The state’s public health system is being reorganized to coordinate services across counties in a move that will group public health departments by region.
One health department will act as a lead agency and administer state funds to other agencies in its region, and part of each region’s funds will have to cover the lead agency’s administrative costs.
Susan Moore is the director of Wayne County Public Health in southern Iowa. She says rural areas and urban areas have different needs.
“The services that are needed in Polk County just are not the same as Wayne County,” Moore says, “and I just worry that the services that are actually needed here won’t be available.”
Moore says regional goals may not match what rural counties need because they are already limited, and a gap in funds could further limit their capacity.
The Polk County Health Department is applying for the lead agency in its region, but its director Juliann Van Liew (LOO) says the lead agency will have to use 15% of the region’s public health funds to pay for administrative costs.
“Financially, it just simply doesn’t make sense,” Van Liew says, “and I think moving forward, I hope that folks will understand that this is going to be tight for local public health and that residents are going to lose out.”
The money funds the services agencies provide, like immunizations. Van Liew says health departments will have less capacity for services if HHS doesn’t provide funds to pay for the lead agency’s role.
