Des Moines, IA- A new report ranks Iowa’s healthcare system 17th in the nation, down from 4th in February of 2020.
Radio Iowa reports that the Commonwealth Fund’s State Health System Performance scorecard added seven data points related to COVID-19 response, and Iowa ranks 22nd in COVID-related measures.
The report’s lead researcher David Radley said that it shows Iowa’s ICUs were at 80% capacity from August of 2020 to March of 2022.
“Anytime you’re near or above that sort of 80% threshold, it really is putting a lot of stress on the delivery system,” he says, “and we certainly saw that play out in Iowa.”
Radley said one thing that stood out was the amount of time it took to vaccinate 70% of Iowans.
“The fastest states got that 70%, you know, vaccine – fully vaccinated in around 200 days in Iowa it took 431 days,” he says, “so, you know, that’s sort of double the fastest pace.”
Hawaii and Massachusetts ranked the highest in the report for COVID response.
