Clinic director defends U-of-I subsidies

A weekend report on University of Iowa satellite clinics noted that some are losing money and may be closed. Grinnell Medical Center has sponsored the Deer Creek clinic in Toledo, and C-E-O Todd Linden says the aim is to make healthcare more accessible to rural Iowans.He says sometimes a parent organization like the Grinnell hospital will subsidize such a start-up to get it going, using money from its patient revenues. He says though the satellite clinic was subsidized for a year or two, it should be self-sufficient by the end of this year, not bad for a new site. Linden says the only concern is whether public money is being used to set up the clinics.He admits the University’s a state-owned organization, but says the clinic’s funded by patients who might pay with their own cash, insurance money, or state money designated for the health care provided to Medicaid and Medicare patients. The money coming in to the clinics is from people who choose University clinics for their healthcare provider, which he says helps support the goal of bringing health care to rural communities. Linden compares it to Grinnell Medical Center starting up clinics of its own, which it’s done in Lynnville and Victor.