Three Iowa hospitals will receive a portion of more than $2.2 million in funding to improve health care delivery in rural Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced last week. Cass Health, Mahaska Health and Van Buren County Hospital will each receive up to $250,000 annually for three years through the Iowa’s Centers of Excellence program. The Centers of Excellence provide funds to help regional and local health systems build and enhance systems in an effort to provide rural Iowans with the same kind of access to specialized care as Iowans who live in metro areas. Cass Health will use the funds to try to improve rural maternal health services in southwest Iowa. Mahaska Health hopes to build upon regional partnerships that support maternal care, obstetrics and general surgery while expanding to include cardiology and oncology. Van Buren will use the funding to address the needs of geriatric patients and form a system of collaboration and managed care to guide patients with complex care needs to available resources at the Southeast Iowa Complex Care Network.