The department shall:
1. Exercise general supervision over the public health, promote public hygiene and
sanitation, prevent substance use disorder, and, unless otherwise provided, enforce the laws
relating to the same.
2. Conduct campaigns for the education of the people in hygiene and sanitation.
3. Issue health bulletins containing fundamental health principles and other health data
deemed of public interest.
4. Make investigations and surveys in respect to the causes of disease and epidemics,
and the effect of locality, employment, and living conditions upon the public health. For this
purpose the department may use the services of the experts connected with the state hygienic
laboratory.
5. Establish stations throughout the state for the distribution of antitoxins and vaccines to
physicians, pharmacists, andotherpersons, atcost. Allantitoxinandvaccinethusdistributed
shall be labeled “Iowa Department of Health and Human Services”.
6. Exercise general supervision over the administration and enforcement of the sexually
transmitted diseases and infections law, chapter 139A, subchapter II.
§135.11, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES — PUBLIC HEALTH 6
7. Exercise sole jurisdiction over the disposal and transportation of the dead bodies of
human beings and prescribe the methods to be used in preparing such bodies for disposal
and transportation. However, the department may approve a request for an exception to the
application of specific embalming and disposition rules adopted pursuant to this subsection
if such rules would otherwise conflict with tenets and practices of a recognized religious
denomination to which the deceased individual adhered or of which denomination the
deceased individual was a member. The department shall inform the board of mortuary
science of any such approved exception which may affect services provided by a funeral
director licensed pursuant to chapter 156.
8. Establish, publish, and enforce rules which require companies, corporations, and other
entities to obtain a permit from the department prior to scattering cremated human remains.
9. Exercise general supervision over the administration and enforcement of the vital
statistics law, chapter 144.
10. Administer healthy aging and essential public health services by approving grants
of state funds to the local boards of health for the purposes of promoting healthy aging
throughout the lifespan and enhancing health promotion and disease prevention services,
and by providing guidelines for the approval of the grants and allocation of the state funds.
Guidelines, evaluation requirements, and formula allocation procedures for the services
shall be established by the department by rule.
11. Administer chapters 125, 136A, 136C, 139A, 142, 144, and 147A.
12. Consult with the office of statewide clinical education programs at the university of
Iowa college of medicine and annually submit a report to the general assembly by January
15 verifying the number of physicians in active practice in Iowa by county who are engaged
in providing obstetrical care. To the extent data are readily available, the report shall include
information concerning the number of deliveries per year by specialty and county, the age of
physicians performing deliveries, and the number of current year graduates of the university
of Iowa college of medicine and the Des Moines university — osteopathic medical center
entering into residency programs in obstetrics, gynecology, and family practice. The report
may include additional data relating to access to obstetrical services that may be available.
13. Administer the statewide maternal and child health program and the program for
children with disabilities by conducting mobile and regional child health specialty clinics
and conducting other activities to improve the health of low-income women and children
and to promote the welfare of children with actual or potential conditions which may cause
disabilities and children with chronic illnesses in accordance with the requirements of Tit.
V of the federal Social Security Act. The department shall provide technical assistance
to encourage the coordination and collaboration of state agencies in developing outreach
centers which provide publicly supported services for pregnant women, infants, and
children. The department shall also, through cooperation and collaborative agreements with
the mobile and regional child health specialty clinics, establish common intake proceedings
for maternal and child health services. The department shall work in cooperation with the
legislative services agency in monitoring the effectiveness of the maternal and child health
centers, including the provision of transportation for patient appointments and the keeping
of scheduled appointments.
14. Establish, publish, and enforce rules requiring prompt reporting of
methemoglobinemia, pesticide poisoning, and the reportable poisonings and illnesses
established pursuant to section 139A.21.
15. Collect and maintain reports of pesticide poisonings and other poisonings, illnesses,
or injuries caused by selected chemical or physical agents, including methemoglobinemia
and pesticide and fertilizer hypersensitivity; and compile and publish, annually, a statewide
and county-by-county profile based on the reports.
16. Adopt rules which require personnel of a licensed hospice, of a homemaker-home
health aide provider agency which receives state homemaker-home health aide funds,
or of an agency which provides respite care services and receives funds to complete
training concerning blood-borne pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus and
viral hepatitis, consistent with standards from the federal occupational safety and health
administration.
7 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES — PUBLIC HEALTH, §135.11
17. Adopt rules which require all emergency medical services personnel, fire fighters,
and law enforcement personnel to complete training concerning blood-borne pathogens,
including human immunodeficiency virus and viral hepatitis, consistent with standards from
the federal occupational safety and health administration.
18. Adopt rules which provide for the testing of a convicted or alleged offender for the
human immunodeficiency virus pursuant to sections 915.40 through 915.43. The rules shall
provide for the provision of counseling, health care, and support services to the victim.
19. Establish ad hoc and advisory committees to the director in areas where technical
expertise is not otherwise readily available. Members may be compensated for their
actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. To encourage
health consumer participation, public members may also receive a per diem as specified in
section 7E.6 if funds are available and the per diem is determined to be appropriate by the
director. Expense moneys paid to the members shall be paid from funds appropriated to the
department. A majority of the members of such a committee constitutes a quorum.
20. Administer annual grants to county boards of health for the purpose of conducting
programs for the testing of private water supply wells, the closing of abandoned private
water supply wells, and the renovation or rehabilitation of private water supply wells.
Grants shall be funded through moneys transferred to the department from the agriculture
management account of the groundwater protection fund pursuant to section 455E.11,
subsection 2, paragraph “b”, subparagraph (2), subparagraph division (b). The department
shall adopt rules relating to the awarding of the grants.
21. Establish and administer, if sufficient funds are available to the department, a
program to assess and forecast health workforce supply and demand in the state for the
purpose of identifying current and projected workforce needs. The program may collect,
analyze, and report data that furthers the purpose of the program. The program shall not
release information that permits identification of individual respondents of program surveys.
22. Developandmaintainthestatewideperinatalprogrambasedontherecommendations
of the American academy of pediatrics and the American college of obstetricians and
gynecologists contained in the most recent edition of the guidelines for perinatal care,
and adopt rules in accordance with chapter 17A to implement those recommendations.
Hospitals within the state shall determine whether to participate in the statewide perinatal
program, and select the hospital’s level of participation in the program. A hospital having
determined to participate in the program shall comply with the guidelines appropriate to the
level of participation selected by the hospital. Perinatal program surveys and reports are
privileged and confidential and are not subject to discovery, subpoena, or other means of
legal compulsion for their release to a person other than the affected hospital, and are not
admissible in evidence in a judicial or administrative proceeding other than a proceeding
involving verification of the participating hospital under this subsection.
23. Inconsultationwiththedepartmentofcorrections, theantibioticresistancetaskforce,
and the American federation of state, county and municipal employees, develop educational
programs to increase awareness and utilization of infection control practices in institutions
listed in section 904.102.
24. Administer the Iowa youth survey, in collaboration with other state agencies, as
appropriate, every two years to students in grades six, eight, and eleven in Iowa’s public
and nonpublic schools. Survey data shall be evaluated and reported, with aggregate data
available online at the Iowa youth survey internet site.
25. Adopt rules requiring ambulatory surgical centers to report quality data to the
department of health and human services that is consistent with the data required to be
reported to the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services of the United States department
of health and human services as authorized by the Medicare Improvements and Extension
Act of 2006 under Tit. I of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-432,
and the regulations adopted under such Acts. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the
contrary, nothing in this subsection shall require an ambulatory surgical center to provide
health data to the department of health and human services or any other public or private
entity that is in addition to, different than, or exceeds the quality data required to be reported
§135.11, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES — PUBLIC HEALTH 8
to the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services of the United States department of health
and human services.
1. [C97, §2565; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81,
§135.11(1)]
2, 3. [C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(2, 3)]
4. [C97, §2565; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81,
§135.11(4)]
5, 6. [C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §135.11(8, 9); C73, 75, 77, 79,
81, §135.11(7, 8)]
7. [S13, §2572-a, -b, -c; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §135.11(11);
C73, §135.11(10); C75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(9)]
8. [C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §135.11(12); C73, §135.11(11);
C75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(10)]
9. [S13, §2575-a42; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §135.11(13); C73,
§135.11(12); C75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(11)]
10. [C97, §2565; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §135.11(14); C73,
§135.11(13); C75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(12)]
11, 12. [C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §135.11(15, 16); C73,
§135.11(14, 15); C75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(13, 14)]
13. [C97, §2565; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §2191; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §135.11(17); C73,
§135.11(16); C75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(15)]
14. [C75, 77, 79, 81, §135.11(16)]
15. [82 Acts, ch 1260, §55]