Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that Iowa has been awarded funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a federal initiative managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Iowa’s proposal, Healthy Hometowns, which aims to strengthen health care in rural communities, will receive $209 million for the first year of implementation. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the Rural Health Transformation Program was authorized by the spending bill passed in Congress this summer. The program is set to allocate $50 billion to states between 2026 and 2030 and is meant to help offset the estimated $137 billion decline in rural Medicaid spending over the next 10 years, according to KFF. 

Healthy Hometowns includes five key initiatives:   

• Hometown connections: Build partnerships to expand health care options in rural areas. 
• Combat cancer: A statewide effort to improve cancer prevention, treatment and outcomes. 
• Communities of care: Support projects that bring different types of providers together under one roof. 
• Health information exchange: Make health records accessible across Iowa so patients can get care wherever they are. 
• Community care mobile: Invest in telehealth and mobile health care programs, including high-risk maternal transport.