Tribal leaders with Mary Wakefield, the acting deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on June 2, 2016. Photo: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp

Health | National

North Dakota tribes share frustrations with Indian Health Service

Friday, June 3, 2016

Tribal leaders in North Dakota met with a top Obama administration official on Thursday to share their concerns about the Indian Health Service.

Mary Wakefield, the acting deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, heard about long wait times, staff vacancies, lack of data collection and a need for substance abuse treatment for youth, The Grand Forks Herald reported

"We're focused on fixing immediate problems, and we've got them here, undeniably," Wakefield told tribal leaders at the meeting in Grand Forks, the paper reported.

Wakefield, who is from North Dakota, attended the meeting at the request of Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota).

“Health outcomes won’t improve in Native communities unless federal officials and tribal leadership work together," Heitkamp said in a press release.

North Dakota is part of the Great Plains Area, a region that has been under intense scrutiny due to longstanding concerns about management and qualify of care. The IHS is consulting with tribes and urban Indian organizations this summer about potential changes in operations there.

"Specific topics will include geographic location of the Great Plains Area Office, centralization or further decentralization of area office services, staffing, budget, local involvement, transparency and oversight, partnerships, accountability, and monitoring,' a notice that was published in the Federal Register on Friday reads.

The Great Plains office is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Although no health facilities are located there, it's still a long drive from nearly every reservation in the region and staff there told leaders of one tribe that they had never met personally with tribes up until recently.

The IHS will host two telephone sessions on June 22 and August 10. Two in-person sessions will be held July 13 in Aberdeen and August 30 in Rapid City, South Dakota.

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is going to hear from tribes and tribal members in the region in Rapid City on June 17. Lawmakers will take testimony on take testimony on S.2953, the Indian Health Service Accountability Act, a bill that seeks to improve accountability, transparency and patient care at the troubled agency

Get the Story:
Tribal leaders: Reservation health care needs help (The Grand Forks Herald 6/3)

Forthcoming Federal Register Notice:
Notice of Tribal consultation and urban confer sessions on the state of the Great Plains Area IHS (To Be Published June 3, 2016)

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Notice:
Oversight/Legislative FIELD Hearing on "Improving Accountability and Quality of Care at the Indian Health Service though S. 2953." (June 17, 2016)

Government Accountability Office Report:
INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE: Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Patient Wait Times (April 29, 2016)

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Report:
In Critical Condition: The urgent need to reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area (December 2010)