Iowa’s 2025 Report Card: Health Outcomes & Care Quality Falling Behind

DES MOINES, IA – As access to health care in Iowa has steadily slipped, the quality of care and health outcomes have worsened — fewer providers, facility closures, and longer waits are now contributing to poorer results for patients and families. Over the last decade, Iowa’s health care rankings have plummeted across every major measure — access, quality, outcomes, mental health, and overall system strength. 

Iowa’s health care system is failing on every level, leaving patients without the care they need and communities at risk. A decade of one-party control has left Iowa’s health care system failing and Iowans without the care they need. These declining outcomes and poor quality of care are not sustainable for Iowa’s future, and Iowans are ready for change.

Take a look at Iowa’s “2025 Report Card” — and why we can’t afford more of the same next year:

IOWA’S 2025 REPORT CARD:

QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE & OUTCOMES: F

• Skyrocketing cancer rate: In recent years, Iowa’s cancer rate has continued to climb, and now we’re one of only two states in the country where cancer cases are still going up, with the highest cancer growth rate in the country.

• Unsafe hospitals: A recent report revealed that Iowa now ranks 48th in the nation for hospital safety.

• Mental health crisis: An estimated 84,000 Iowans are living with severe mental illness, yet the state had just 64 state-managed inpatient beds to treat adults in 2023. Iowa is the worst in the nation for psychiatric beds.