(Des Moines, IA) – For the third time in five years, a Sioux City hospital’s status as a Level III Trauma Center has been placed on probation by state regulators due to an ongoing series of regulatory violations. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports last month, UnityPoint Health’s St. Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City entered into a consent agreement with the Iowa Emergency Medical Services and Trauma Bureau, placing the hospital’s trauma center certification on probation for one year.

The hospital currently is certified as a Level III Trauma Center, which means it can stabilize and care for trauma patients and also has access to general surgery and orthopedic surgery. A downgrade to Level IV status would mean the hospital could provide basic life support and stabilization for trauma patients but would focus on transferring patients to higher-level trauma centers as soon as possible.

UnityPoint issued a written statement about the situation late Thursday, saying the hospital “remains dedicated to providing high quality, compassionate care” and is committed to working with the state on all necessary changes to ensure compliance with its trauma level designation. “This decision does not change the level or quality of care we provide to patients when they come to the emergency department,” the statement said. “Critically ill or injured patients will continue to be stabilized and treated. All other hospital services will continue uninterrupted.”

UnityPoint Health’s St. Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City, Iowa. (Photo via Google Earth)

The agreement requires the hospital to submit a new corrective action plan, along with “letters of commitment from all medical staff active in trauma resuscitation.” In addition, the hospital must now submit quarterly reports, to be approved by UnityPoint’s corporate office for accuracy, that will detail efforts to address systemic problems and care-provider issues, as well as proposed improvements to the care of injured patients.

The consent agreement between the hospital and the bureau states that if the hospital does not have the ability to fully resolve its deficiencies, it can apply for a downgraded Level IV status. If that happens, the hospital must notify ambulance services and the trauma coordinators at other hospitals so patients can be directed elsewhere if need be.

The agreement also stipulates that the department can revoke probation and require the hospital to seek Level IV certification at any time during the 2025-26 probation period.