INDIAN HEALTH

Indian Health Services

[Name of the Institute]

Table of Contents

Overview of Indian Health Service2

Organizational Structure & Value Delivering Network of Indian Health Service System4

Vision, Mission& Value Statement of Indian health Service7

Source of Funding-Indian Health Service7

Respecting and Preserving Tribal Sovereignty10

Labor Mix- Indian Health Service System14

Innovation at Indian Health Service System15

How System will Improved17

Indian Health Services System

Overview of Indian Health Service

The Indian Health Service (IHS), a federal health system, cares for 2 million of the country's 5.2 million American Indian and Alaska Native people. This system has increasingly focused on innovative uses of health information technology and telemedicine, as well as comprehensive, locally tailored prevention and disease management programs, to promote health equity in a population facing multiple health disparities. Important recent achievements include a reduction in the life-expectancy gap between American Indian and Alaska Native people and whites (from eight years to five years) and improved measures of diabetes control (including 20 percent and 10 percent reductions in the levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and hemoglobin A1c, respectively). However, disparities persist between American Indian and Alaska Native people and the overall US population. Continued innovation and increased funding are required to further improve health and achieve equity (Trujillo, 2002).

In the 2010 census, 5.2 million people identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native, representing 1.7 percent of the US population. American Indian and Alaska Native people experience poor health outcomes and have an average life expectancy that is more than five years shorter than that of the overall US population. The causes of this disparity span the life spectrum, beginning with high infant mortality rates, and include a high prevalence of chronic disease, mental health disorders, and substance abuse.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) was established within the Public Health Service in 1955 in order to meet federal treaty obligations to provide health services to members of federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.3 Through a network of small hospitals and outpatient health centers, the system provides health care services to approximately two million people belonging to 565 tribes, particularly those residing on federal reservations or in nearby communities.4 The 3.2 million members of the American Indian and Alaska Native population not served by the IHS receive care through the private sector or other public systems (the Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicaid, and Medicare).

Through the tribally operated health facilities, recognized tribes have exercised their right to claim half of the IHS budget allocated by the federal government in order to manage their own health care programs. As of 2010, these facilities consisted of seventeen hospitals and 493 outpatient facilities (Indian Health Service, 1990).

The federal IHS facilities provide comprehensive primary care, some specialty services, and prescription drug coverage. Contract health service funds are used to provide services not routinely available within those facilities, including subspecialty and hospital care. These contract health service funds are limited to $780 million of the $1.98 billion in 2010 IHS facility funding. Each year contract funds are allocated based on medical priorities.

The Urban Indian Health Programs, delivered ...