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Young Includes Major Provision To Address Alaska Native Dental Crisis

In Rural Alaska

            Legislation that will enhance and expand federal programs to improve a variety of health and dental care programs for rural Alaska Natives and American Indians was introduced today by a bipartisan coalition of Congressmen, including Alaska Congressman Don Young.

            The legislation – “The Indian Health Care Improvement Act Reauthorization” (H.R. 1328) – was introduced today by:

-        Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Ranking Member, Natural Resources Committee

-        Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV), Chairman, Natural Resources Committee

-        Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman, Subcommittee on Health

There are 33 cosponsors of the legislation.

“I’m extremely pleased to be an original cosponsor of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Reauthorization (IHCIA) with Chairman Nick Rahall and many of my other colleagues in the U.S. House,” Young said.

“The purpose of this landmark legislation is to increase and enhance the federal government’s efforts in the care and education of American Indians and Alaska Natives by improving the services and facilities of federal health programs and encouraging the maximum participation of American Indians and Alaska Natives in such programs.

“This legislation is nearly identical to the Indian Health Care bill I introduced last session,” Young said.

“Our Native Communities Should Not Have To Wait Any Longer”

– Chairman Rahall

“We should not be debating, year after year, whether or not a live-saving program like the Indian Health Care Improvement Act merits reauthorization,” Chairman Rahall said. “Ensuring American Indians have access to a modernized and improved health care system is an undebatable federal responsibility, and an imperative need in today’s world.  It is time for the Congress to act immediately to reauthorize Indian health care this year.  Our Native communities should not have to wait any longer.”

New Bill Includes Numerous Important Improvements To Indian Health Care

– Rep. Young

“Our legislation responds to the changes that have occurred in the delivery of Indian health services in the decade since the last reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA).   During this time, more than half of the tribes in the United States have exercised their rights under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to assume responsibility to carry out programs of the Indian Health Service (IHS) on their own behalf.

“This, along with improvements in the IHS direct operations, have led to hospitals being accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation to Healthcare Organizations, and health delivery systems being tailored to expanded outpatient and home and community based services has become commonplace in the private sector.  Medicare, Medicaid and other third party revenue were important to achieving these gains and crucial for retaining them.  Equally important is the need to reinforce the authority provided to tribal health programs under the self-determination and self-governance for tribes to establish their own priorities and to determine the best ways to respond to the specific needs of their tribal members.”

Young Authors Provision To Improve Rural Alaska Dental Care

Young authored an important provision in the legislation to dramatically improve dental health care programs for Alaska Natives.  The DHAT program is part of the Community Health Aide Program which is authorized for Alaska in section 121 of the bill to address the growing crisis in dental care in rural Alaska, which has 2.5 times the national average of tooth decay.

The DHAT program was initiated in 2003 by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), a Native-owned non-profit health agency based in Anchorage to address the dental crisis in rural Alaska. 

            Under the 2003 provision, dental therapists completed a two-year intensive clinical training program with a three-year preceptorship under direct supervision of a licensed dentist.  An independent evaluation of their performance was performed and confirmed that the quality of their practice met all standards expected of licensed dentists.

“Hundreds of Alaska Natives have had the opportunity to be treated by the new dental therapists and report positive experiences with the quality of care,” Young said.  “I have had several public health organizations, included those of dentists, endorse the DHAT program. 

“Alaska is experiencing a true dental crisis.  More than one-third of rural Alaska school children have missed school because of dental pain.  Recruitment and retention of rural dentists cannot make dental care available in most villages except on an itinerant basis.  Even if we filled every vacancy in rural Alaska, it would take over 10 years to catch up on the accumulation of dental needs.  While prevention activities are crucial, they must be coupled with treatment-treatment that DHATs can provide safely.

            “I have reviewed and met with participants in the DHAT program of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation and was extremely impressed with the training that the dental therapists receive, their oversight and supervision by a licensed dentist and their quality of care,” Young said.

            Young said the recent article in the Washington Post “For Want of a Dentist, Prince George’s Boy Dies After Bacteria from Tooth Spread to Brain” outlines the critical problem of “access to care” by poor rural residents throughout the United States and, specifically in rural Alaska Native villages.  Young said an additional problem was that most dentists will not accept Medicaid patients in rural Alaska.

“Our Alaska DHAT program is a positive start in the right direction for providing quality preventive dental care to Alaska’s rural Native residents and, I am proud to have included the provision in this new legislation to help address this problem,” Young said.

“In addition, our DHAT provision includes additional language that calls for a study by a neutral panel to evaluate the program in Alaska to further ensure that the best quality of care is provided.”

 

For more information, access the Committee on Natural Resources’ Minority website at:

http://republicans.resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.shtml

 

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