More Medical Residency Positions Headed to Iowa Thanks to Grassley Law

BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA– U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced Iowa Methodist Medical Center (UnityPoint) will receive additional Medicare funds to cover added graduate medical education (GME) residency positions in emergency medicine. The positions are a result of a2020 lawGrassley championed as then-Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee to support Iowa’s growing health care workforce needs.
This is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) fourth round of residency funding. Iowa has been awarded federal funding for over 14 permanent additional GME residency positions so far.
“During my 99 county meetings, I hear from patients and health care professionals who tell me our medical workforce needs more support. We especially need more emergency room doctors in rural communities, so today’s announcement is welcome news. I’m gratified to see my efforts are continuing to support Iowans seeking medical care,”Grassley said.
“The additional Medicare-funded residency slots help address critical physician shortages here in Iowa and helps ensure Iowans continue to have access to high quality health care in their local community. Our programs consistently produce physicians and surgeons that remain in Iowa to serve Iowans. We appreciate Senator Grassley’s continued work on this issue,”said Dr. William J. Yost, Chief Academic Officer and Vice President of Medical Education and Research at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.
Below is an overview of GME residency positionsCMS has awardedto Iowa hospitals:
Round
Residency Program Hospital
Additional Positions
Residency Program
Round 1
Iowa Methodist Medical Center (UnityPoint)
2.92
Emergency Medicine
Round 1
MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center
3.00
Family Medicine
Round 2
MercyOne Des Moines
3.00
Cardiovascular Disease
Round 3
Iowa Methodist Medical Center (UnityPoint)
2.75
Emergency Medicine
Round 4
Iowa Methodist Medical Center (UnityPoint)
2.75
Emergency Medicine
Total
14.42
Background:
While chairing the Senate Finance Committee, Grassley worked in 2020 toadd1,000 additional Medicare-funded GME residency positions nationwide to strengthen America’s health care workforce – particularly in rural and underserved communities. This was thelargest increasein Medicare-funded residency positions in over 25 years.
Following furtherGrassley oversight, CMS confirmed it intends to meet the 10% rural hospital distribution threshold in the overall distribution of 1,000 residency positions. Grassley highlighted the importance of distributing medical residency positions to rural areas during aMay 2024Finance Committee hearing, in aMarch 2025Finance Committee nomination hearing and on the Senate floor inMay 2025.
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