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Posted July 20, 2021
NIHB Attends Mississippi Choctaw Indian Fair to Promote Act of Love Campaign
The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) was honored to be guests at the Mississippi Band of Choctaw (MBCI) Indian Fair July 16-17. The Choctaw Health Center hosted a "Health Plex" that included a vaccine drive, behavioral health services, mental wellness, grief counseling, healing education and practices, and diabetes prevention. Choctaw Health also partnered with the Mississippi Department of Health and the state Veterans Affairs hospital to provide more vaccines to more people.
At the Health Plex, NIHB Public Health Policy and Programs Associate Chyna Locklear and Communications Consultant April Hale shared information about the organization and the Act of Love campaign - that focuses on wearing a mask and getting vaccinated - with specific messages to Native youth and young people. Over two days, NIHB gave out nearly 400 Act of Love post vaccination kits to Tribal members and Native youth who were recently vaccinated. NIHB saw many youth, supported by their parents and relatives, get the Covid vaccine. Getting the vaccine is part of NIHB Act of Love campaign. See NIHB's Facebook page for posts from the event.
MCBI Chief Cyrus Ben shared with NIHB some words of praise and encouragement. With over 4,000 people vaccinated, MCBI has been actively hosted vaccine drives to vaccine more Tribal members and youth as well as non-Native community members. See Chief Ben's video message here. For more information about the Act of Love campaign, please contact Tyler Dougherty at [email protected].
Posted July 19, 2021
US House Appropriations Include Centers for Disease Prevention Increases for Indian Country Programs for FY 2022
On July 15, 2021, the House Appropriations Committee advanced their Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Labor, Health, Human Services, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill by a vote of 33-25. Overall, the Labor-HHS bill seeks to approve a 39% increase in its 2022 funding over FY 2021.
The Labor-HHS appropriations legislation contains funding for all other health services and public health programs that are outside of the Indian Health Service budget; including those that have been vital during the COVID-19 public health emergency since declared in March 2020.
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Posted July 7, 2021
House Appropriations Committee Advances FY 2022 Interior Bill; Large Increase for Indian Health Service
On July 1, 2021, the House Appropriations Committee advanced their Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies (Interior) appropriations bill by a vote of 32-24. Overall, the Interior bill will receive a 20.2% increase in its allocation over FY 2021, which is the second largest increase among the 12 annual appropriations bills in FY 2022...
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Posted July 7, 2021
House Proposed Appropriations for Health IT Modernization for Indian Country
The House Appropriations Committee proposed language for Health Information Technology (health IT or HIT) modernization in the Department of The Interior, Environment, And Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2022. The Bill proposes $284.5 million. While these funds are not yet approved as of this writing, this is an important first step towards ensuring that the Indian health care system has the funding it needs to modernize its IT infrastructure...
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Posted July 1, 2021
National Indian Health Board Submits Testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee
On July 1, the National Indian Health Board submitted testimony to the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States for the hearing "Examining Federal Facilities in Indian Country." In the testimony, NIHB outlined the dire need for increased funding for Tribal health facilities, including facilities construction and improvement, sanitation facilities, behavioral health facilities and more.
Read NIHB's full testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee here.
Posted June 24, 2021
President Biden Announces Agreement on Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework
On Thursday June 24, President Biden and a coalition of 10 Senators, both Republican and Democrats, reached a deal on a legislative package called the 'Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework' outlining top-line spending levels of $1.2 trillion over eight years to provide long-term investment in America's physical infrastructure. The American Jobs Plan, initially announced by President Biden on March 31, is the Administration's initiative to invest nearly $2.3 trillion for American infrastructure.
On June 21, the National Indian Health Board submitted a letter to Congressional leadership outlining Tribal healthcare infrastructure requests, including $48 billion for full funding of the Indian Health Service, $21 billion for healthcare facilities construction, $3 billion for health IT modernization, and more.
Read more about the plan
Posted June 18, 2021
Biden Administration Invests Additional $1.8 Billion in American Rescue Plan Funding to Combat COVID-19 in Indian Country
On Tuesday, June 16, the Biden Administration announced an additional investment of $1.8 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to combat COVID-19 in Indian Country. This is in addition to an investment of more than $4 billion that was announced in April 2021. This investment is meant to strengthen the public health infrastructure in Indian Country, continue efforts to detect and treat COVID-19, support mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment, and meet facility and equipment needs.
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Posted June 18, 2021
Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act, Secures Indian Health Care Improvement Act
The National Indian Health Board (NIHB), representing the health interests of all 574 federally recognized Tribes, applauds the United States Supreme Court for upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a 7-2 decision on California v. Texas that challenged the law as unconstitutional. The high court's decision protects Medicaid Expansion and secures the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) which is the foundation of the modern Indian health care system.
Read the full release
Posted June 17, 2021
National Indian Health Board Submits Letter to Congress on the need for Electronic Health Record and Health IT Investment
On June 17, The National Indian Health Board submitted a letter to Congress outlining the need for increased funding for Health Information Technology (HIT) modernization for Indian Health Service (IHS), Tribal health, and urban Indian health systems. NIHB requests that Congress fund Tribes. IHS, and Tribal health programs on a recurring basis for HIT modernization. Additionally, NIHB requests that Congress extends the Medicare Hardship Exception to IHS, Tribal, and Urban Indian health systems for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for an additional five years due to the current HIT's inability to meet the requirements.
NIHB's letter to Congress also includes bill text on modernizing the IHS, Tribal, and Tribal health HIT programs for lawmakers to use for future legislation. Read the full letter to Congress here.
Posted June 17, 2021
NIHB Letter to IHS on their Tribal Consultation Policy
On June 15, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) sent a letter to the Acting Director at the Indian Health Service (IHS) on the IHS Tribal Consultation Policy. The letter details the need for IHS to update its consultation policy to include increased accountability, the acknowledgement of honoring the Tribe's right to request consultation at any time, and the establishment of continuous opportunities for meaningful engagement in policies that effect American Indian and Alaska Native people. NIHB requests that IHS issue a Dear Tribal Leader Letter 30 days after every consultation, providing an overview of the discussion with next steps for the agency to take. Similarly, IHS should avoid rapid consultation by implementing a policy to provide a 30-day notice of upcoming consultation. Finally, the letter also details the need for IHS to respect the sovereignty of Tribal communities' requests and continued involvement from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the IHS Budget Formulation process. As IHS reviews the comments on its Tribal Consultation Policy, NIHB will keep Tribes informed regarding the implementation of these and other recommendations brought forth by Tribes and Tribal Organizations.
Read the letter here.
Posted June 1, 2021
President Biden Releases his FY 2022 Congressional Justification
On May 28, President Joseph R. Biden released the Congressional Justification for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Presidential Budget. The Congressional Justification is the second part of the President's FY 2022 Discretionary Budget. The first part was the President's FY 2022 Budget Request that was released on April 9, 2021, and provided an overview of the President's budget priorities. The Congressional Justification provides a more in-depth analysis of the President's budget requests and proposed funding levels for various federal agencies.
Read NIHB's analysis of the budget here.
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