For more than a decade, FG has partnered with the State of Iowa and Iowa’s hospital community to reduce telecom costs, improve network performance, and unlock federal funding. As an Iowa-based company, our story is about Iowans helping Iowans—building resilient hospital networks and managing the funding and services that make them possible.
Through a longstanding partnership with the Iowa Communications Network (ICN), FG supports statewide connectivity objectives—extending enterprise-grade reliability to health systems, rural clinics, and affiliated sites across the state.
Our Role in the State of Iowa Ecosystem
Stewarding a critical asset: ICN
FG’s operational role with the Iowa Communications Network places us at the heart of statewide connectivity. With 60% of Iowa hospitals connected to ICN, we are directly responsible for resolving issues and maintaining performance. This backbone gives Iowa hospitals access to a secure, proven infrastructure with escalations and service management handled by Iowa-based engineers who know the local landscape.
Enabling state and federal funding impact
FG partners with Iowa stakeholders—including the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA), consortia leaders, and the State Broadband Office—to plan, apply, and manage funding that expands access and strengthens critical infrastructure. As the contracted Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) filer for IHA, we ensure Iowa hospitals maximize subsidies while staying audit-ready. We’ve also managed broadband funding allocations for the State Broadband Office, translating state policy into effective spend for local projects.
Advancing Iowa hospital outcomes
From major tertiary systems to rural affiliates, FG enables providers to standardize telecom inventories, right-size carrier contracts, and modernize network designs. The result is lower total cost of connectivity, better uptime and security, and measurable ROI for both Finance and IT.
What This Means for Finance Managers
Hard savings and predictable budgets
- USAC HCF optimization (up to 65% on eligible services): Our FundBetter program aligns eligibility, service types, and contracts to maximize subsidies while keeping every file audit-ready.
- Better carrier lifecycle management: Through BuyBetter, we consolidate billing, benchmark rates, eliminate stranded services, and structure favorable terms—turning opaque spend into predictable budgets.
- Contract clarity: With standardized contracts, SLA oversight, and renewal calendars, finance leaders gain leverage at negotiation time while avoiding “auto-renew burn.”
Audit-ready compliance and reduced risk
- Plan-Submit-Verify-Reimburse: Every filing is built for the audit. We keep full documentation and eligibility rationale, making audits routine, not disruptive.
- SOC 2 Type 2 controls: Mature processes and verified internal controls reduce compliance risk.
Strategic capital allocation
- Data-driven portfolio views: We map circuits, sites, and costs against system priorities, enabling savings to be reinvested into cyber, telehealth, or cloud initiatives without expanding budgets.
Bottom line for Finance: FG delivers transparent savings, defendable compliance, and forecastable spend across Iowa hospital systems.
What This Means for IT Leaders and Network Teams
Modern, resilient architecture—without technical debt drag
- ConnectBetter – Network Assessment & Design: Iowa-based engineers design right-sized bandwidth, redundancy, and segmentation for EHR, imaging, voice, and telehealth.
- ManageBetter – NOC Services: Our operations framework reduces MTTD/MTTR and continually tunes network baselines.
Security and continuity aligned to clinical needs
- Resilient backhaul with ICN: Statewide fiber, diverse paths, and disciplined change control reduce outages and strengthen cyber frameworks like zero-trust segmentation.
- Vendor accountability: We escalate with data and enforce SLAs to ensure providers deliver as promised.
Simplified complexity across affiliates
- Inventory normalization: One source of truth for circuits, contracts, and CPE supports on-call staff and incident response.
- Cloud-ready connectivity: Consistent QoS supports EHR upgrades, PACS, secure remote access, and clinical applications.
Bottom line for IT: FG helps stabilize today’s operations while de-risking tomorrow’s upgrades.
Why FG for Iowa
- Iowans helping Iowans: Iowa-based, with a long-standing history of supporting Iowa hospitals and broadband initiatives.
- Iowa Communications Network: With over 10 years as a trusted partner, FG ensures the state’s backbone remains strong for healthcare—directly supporting performance and resolving issues for the 60% of Iowa hospitals connected to ICN.
- Iowa Hospital Association partnership: Contracted to file HCF for IHA, supporting 50% of Iowa hospitals with funding and compliance.
- State Broadband Office: Experience managing and directing funding spend at the state level.
- Proven results: $550M+ in client savings, thousands of supported sites, and 100% client retention.
- Client First Promise: Transparent collaboration, measurable outcomes, and continuous improvement.
What Networking Better Looks Like: A Typical Iowa Engagement
1. Discovery & Baseline
- Consolidate contracts, invoices, circuits, and SLAs into a single system of record.
- Map clinical dependencies to network pathways.
2. Funding & Financial Strategy
- Align services with HCF eligibility and prepare the application pipeline.
- Model savings scenarios for budget planning.
3. Network Optimization
- Eliminate single points of failure and right-size bandwidth.
- Establish monitoring, alerting, and runbooks.
4. Operate & Improve
- Deliver consistent reporting to Finance and IT.
- Maintain continuous audit-ready documentation.