Kossuth Regional Health Center

Kossuth Regional Health Center is a rural health system based in Algona, Iowa, that operates a 25-bed critical access hospital, two family medicine clinics, and home care, hospice and public health nursing agencies. A critical access hospital is a federal designation for small rural hospitals that keeps inpatient and emergency care available in communities far from larger medical centers. The company employs approximately 250 people and maintains Master Affiliation and Professional Services Agreements with MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center, an arrangement that links a local facility to a larger regional network for specialist support.

Its services include emergency care, surgery, inpatient and outpatient care, and specialty areas such as obstetrics, wound care, sleep studies, rehabilitation and therapy, and Senior Life Solutions, along with a home medical store. Its stated mission is to serve as the community's home for healthcare, and it lists compassion, respect, stewardship, integrity, excellence and accountability as its values. Together, these service lines let residents of a rural area receive much of their care, from childbirth to end-of-life support, without travelling to a larger city.

The organisation traces its origins to St. Ann Hospital, which was completed and dedicated under the management of the Sisters of Mercy in 1949. The hospital was later purchased by the Sisters of St. Benedict and then taken over by Kossuth County, and in 1986 a management agreement with St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Mason City took effect, a relationship that evolved into the Mercy Medical Center North Iowa network. The center's home town of Algona is the county seat of Kossuth County, geographically the largest county in Iowa, so the center serves a widely spread rural population.