“Most clinics have about a 30 percent retention rate,” he said. “Our process is really to match candidates with the area and make sure they have a solid reason they want to stay in the Cedar Valley and practice.” CVMS added a new specialty – urology – in mid-2014 when it brought in the first of three specialists in that area from the University of Iowa who are trained in robotic surgery. All three – along with a physician’s assistant – were scheduled to be in place by the fall of 2015. “It’s an area that has had a national shortage, and this is an important addition to the Cedar Valley,” Irey said. “Now, there are many people who can get this particular type of care without having to travel to another market.” The Cedar Valley has a strong pull for physicians, Irey said. “Our process in recruiting is really to match candidates with the area and make sure they have a solid reason they want to stay in the Cedar Valley area and practice,” he said. The organization finds many who do just that, he said. Cedar Valley Medical Specialists, which works closely with medical facilities in West Union, Oelwein, Independence, Sumner, Waverly and Grundy County, in addition to Waterloo-Cedar Falls, started with six
specialties in 1994; now, it has 18, and it has the potential to add two or three more in the near future, Irey said. In June 2014, Cedar Valley Medical Specialists opened a new eye clinic in Cedar Falls, to complement an existing facility in Waterloo and provide easier access to patients in the western and northern outskirts of the Cedar Valley. Medical care in the Cedar Valley is setting the pace for the region, leaders at both hospital systems said. “From my view, things that are priorities for us today, I don’t think we would have talked about 10 years ago,” Dusenbery said. “You try to look at three four things you want to make better. The list keeps getting more exciting. We always want to improve the care with the safest environment. Now, we have the pieces that we can talk about the space we can provide for specialists to come up and for us to require new specialties. I think it is exciting. What I find is when we do bring in the right talent, I always talk to them three years later and they just seem to be very happy to be part of our community. “The Cedar Valley just keeps getting shined up year after year and it’s fun to be part of progress.”
Across the Cedar Valley The region also has seen recent major renovations at other hospitals. The Waverly Health Center, which in recent years had $16.8 million in hospital improvements, continues to grow. The hospital in 2004 added 90,000 square feet – a 75 percent increase – including 25 single-patient rooms, a retail pharmacy, four additional operating rooms, expanded radiology areas and new birth rooms. Late in 2013, WHC launched a fundraising campaign to help finance a 3,500-foot expansion of Christophel Clinic and relocate its cardiac center. According to John Johnston, the hospital’s foundation chairman, it was decided the expansion was needed to meet growing demand for family medicine and will increase the hospital’s exam room space and health care providers. WHC is one of Waverly’s largest employers offering a variety of career opportunities with 430 plus employees and an annual payroll over $26 million. The health center is Iowa’s second-largest critical-access hospital with a fiscal year 2014 net revenue of about $49 million, according to Connie Tolan, business retention and expansion specialist with Waverly Area
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