Wednesday PM Daily | May 17, 2017

Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines announced today it has received approval to begin training of psychiatric residency physicians in July 2018. Following a site review visit earlier this year, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education approved a three-year accreditation for the Iowa Medical Education Collaborative Psychiatry Residency Program at Mercy-Des Moines.

Mercy first announced plans for the residency program in March and has received a $1.5 million Iowa Department of Health grant to help fund the program. In March 2014, Mercy closed down much of its outpatient psychiatric services due primarily to a psychiatrist shortage.

Currently, the state's only psychiatric residency program is at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

"This program will help us address a growing public health crisis and the shortage of providers taking care of mental health in the state of Iowa," said Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, Mercy chief physician officer and vice president of medical affairs. "We are especially thankful for the state's willingness to fund a portion of the program. It demonstrates the state's acknowledgement of the need for behavioral health improvements."

Two other major providers of mental health services for Central Iowa, UnityPoint Health-Des Moines and Broadlawns Medical Center, also received a state grant in March to begin a joint psychiatric residency program in 2018.

The Broadlawns UnityPoint Health Psychiatry Residency Program has submitted applications for ACGME accreditation and is awaiting approval, said Dr. William Yost, program director of the University of Iowa-Des Moines Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Yost said the Des Moines VA Medical Center will serve as an affiliated training site in that program, and "provide excellent training opportunities for the residents as well as an opportunity to expand behavioral health services to our veterans."

"Furthermore, we anticipate that the psychiatry program will collaborate closely with our established residency programs in primary care on both campuses, thus further improving the skills of our graduates in providing compassionate and skilled behavioral health care as primary care physicians and multiplying the impact of the Psychiatry residency program," he said.

Mercy said it has started the recruitment process for four first-year students. Students will be matched and selected in the spring of 2018. The four-year program will have a total of 16 residents when all classes have been filled. Residents will receive training in inpatient care, pediatric behavioral care, neurology, emergency behavioral care, substance abuse and community health.

"This initiative represents Mercy's firm commitment to invest in mental health and establish more resources for our state," said Dr. Sasha Khosravi, Mercy psychiatry residency program director and medical director of behavioral health. "We look forward to the challenge of creating an outstanding program that produces excellent and compassionate care for a population sorely in need of more providers."

Brazil approves DuPont-Dow merger
DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. report that Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense has granted conditional approval to the companies' planned merger. The approval is subject to terms that include the divestment of a select portion of Dow AgroSciences' corn seed business in Brazil, including some seed processing plants and seed research centers, a copy of Dow AgroSciences' Brazilian corn germplasm bank, the Morgan brand and a license for the use of the Dow Seeds brand for a certain period. This local remedy is part of the previously announced divestment of certain parts of DuPont's global crop protection portfolio and R&D pipeline and Dow's global Ethylene Acrylic Acid copolymers and ionomers business, as ordered by other jurisdictions. The merger is expected to be final in August. 

Iowa-made student debt documentary to debut on CNBC
A documentary on the student debt crisis by Iowa financial speaker and author Adam Carroll, "Broke, Busted, and Disgusted," will expand its reach to a national audience on Sunday. The film will be broadcast on CNBC on May 21 at 9 p.m. Central time. Carroll, who is based in Clive, began producing the documentary in 2014 with $67,000 raised through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and launched the film in 2016. The documentary highlights the impact that more than $1.4 trillion in U.S. student loans is having on graduates; Iowa has the fifth-highest student loan default rate in the nation. The film has been shown at nearly 200 Iowa high schools through sponsorships from Iowa credit unions. CNBC bought the broadcast rights to the film through 2017, which also allows the network to stream it live on its website, Carroll said. How often it's broadcast in prime-time slots will depend on the ratings it gets. "It's in the time slot following 'Shark Tank'; we hope our viewership is high as a result," he said. Carroll said he's hopeful that the relationship with CNBC will lead to opportunities to produce follow-up documentaries on student debt.

DMARC to work with Partnership for a Healthier America
The Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) has announced a commitment to the Partnership for a Healthier America to continue its innovative work on incentivizing healthy food choices through the DMARC Food Pantry Network. "By partnering with local organizations like DMARC, we hope to develop data-driven solutions to some of our largest national nutrition concerns such as food insecurity, early childhood nutrition, obesity and adult-onset diabetes," said Larry Soler, president and CEO of the Partnership for a Healthier America. DMARC has committed to continue using the USDA MyPlate to determine healthy food choices, increase distribution of fruits and vegetables, continue exploration and implementation of the Food Pantry 2.0 model, increase nutritious food choices for young children, and distribute healthy recipes throughout the DMARC Food Pantry Network.

Principal board authorizes additional $250 million stock repurchase
Principal Financial Group today announced that its board of directors has approved a new authorization for the repurchase of up to $250 million of the company's outstanding common stock. As of March 31, about $100 million remained under the company's $400 million authorization approved in February 2016. Principal had 288.2 million shares of common stock outstanding as of April 26. "This action reflects our continued confidence in the underlying strength of our diversified and integrated business model," said Dan Houston, Principal's chairman, president and CEO. The company takes a balanced approach to capital deployment through common stock dividends, share repurchases and strategic acquisitions, and anticipates deploying $800 million to $1.1 billion of capital in 2017, Houston said.

Lyft users can now earn free Delta SkyMiles
CNN: Lyft riders can now earn free airline miles on Delta. The new partnership announced today lets Delta SkyMiles members earn free frequent flyer miles for every Lyft ride they take.

Household debt makes a comeback in the U.S.
New York Times: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said today that total household debt had reached a new peak — $12.7 trillion — in the first three months of the year, another milestone in the long, slow recovery of the United States economy.

Trump controversies rattle stock markets worldwide
Washington Post: Stocks dropped and foreign currencies gained against the U.S. dollar as the weeklong drumbeat of bad news surrounding the Trump administration sowed doubts over whether the president's pro-business policies will be enacted. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 320 points, or 1.5 percent, at midafternoon.

The Iowa Index is an unweighted average of all 23 Iowa-based public companies. Below is a live look at those 23, plus 14 additional companies with large operations in Iowa.