Using the University Land Grant System to Address Indian Health Service Physician Vacancies
WHEREAS, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), established in 1972, serves all Federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribal governments by advocating for the improvement of health care delivery to AI/ANs, as well as upholding the Federal government’s trust responsibility to AI/AN Tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, The federal trust responsibility is a legal obligation under which the federal government “has charged itself with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust” toward AI/AN tribes1 ; and
WHEREAS, The federal trust responsibility establishes the basis for a variety of services provided to federally recognized AI/AN Tribes and Villages, including the provision of physicians2 ; and
WHEREAS, The Government Accountability Office reports that 29 percent of federal Indian Health Services’ (IHS) physician positions on average are vacant, with some Areas operating with up to 46 percent of their physician positions vacant3 ; and
WHEREAS, There are 52 land-grant universities built on public land transferred to states from the federal government with passage of the Morrill Act of 18624 ; and
WHEREAS, Land-grant universities have raised nearly half a billion adjusted 2020 dollars from use or sale of 10.7 million acres of public land expropriated from 245 Tribes4 ; and
WHEREAS, Land-grant universities collectively enroll less than half a percent AI/AN students across their undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs4 ; and
WHEREAS, Land-grant universities enroll AI/AN medical students far below their national representation of 3 percent according to the 2020 US Census (1.23% AI/AN medical students at allopathic (MD-granting) and 0.58% AI/AN medical students at osteopathic (DO-granting) land-grant medical schools);5-6 and
WHEREAS, Land-grant universities are active recipients of federal funding; and
