The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services plans to organize the state’s 99 county public health departments into seven regions, a change state officials say will improve coordination but that some local health leaders worry could reduce money available for services.
County health departments and boards of health will remain in place under the new system. Each county, however, will be assigned to one of seven regions led by a local health department.
“HHS is looking for a local health department to become the lead agency in that region,” said Juliann Van Liew, the director of the Polk County Health Department…