The Iowa Medical Society has released its final report for the second Operation I.O.W.A. (Innovative Opportunities for Workforce Action) Phase II. The report is designed to advance the  statewide effort started last year to find solutions for Iowa’s physician workforce shortage with solutions.

Operation IOWA began with a summit of more than 60 physician leaders, health care executives, and community stakeholders. The Phase I report, produced in January, included 24 recommendations to strengthen physician recruitment and retention. Among the most urgent priorities identified were expanding Graduate Medical Education residency training slots, reducing financial barriers for medical students and reducing time-consuming administrative burdens for physicians, a news release said.

During this year’s legislative session, several efforts related to recommendations in the Phase I report were passed including, a $150 million investment to expand residency slots, doubling the rural health care loan repayment fund to $8 million, passage of prior authorization reform.

“These successes prove what can be achieved when physicians’ voices are at the center of policymaking,” Dr. Alison Lynch, president of the Iowa Medical Society, said in a prepared statement. “Phase I laid the groundwork. Phase II is where we begin turning strategy into sustained action beyond the statehouse and into practice sites and academia.”

The second phase of the report focuses on tactical strategies to:
– Expand the physician pipeline by continuing efforts to increase residency slots and strengthening recruitment of early-career physicians through mentorship and early engagement.
– Improve Iowa’s physician practice environment by enhancing reimbursement rates, fostering competition among health care payers and promoting physician leadership development.
– Reduce barriers to practice by eliminating administrative burdens oh physicians.

Iowa ranks 44th in the nation for patient-to-physician ratio per 100,000 population, and Iowa has the fewest OB/GYNs per capita of any U.S. state, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The full Operation IOWA Phase II report is available here.