Federal Cooperative Agreement Summary

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa DHHS) received a $684,000 cooperative agreement awarded August 30, 2025, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the Organized Approaches to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening program (CFDA 93.800). The award extends through August 29, 2030, and supports a five-year initiative to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates among adults aged 45-75 years in Iowa. Iowa DHHS will partner with four federally qualified health centers (FQHCs)—All Care Health Center, Community Health Center of Fort Dodge, Infinity Health, and Primary Health Care, Inc.—to implement and evaluate evidence-based interventions (EBIs) designed to improve CRC screening access for underserved populations across their geographic service areas.

Under this cooperative agreement, Iowa DHHS will provide technical guidance and collaborate with FQHC partners to conduct CRC screening readiness assessments, develop implementation plans, and support the selection and deployment of multi-component EBIs that target different areas of the clinical environment. The deliverables include increased screening testing among the target population, with baseline screening prevalence at the four partner FQHCs currently at 32%. Working with the Iowa Primary Care Association, Iowa DHHS will leverage over a decade of established relationships to systematically increase CRC screening capacity and utilization at participating clinics, thereby addressing Iowa's above-average CRC incidence rate of 39.1 per 100,000 compared to the national rate of 36.5 per 100,000.