Governor Kim Reynolds says the federal funding she’s designating for cancer screening tests and treatment will be quickly distributed.
“If we’re good at what we do and we can demonstrate that we did get the money out the door, that these are stood up and we’re actually providing these services we have a chance to get additional money next year,” Reynolds said.
Two weeks ago Iowa was awarded $209 million in federal funding to expand rural health care options. Governor Reynolds announced during her Condition of the State message on Tuesday that $50 million of it will be designed for cancer-related care. “We have 250 proposals that they’re going through right now,” Reynolds said. “We will be able to start awarding contracts the end of this month. I was on a phone call with Dr. Oz just this week and he thought it was just amazing that we’d be able to turn it around this quickly.”
Dr. Oz is director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that awarded the $209 million grant. Reynolds’s staff began developing grant application guidelines when the state submitted its original request for the federal funding months ago. Part of the $50 million Reynolds has reserved to expand access to cancer screening and treatment will go toward equipping hospitals that are regional hubs for cancer patients.
“All the things that we can put together so that they can provide care for Iowans in rural Iowa,” Reynolds said, “so they’re not having to drive miles to get the treatment that they require.”
The latest available data indicates Iowa has the second highest rate of new cancer cases in the U.S. and the only state where the cancer rate is rising. “I really hope that we can start to change the narrative by screening, prevention, treatment,” Reynolds said, “and then really making sure everybody has access to all of those regardless of income, insurance or zip code.”
Reynolds made her comments during an interview with Radio Iowa.