital complex that used to be threadbare. “You couldn’t have imagined, I don’t think, 10 years ago, where Broadlawns is today,” said Gov. Terry Branstad, who helped cut the ribbon at Thursday’s celebration.

Broadlawns, which is owned by Polk County taxpayers, has thrived in recent years after nearing financial collapse more than a decade ago. Part of the reason for its success has been that many Iowans who used to lack health insurance now have coverage due to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. More than 150,000 poor Iowa adults have gained Medicaid coverage under the law. In the Des Moines area, many of those people used to rely on free care from Broadlawns.

Broadlawns Chief Executive Officer Jody Jenner said the 72,000-square foot addition is the result of years of planning and examination of what the Des Moines area needs. “Today really represents a major step in closing a lot of health care shortages and gaps in this community,” he said.

The $22 million building’s dental area has twice as much capacity as the old one. It will be able to handle up to 22 patients at a time. The dental program’s patients will include many poor Iowans, who often have trouble finding private dentists who will take their Medicaid coverage.

Jenner said the expanded outpatient mental health program in the new building should take some pressure off Broadlawns’ inpatient psychiatric unit, which is almost always full. The public hospital also plans to add 14 beds to that 30-bed inpatient wing, at a time when many other Iowa hospitals are closing or trimming their inpatient psychiatric units. Jenner said the public hospital’s improved facilities have helped leaders recruit new staff members, including psychiatrists, who are in severely short supply.

Branstad, a Republican who opposed Obamacare, agreed in 2013 to go along with a version of the law’s Medicaid expansion, with the federal government picking up most of the tab. President Donald Trump and Republicans controlling Congress are working to repeal the law.

Branstad, who is set to become Trump’s ambassador to China, said in an interview after Thursday’s ribbon-cutting that Iowans who gained Medicaid coverage under Obamacare won’t be left in the lurch. “We’re very confident we’re going to be able to maintain this program,” he said. “I’ve been in touch both with the administration and with Congress on this issue, and we feel very good about it.”

He said the Obamacare replacement plan being debated in Congress this week should offer states more flexibility to try new ways to manage Medicaid programs. Critics predict that over time, states will wind up with less federal money and will have to cut enrollment or benefits, but the governor remained optimistic. “We want to make sure that we not only have the flexibility, but we have the resources.”