A new report claims Iowa’s health care industry adds $6.2 billion dollars to the state’s economy. Scott McIntyre is spokesman for the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA), which conducted the study. “Our hospitals alone provide more than 71,000 jobs and about $4 billion dollars in economic impact,” McIntyre says.
Overall, Iowa’s health care sector provides nearly 294,000 jobs. McIntyre says the data is compiled annually and shared with legislators and other key decision makers to spread awareness of the impact hospitals and other health care operations have on Iowa’s economy. “Not everybody is aware of that, not everybody looks at health care and hospitals as an economic engine, but the reality is they are a large economic engine,” McIntyre says.
As an income source, the report notes Iowa’s 118 community hospitals provide $4.2 billion in salaries and benefits and generate another $1.8 billion through other jobs that depend on hospitals. The entire health care sector is responsible for about one-fifth of the state’s total non-farm employment.