Grinnell, IA – April 1, 2021 – A recent Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) report reflects UnityPoint Health – Grinnell Regional Medical Center’s (GRMC) significant economic impact on Poweshiek County and included communities, in addition to providing health care services for patients within a six-county rural region.
The IHA indicates GRMC had a $42 million dollar impact on the local economy and generated almost 550 jobs, direct and indirect. At the same time GRMC employees spend more than $8.5 million with local retailers and pay more than $500,000 in sales tax on purchased items.
“Our mission is to improve the health of the people and communities we serve,” says Kyle Wilcox, MHA, FACHE, FHFMA, vice president of finance and operations at GRMC. “We do that with the health care and services our team members provide in our hospital and clinics, but also with the economic and workforce impact our rural, local hospital gives to our county, communities and region.”
The IHA study examined the jobs, income, retail sales and sales tax produced by hospitals and the rest of the state’s health care sector. The study was compiled from hospital-submitted data on the American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey of Hospitals and with software that other industries have used to determine their economic impact.
The latest study found that Iowa hospitals create over 76,000 direct jobs with 143,816 total jobs either directly or indirectly tied to hospitals in the state. As an income source, hospitals provide more than $5 billion in salaries and benefits.
In all, the health care sector, which includes offices of physicians, dentists and other health practitioners, nursing home and residential care, other medical and health services and pharmacies, contributes over $19.5 billion impact to Iowa’s economy while directly and indirectly providing 344,495 jobs.
