ANAMOSA, Iowa (KCRG) – Hospitals across the country are bracing for the impact of Medicaid cuts tied to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but some rural hospitals in Eastern Iowa are benefiting from another provision in the same legislation.
UnityPoint Health Jones Regional Medical Center in Anamosa was awarded $3 million through the new federal Rural Health Transformation Program to purchase a da Vinci surgical robot.
Eric Briesemeister, CEO of Jones Regional Medical Center, said the hospital evaluated its needs before applying for the grant.
“We went through a process and evaluated what would be most useful for us. And the one project we came up with was applying for the da Vinci robot, and so that’s what we submitted,” Briesemeister said.
He said the hospital would not have been able to purchase the robot without the award.
“It’s been something we’ve wanted for a while,” Briesemeister said.
UnityPoint’s Cedar Rapids hospital, St. Luke’s, has had a da Vinci robot for 20 years. Without one in Jones County, patients requiring robotic surgery have been referred to Cedar Rapids.
“With newer surgeons, they really expect and want this technology. And so, currently, without the DaVinci robot and that kind of technology, if they want to be able to operate, all those patients have to go to Cedar Rapids,” Briesemeister said.
The new equipment is expected to allow patients to receive care closer to home.
“But that can be a barrier for a lot of folks, having to travel. And not just them having to travel, but their caregiver having to travel. So, you’ve got to find someone to take you and bring you home from surgery,” Briesemeister said.
Jones Regional Medical Center is not the only rural hospital in Eastern Iowa receiving new equipment through the program. Hospitals in Elkader, Oelwein, and Decorah also received federal grants for new equipment.
Briesemeister said the hospital hopes to have the robot in place and operational by this fall.
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