RELATED: UI Health Care to request to take over Siouxland residency program 

University of Iowa Health Care will take over a family residency practice in Sioux City following approval from the state Board of Regents Thursday afternoon. 

The practice is run by the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation. According to a press release, the practice has over 25,000 patients every year and is also the only family residency program in western Iowa. 

Jeff Quinlan, UI Carver College of Medicine chair and departmental executive officer of family medicine, stated in the release that the practice provides local primary care in the Siouxland area.

“It also plays a vital role in producing family physicians who go on to practice in the state. We’re willing to step up and continue operations, so Iowans have more care options, not less,” Quinlan  stated in the release.

Additionally, the release states that the practice in recent years has faced financial pressure. Quinlan said in the release that two additional community-based residency programs have closed since 2020, which has led to a decline in needed family medicine physicians.

The release states that the UI Carver College of Medicine has collaborated with the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation in the past, with some of the foundation’s family medicine residents training at the college.

“Educating and training the next generation of Iowa’s health care providers is a critical piece of UI Health Care’s mission,” Quinlan stated in the release. “As the need for physicians in the state continues to grow, it is essential to maintain and expand existing residency programs to retain physicians in the state and increase access to care.” 

David Kieft, University Real Estate, Planning, and Development university business manager and director, said at the regents meeting Wednesday that the 10-year lease is essential to the state’s health. 

“This is the only residency program west of Des Moines,” Kieft said. “Lease rate is favorable. It’s $12 per square foot for the first three years of the lease with 2.5 percent increase every three years thereafter.” 

Kieft said the UI will occupy 100 percent of the facility.

Alejandro Rojas contributed to this report.