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S. HRG. 114–375 

REEXAMINING THE SUBSTANDARD QUALITY OF 

INDIAN HEALTH CARE IN THE GREAT PLAINS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

FEBRUARY 3, 2016 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Chairman 

JON TESTER, Montana, Vice Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

T. MICHAEL ANDREWS, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

ANTHONY WALTERS, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on February 3, 2016 ......................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Barrasso ............................................................................... 1 

Statement of Senator Daines .................................................................................. 44 

Statement of Senator Franken ............................................................................... 50 

Statement of Senator Heitkamp ............................................................................. 8 

Statement of Senator Hoeven ................................................................................. 5 

Statement of Senator Rounds ................................................................................. 7 

Statement of Senator Tester ................................................................................... 4 

Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 9 

Statement of Senator Udall .................................................................................... 6 

WITNESSES

Bear Shield, Hon. William, Council Representative, Rosebud Sioux Tribe ........ 75 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 78 

Dorgan, Hon. Byron L., Former U.S. Senator from North Dakota; Founder 

and Chairman, Center for Native American Youth .......................................... 11 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 

Karol, Susan V., M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Indian Health Service, U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services ...................................................... 35 

Killsback, Jace, Executive Health Manager, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Board 

of Health ............................................................................................................... 80 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 82 

Kitcheyan, Victoria, Treasurer, Winnebago Tribal Council ................................. 54 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 56 

Little Hawk-Weston, Sonia, Chairwoman, Health And Human Services Committee, Oglala Sioux Tribal Council ................................................................... 62 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 64 

Mcswain, Robert G., Principal Deputy Director, Indian Health Service, U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services ...................................................... 28 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 

Slavitt, Andy, Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; accompanied by Thomas Hamilton, Director, Survey and Certification 

Group, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality ........................................... 22 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 24 

Wakefield, Mary, Ph.D., R.N.; Acting Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department 

of Health and Human Services ........................................................................... 18 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 20 

LISTENING SESSION

Listening session held on February 3, 2016......................................................... 91–129 

APPENDIX

Archambault, Jacqueline, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Member, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 154 

Brown, Domnic L., Osage Tribal Member, prepared statement .......................... 154 

Clown, Yvonne Kay, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Member, prepared statement ...................................................................................................................... 136 

Colombe, Sunny, MBA, Rosebud Sioux Tribal Member, prepared statement .... 131 

Dilldine, Jane, Supervisory General Supply Specialist, Pine Ridge IHS Hospital, prepared statement .................................................................................... 174 

Espinoza, Evelyn, RN, BSN, Rosebud Sioux Tribe Health Administrator, prepared statement ................................................................................................... 168 

Page

IV 

Frazier, Hon. Harold C., Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 134 

Goodwin, Tammy Rae, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Member, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 166 

Houle, Jay, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Member, prepared statement ..... 153 

Jones, Alexis, Registered Nurse, BSN, prepared statement ................................ 155 

Malerba, Hon. Marilynn, Chief, Mohegan Tribe; Board Member of Self-Governance Communication and Education Tribal Consortium; Chairwoman, 

IHS Tribal Self-Governance Advisory Committee (TSGAC), prepared statement ...................................................................................................................... 187 

Miller, Vernon, Chairman, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, prepared statement ...... 181 

National Indian Health Board (NIHB), prepared statement ............................... 138 

Phillips, Brent R., President/CEO, Regional Health, Inc., prepared statement . 172 

Salomon, Donna M. (Waters), Oglala Sioux Tribal Member, prepared statement ...................................................................................................................... 157 

United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc., prepared statement ............................... 151 

Waters, Stephanie L., Oglala Sioux Tribal Member, prepared statement .......... 163 

Wilcox, Darlene M., Ph.D., LP, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, prepared statement ...................................................................................................................... 169 

Additional letters and supplementary information for the record ................... 191–228 

Response to written questions submitted by Hon. James Lankford to Andy 

Slavitt .................................................................................................................... 228

Response to written questions submitted by Hon. John Thune to Robert 

G. Mcswain ........................................................................................................... 230 

(1) 

REEXAMINING THE SUBSTANDARD QUALITY 

OF INDIAN HEALTH CARE IN THE GREAT 

PLAINS 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:33 p.m. in room 

216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. John Barrasso, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING 

The CHAIRMAN. I call this hearing to order. 

Today, the Committee will hold an oversight hearing entitled, 

Reexamining the Substandard Quality of Indian Health Care in the 

Great Plains. 

In 2010, the Committee held an oversight hearing entitled In 

Critical Condition: The Urgent Need to Reform Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area. At this hearing the Committee listened to testimony detailing an investigation led by the former Chairman 

Byron Dorgan and his report on the Indian Health Service. He is 

here with us today. 

The Dorgan Report found atrocious evidence showing the lack of 

quality of care by the Indian Health Service in the Aberdeen area, 

now called the Great Plains area, to Indian tribes. 

Over five years later, the very problems identified in the Dorgan 

Report have not been resolved. In fact, some issues have become 

worse over time, and new ones have developed. 

After hearing loudly from the tribes on the lack of quality of 

health care in the Great Plains Area, I dispatched Committee staff 

to the field to understand what is really is happening in the Great 

Plains Area. 

What we found is simply horrifying and unacceptable. In my 

view, the information provided to this Committee and witnessed 

first hand can be summed up in one word: malpractice. You do not 

have to take my word for it. You will hear today, the Indian Health 

Service has known about these issues all along. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, another agency 

within the Department of Health and Human Services, has confirmed not only that these same problems continue to fester, but 

that they pose immediate risk to patient safety. 

2 

The impacts of these deficiencies are not theoretical. These persistent failures have led to unnecessary suffering by patients, by 

families, and by whole communities. In fact, they have led to multiple patient deaths. 

The Administration is responsible for providing and delivering 

health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives across the 

Country. Their Federal obligation mandates that they promote 

health and safe Indian communities while honoring tribal governance. This is not happening. 

The Indian Health Service has failed their patients. This Committee knows it, the congressional delegations joining us today 

know it, the tribes know it all too well, and every single witness 

here today knows it. Without question, this is a tragedy and a disgrace. 

I stress to the Administration that the status quo will not be tolerated. How can we take your word that these issues have been resolved, when 5 years ago, you said to this Committee you had a 

plan? How can we trust information coming from Health and 

Human Services and the Indian Health Service or others in the Administration? 

This Committee will not accept any more cover-ups or politicking. This is not a game. People’s lives are at risk. 

We are now at a place where you must prove to us, each step 

of the way, that you are living up to your word and fulfilling your 

responsibilities. 

Last year, I wrote to Secretary Burwell about the need for leadership at the Indian Health Service. To this day, the director position remains unfilled. The Administration’s failure to act on such 

important matters speaks volumes. 

Testimony submitted by the Administration references many 

plans but we need and the people in the Great Plains need, concrete results. Simply changing an area name from ‘‘Aberdeen’’ to 

‘‘Great Plains’’ will not suffice. 

I urge the Administration to listen to the Indian tribes and witnesses here today. Listen to their testimonies. Listen to their statements. These are the people you serve, and they know what their 

communities need. I hope you will treat them with the respect they 

deserve, and work with them honestly and openly. 

As a physician, I know that more can and must be done to ensure safe, quality healthcare is delivered at Indian Health Service 

facilities in the Great Plains area. I believe positive change is possible. It will be difficult and, at times, uncomfortable. This cannot 

stand in the way of real reform. 

We must put patients first, and that is exactly what we are here 

to do today. We need both short-term and long-term solutions, not 

only to the problems identified by the CMS surveys, but also to the 

many other problems identified by patients, tribes, the brave Indian Health Service employees who have spoken to the Committee 

and others. 

I will continue to press the Administration for answers and real 

solutions. I will continue to investigate and convene hearings here 

in Washington or in the field until we are sure patients are safe 

in the facilities that were built to provide them care. 

3 

I would also like to say that although this oversight hearing will 

focus on the Great Plains area, the Committee has also heard concerns from tribes in other areas served by the Indian Health Service. 

We have been told that conditions are most dire in the Great 

Plains, but again, we are not going to take the Administration’s 

word for it. We realize that these and other issues impacting patients may plague other regions, and will demand answers and action in these areas as well. 

When our Committee staff visited the Great Plains area recently, 

they saw firsthand the culture of cronyism and corruption that permeates the system. Many Indian Health Service personnel have 

come to the conclusion that they are untouchable and that they are 

accountable to no one. As far as I can tell, until now, they have 

been allowed to act with impunity. 

Instead of being reprimanded for failing to appropriately care for 

patients or for retaliating against providers who report deficiencies, 

these ‘‘untouchable’’ employees are being recycled throughout the 

Great Plains area. Some are being promoted, even though they are 

not qualified for the positions they hold. Some have been involved 

in preventable deaths identified by CMS. 

These ‘‘untouchable’’ employees have continued to see patients 

and collect taxpayer dollars, without fear of being held accountable 

for the many lives they were hired to protect and care for. I fear 

that some members of the IHS leadership think they are untouchable as well. 

One particularly egregious incident involves the Chief Medical 

Officer for IHS. In a recent phone call, the Chief Medical Officer 

responded to concerns from congressional staff about incidents involving unsafe pre-term deliveries by saying, ‘‘if you have only had 

two babies hit the floor in eight years that is pretty good.’’ This is 

a sad new low for IHS. 

Another example involves a young toddler lost her life to a preventable infection because the IHS facility in her community repeatedly failed to provide proper care, and by the time they referred her out of the IHS system, it was too late. This is a heartbreak that no parent, no family, no community should have to 

bear. 

Yet, tragically, this story is all too familiar. Too many lives have 

been lost because no one was held accountable for their actions. 

The same mistakes are being made again and again. This must 

change immediately. 

To be clear, the total lack of accountability is just one of many 

problems identified during my staff’s visit to the Great Plains area 

last month, and relocating troubled staff will not be enough to effect real and lasting improvements. 

True reform will require a cultural change at IHS, from the top 

officials responsible at department headquarters, down to the employees at each facility. 

The information we have uncovered is overwhelming and disturbing, and it will be an important part of addressing the problems we discuss here today. 

We must work together to stop the bleeding in the Great Plains, 

and find permanent solutions, so that we are not here again in anVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
4 

other five years facing the same problems, after an untold number 

of additional preventable deaths. 

Before we hear from our witnesses, I want to thank Senators 

Thune, Rounds and Sasse for joining us today. They have been and 

will continue to be great advocates for the tribes in the Great 

Plains. I also want to thank Senator Tester for his attention to this 

issue. 

I would like to turn first to Senator Tester for an opening statement. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA 

Senator TESTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing. 

Unfortunately, for many of us sitting up here and for the tribal 

nations throughout Indian Country, another congressional hearing 

on the inadequacies of the Indian Health Service is not a surprise. 

As disturbing as the news from the Great Plains area is, we hear 

from tribes, as the Chairman said, all over the Country with similar stories of inadequate care, a painfully slow bureaucratic system 

of billing and collections and simply poor health care delivery for 

their people. 

We have to work with the tribes to find solutions to these problems. Our Country has made a number of commitments to the 

tribes in our Country and that includes providing quality health 

care. 

Those of us on this Committee know all too well the health care 

conditions the American Indians and Alaska Natives across this 

Country continue to face. The statistics are staggering. 

Native Americans are affected by heart disease, cancers and diabetes at higher rates than any other ethnic group in this Country. 

In some places, the life expectancy of a Native American is significantly shorter than their non-Indian peers. 

In my home State of Montana, an average American Indian man 

or woman will live about 20 years less than their non-Indian counterpart. This is an unacceptable reality that both Congress and the 

Administration must work to fix. 

That is why it is my hope that this hearing can shed more light 

not only on the problems that face the IHS but the steps that we 

can take to find solutions to these problems. Despite seeing modest 

increases over the last several years, we all know that funding is 

a major challenge. 

The Administration and Congress have worked together in recent 

years to improve these funding streams but the impact of the ongoing threat of sequestration has had negative effects on these efforts. 

In addition to funding, we also must ensure that the IHS has the 

tools it needs to be successful. Quality of care should be a top priority for the IHS. We need to examine what mechanisms are in 

place to ensure that IHS is providing first rate care. 

Part of ensuring that tribal communities consistently receive 

high quality care means making certain that we are recruiting and 

retaining quality health care professionals to serve in our IHS facilities. 

5 

Another area of concern is the ability of the department to rapidly and effectively respond to health emergency incidents to guarantee that care is not being disrupted. 

This current situation is even more frustrating knowing that 

when similar conditions existed in the Veterans Administration 

health care system, Congress did the right thing and made changes 

to the law to ensure that veterans are receiving health care we 

have promised. 

American Indians and Alaska Natives are still waiting. Despite 

the Federal treaty and the trust responsibilities we have, these 

conditions go largely unnoticed by the general public. 

I would encourage my colleagues on this Committee and in Congress to ask themselves how can we, in good conscience, pass legislation to fix the VA but ignore the needs of the Indian Health Service? 

I hope we have some solutions proposed today. I look forward to 

working with everyone to make certain that American Indians and 

Alaska Natives are getting the health care they deserve. 

Finally, before we begin, I would like to welcome Jace Killsback, 

a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe from Montana. Jace 

serves on a number of health advisory councils at home. As well 

he serves as the Executive Health Manager for his tribe. 

He has been involved in these issues for over a decade and will 

provide us with valuable insights on how to improve health care on 

the ground in Indian Country. 

I would also like to welcome my good friend, Byron Dorgan, the 

former chairman of this Committee. Byron, your presence is still 

felt here even today. I want to thank you for your counsel and for 

testifying as we move forward. 

I would also welcome a couple more folks. To Dorothy Dupree, 

the former head of Billings-Rocky Mountain Region, thank you for 

your good work. Even though it was on a temporary basis, you 

make a difference. I want to thank you for that. 

To Robert McSwain, thank you for being here today. There are 

plenty of reasons that you should not be here today. I am not going 

to elaborate on those but there are serious issues going on in your 

personal life. I want to thank you for being here to testify. 

With that, Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Tester. 

Would anyone else like to make a statement? Senator Hoeven. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN HOEVEN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA 

Senator HOEVEN. Mr. Chairman, if I could, I would like to welcome former Senator Byron Dorgan who served both in the House 

of Representatives and in the Senate from 1980 to 2010. I would 

like to thank him for being here and for his commitment on behalf 

of Native Americans, not only throughout North Dakota but across 

the Country, for many, many years. I welcome back to this hearing 

today. 

Also, I would welcome Deputy Secretary Mary Wakefield for her 

commitment to rural health care both on and off reservation and 

for her presence and testimony here today. 

Thank you so much to both of you. 

6 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Hoeven. 

Senator Udall? 

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO 

Senator UDALL. Thank you very much, Chairman Barrasso and 

Vice Chairman Tester, for focusing on this very, very urgent issue. 

I would echo what they said about Senator Dorgan. It is great to 

have you here and to have you involved in Native American issues 

across the Country. 

The conditions recently reported at facilities in the Great Plains 

region are horrific and unacceptable. My State also experienced 

halted emergency medical services at an IHS medical center in 

Crownpoint, New Mexico last year. 

Patients deserve competent and timely care and it is intolerable 

that any IHS emergency facility close for any amount of time. The 

difficult topics we are going to discuss today are not new. Unfortunately, staffing issues and the facility disrepair are becoming synonymous with the Indian Health Service. 

To help address these ongoing staffing difficulties, I have introduced a bill with Senator Murkowski that would make the IHS 

Health Professions Awards Program exempt from a Federal income 

tax requirement as the National Health Service Corps currently is. 

IHS currently spends approximately 30 percent of its health professions account to pay taxes to the Federal Government, taking 

needed funding away from investments and skilled medical professionals. We need more resources for the agency to recruit and retain competent and committed staff. 

I will continue to push for this change and I hope that the Administration has more ideas about how to tackle this issue. 

I also want to take this opportunity to bring to your attention a 

public health crisis in my State. The area in and around Gallup, 

New Mexico has long experienced an alarming number of alcoholrelated deaths of Native people. Last winter, 17 people died from 

alcohol-related incidents, including exposure to harsh cold temperatures. 

The NCI Detox Center in Gallup is currently the only detox facility serving the population in this remote and rural part of the 

State adjacent to the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni. An estimated 98 percent of clients served there are Native American. 

The center offers a desperately needed social detox program 

geared primarily toward protective custody. Since the facility 

serves such a large Native population, IHS needs to be a part of 

the team working with local officials and other stakeholders to 

solve this public health crisis in northwest New Mexico. 

I am pleased that the IHS officials from Rockville recently visited 

the NCI Detox Center which is expected to run out of funding at 

the end of next month. Senator Heinrich and I have been working 

together on this critical issue and he and his staff have been great 

to work with. 

Later in this hearing, I will have some urgent questions about 

how the Administration can creatively leverage current resources 

to help work on long term solutions to this problem. I look forward 

to discussing the great need to help address the crisis in the Great 

7 

Plains and the larger issues of IHS staffing and quality patient 

services and poor facility conditions. 

As was said earlier, this has been around for a long time. When 

Senator Dorgan was our chairman, we highlighted this. We would 

hope that the Administration would come forward with plans to 

remedy this in an urgent manner. 

Thank you very much again, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Udall. 

Senator Rounds. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE ROUNDS, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 

Senator ROUNDS. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso and Ranking 

Member Tester, and members of the Committee for allowing me as 

a non-member of the Committee to give a very brief statement. 

I do appreciate the work you are doing and I have to also give 

a shout out to your staff members who actually went out to the Dakotas. I know they spent over 12 hours in one day alone simply 

taking testimony and learning first hand of the challenges we face 

in the upper Midwest with regard to this particular and very serious issue. 

I would also like to mention that we appreciate the Honorable 

Sonia Little Hawk-Weston, Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, Tribal Council of the Oglala Sioux Tribe for being 

here today from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. 

We also appreciate Mr. William Bear Shield, a member of the 

Health Council at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. 

Afterwards at the listening session, I understand that the Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe will be giving testimony, 

our good friend, Mr. Harold Frazier. I think we also have the 

Chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe from Pine Ridge, Mr. John 

Yellowbird Steele, who was trying his best to get in here. He made 

it, great. 

We are having a blizzard in that part of the Country, so thank 

you for being here, Mr. Chairman. 

Nearly 122,000 tribal members rely on the Great Plains Area Office to deliver safe, reliable and efficient health care. For rural tribal members, their IHS facility may be the only hospital for more 

than 100 miles. This is the case for many tribal members in my 

home State of South Dakota. 

For too long, the Federal Government has failed to live up to its 

promise and its trust responsibility to provide adequate care for the 

Native American community. That is the reason that I am here 

today. 

In 2010, this Committee released a report citing chronic mismanagement, lack of employee accountability and financial integrity at IHS facilities. The report also identified five IHS hospitals 

in the Aberdeen area at risk of losing their accreditation or certification from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Fast 

forward six years and we find that the Winnebago facility, the 

Rosebud and Pine Ridge hospitals in South Dakota are all threatened with similar problems. It feels as if nothing has changed. 

The health care crisis within the Indian Health Care Service 

needs to be resolved. There is no excuse for hospitals to not reach 

8 

basic benchmarks for providing proper care. Reports and hearings 

can be very good if we also help to facilitate a plan of action to 

remedy the current situation and then insist on proper execution 

of the plan with a follow up to assure results. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to make this statement today. Thank you very much for bringing proper attention to 

this very important and critical issue to over 122,000 member citizens in the upper Midwest. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Rounds. 

Senator Heitkamp. 

STATEMENT OF HON. HEIDI HEITKAMP, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I want to welcome two great North Dakotans today, one whose 

footsteps I followed in my commitment to do better and to change 

outcomes, Senator Byron Dorgan, and ahead of him, both Senator 

Kent Conrad and certainly Senator Quentin Burdick were champions for Indian people, champions for meeting their needs and 

doing what we must do to fulfill our obligations that we took a sacred vow when we signed treaties. 

Somehow in every hearing we have, we see the failure of meeting 

those treaty obligations and the failure to do the right thing. 

I want to welcome Mary Wakefield who served as Senator Burdick’s Chief of Staff and has a long history of trying to improve the 

quality of health care in rural areas and certainly the quality of 

health care in Native American communities. 

I want to make what seems to me to be a very simple point because we come to these Committee hearings all the time and, talk 

about the parade of horribles. It is not just in health care; it is in 

housing and education. We could just make a long list. 

Yet, let me give you some numbers. The average Medicare spend- ing per beneficiary is almost $12,000 a year. The average spending, 

national health means everyone, is about $8,000. The average 

spending in the veteran system is $7,000. The average spending in 

Medicaid, per enrollee, is almost $5,600. 

When we look at what we spend in Indian health, it is barely 

$3,000. Is anyone shocked that we are here? Is anyone shocked 

that we have these problems? 

We have to be serious about fixing this problem. If we are serious 

about fixing this problem, we are going to be serious about funding 

the fix. No one should tolerate what we read in this report. No one 

thinks this is okay. 

You have to do better with what you have and you cannot accept 

a culture of failure because we see it over and over again whether 

it is BIA, Indian health or Indian education. We have accepted bad 

results. That has to change. 

Congress shares responsibility. The President shares responsibility. If we are serious about fixing this, we are serious about 

funding it. 

I want to lay out some concerns I have. We need to know what 

it will take to fix it and how we are to get the resources so that 

we can. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Heitkamp. 

9 

Senator Thune. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN THUNE, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 

Senator THUNE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I too want to thank you and Senator Tester for holding this hearing and shining a light on what is a major crisis in Indian Country 

in the Great Plains. 

As Senator Rounds did, I want to acknowledge the people who 

are here. I think all nine tribes from South Dakota are represented. I particularly look forward to hearing from Sonia Little 

Hawk-Weston from the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Willie Bear Shield 

from Rosebud. 

As Senator Rounds also mentioned, I welcome both President 

John Yellowbird Steele and Chairman Harold Frazier. 

Mr. Chairman, this is de ́ja` vu all over again. We have been 

through this drill. With Senator Dorgan’s good work back in 2010, 

we came out of that with what I thought was a plan, but it is disappointing to me that we find ourselves right back here where we 

started. 

In December of this year, when IHS notified me of CMS’s findings, I immediately followed up with IHS and HHS. In a conference 

call on December 4 between my staff and IHS, members from IHS 

stated that a majority of the concerns at the Rosebud facility had 

been addressed and abated. 

These statements were made merely hours before my staff was 

informed that the Great Plains area office had contacted President 

Kindle of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and informed him that the 

emergency department at the Rosebud hospital was being put on 

diversion status that following day. 

Mr. Chairman, I would just say how could that happen? We have 

a serious breakdown in communication or somebody is not telling 

the truth. I bring this up as an example of the continuing evidence 

of IHS communication issues. 

Just hours before the Great Plains IHS decision to divert patients from Rosebud’s emergency department, staff in Great Plains 

and at headquarters were painting a picture to congressional staff 

that did not match events and reality on the ground. 

Since this Committee’s report in 2010, I continued to monitor the 

actions of the Great Plains IHS. In April 2014, I sent a letter to 

the then Acting Director IHS requesting an update on the ongoing 

work of the IHS to address the Committee’s findings. 

On June 30, 2014, I received a response to that letter. The letter 

stated ‘‘The Great Plains area has shown marked improvements in 

all categories. Significant improvements in health care delivery and 

program accountability have also been demonstrated.’’ 

Yet, here we are a year and a half later and one hospital in the 

region has had its provider agreement terminated and two more 

hospital provider agreements have been placed in jeopardy. 

What has to be acknowledged is that CMS findings indicate people’s lives are in jeopardy. This is unacceptable. We cannot tolerate 

this. CMS’s recent findings regarding patient experiences at these 

facilities are beyond comprehension. 

10 

Incredibly the report of dirty and unsanitized medical equipment 

left exposed in an emergency room might be the least shocking of 

these stories. One patient who suffered from a severe head injury 

was incorrectly discharged from the hospital only to be called back 

later the same day once the test results arrived. The patient was 

immediately flown to another facility for care and never should 

have been sent home in the first place. 

Another facility which has been mentioned was in such disarray 

that a pregnant mother prematurely gave birth on a bathroom 

floor, a bathroom floor, without a single medical professional nearby which shockingly is not the first time it has happened at that 

facility. 

Each one of these incidents is egregious and needlessly puts people’s lives at risk. CMS’s recent findings are not only astounding 

but they are absolutely unacceptable. These are life and death circumstances and IHS must make fixing these recurring issues a priority. 

Time and again we have had a variety of task forces, reports and 

oversight commissions formed to uncover the failings within the 

Great Plains area IHS, yet to date it is evident that IHS has failed 

to follow through on many of the report’s findings. 

In addition to poor patient experiences at IHS facilities, gaining 

access to a physician or health care professional is made all the 

more difficult due to sever staffing shortages. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2015, there were six physicians 

in all of Oglala, Lakota County where the Pine Ridge hospital and 

Kyle Clinic are located. 

In fact, the doctor to patient ratio in Oglala Lakota County is 

2,343 patients for every one physician. Keep in mind that in addition to Oglala Lakota County, the IHS facilities on the Pine Ridge 

Reservation also serve Jackson County which contains another 

3,216 people. 

In nearby Todd County, the location of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, in 2015, the Foundation reported there were only two primary care physicians or 4,971 patients for every one physician. 

Currently, to my knowledge, there are now three providers in 

Rosebud. However, there is funding for 11. Filling these positions 

could go a long way to ensuring patients have access to care. 

I just wanted to do this for purposes of comparison but if you 

look at similarly populated counties throughout the Country, they 

tend to have way better access to primary care physicians. For instance, Plumas County, California, with a population of 18,859 or 

roughly the population of the Pine Ridge Reservation according to 

the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations, has 15 physicians or 1,293 patients for every physician. 

The 12,503 people who live in Millard County, Utah, similar in 

size to Todd County, South Dakota enjoy a ratio of 1,796 patients 

for every doctor, making primary care physicians over twice as accessible in Millard County than in Todd County. 

I would say we just have to do better. People are counting on us 

to do better. To date, we have failed to deliver on our promise to 

provide tribal citizens of this Country the quality of care they deserve. I am committed to seeing true and lasting reform come from 

11 

this hearing and the discussions that will follow. IHS must have 

accountability and transparency to our tribes and to Congress. 

Again, I am grateful, Mr. Chairman, for you and Senator Tester 

allowing those of us not on this Committee to participate because 

this is an issue that obviously is of great interest and one about 

which we care deeply. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Thune. 

With that, I would like to invite Senator Dorgan to the table. We 

are going to hear from a person who is a familiar face to the Committee and who is the former Chairman of this Committee, who led 

the 2010 investigation we are revisiting today. 

We thank you for your continued service, Senator Dorgan, to the 

Great Plans and to all of Indian Country. We welcome your statement and your participation. 

I would also be remiss not to mention that earlier this year the 

Senate passed with unanimous consent the Indian Tribal Energy 

and Self Determination Act of 2015. I recall under your chairmanship we were able to get the ball rolling. Thank you for that effort 

and your leadership as well. 

With that, Senator Dorgan, welcome back to the Committee. 

STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN, FORMER U.S. 

SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA; FOUNDER AND 

CHAIRMAN, CENTER FOR NATIVE AMERICAN YOUTH 

Senator DORGAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

I was surprised and pleased to be invited and very happy to 

come. I know that everyone sitting at this table has a passionate 

desire to fix these problems. You know how difficult they are. You 

pledged to yourselves, the Congress and your constituent groups 

that this must be fixed. 

I am really pleased to be here. When I left the Senate, I created 

something called the Center for Native American Youth which is 

a nonprofit focused just on Native American youth. All the spotlights are on that spot. We work on teen suicide prevention, educational opportunities, health care and a range of things. 

I am going to talk to you about the Indian Health Service. I have 

to grit my teeth a little bit because we hold quarterly meetings 

with Federal agencies that are kind of stovepipes and we get them 

talking to each other. 

There has been no agency that has been better and more faithful 

in sending some terrific people to those quarterly meetings than 

the Indian Health Service. I say that because I know today there 

are some wonderful people working at the IHS, both people working with us at CNAY and also people this morning who got up and 

went to work at the Health Service areas dedicated professionals, 

dedicating their lives to these things. 

I regret that when we talk about all this, somehow it tarnishes 

the good work of some really good people. I feel sad about that but 

we do not have a choice. 

This morning again I looked at the 2010 investigation we did. We 

had a series of bullet points but let me read the first one. ‘‘Over 

the course of the last ten years, the IHS has repeatedly used transfers, reassignments, details, lengthy administrative leave to deal 

12 

with employees who have had records of misconduct and poor performance.’’ 

I do not need to read a lot more than that but just say that this 

system does not work unless there is accountability. When there is 

fraud, misconduct, incompetence, criminal activity, you do not need 

a long investigation for that. You fire folks involved and move on 

with competent people to run the system. 

That has not happened. It has not happened not just for the five 

years or the last 10 or 15 years, decade after decade we have seen 

these problems; in Administration after Administration, we have 

seen these problems. 

There is just no way to sugar coat what we are dealing with. It 

has been and still is a tragic failure in delivering health care in far 

too many areas for American Indians. We are talking about the 

Great Plains region but I tell you, I am certain this extends beyond 

it. 

I commend you because taking on this issues is hard but you 

have to start. You have to start with the first step. Building on the 

2010 report I think can be very helpful. 

The Indian health care issue is underfunded by half. You can 

work on that but the fact is it is underfunded by half which promotes full scale rationing of health care. It ought to be front page 

headlines in major city newspapers but it is not. 

In fact, most people do not know of it, see it or hear of it. It suffers in quality and is underfunded by half. That is a significant 

problem. 

It is easier to criticize poor quality, but we also need to criticize 

the decision-making of all of us who, with a country, signed treaties 

and made promises to deliver health care and have not honored 

those promises with the adequate funding that is necessary. That 

is a fact as well. 

Senator Heitkamp talked about responsibilities. We are responsible for health care for those we incarcerate. We incarcerate a lot 

of people in this Country. We are responsible not only for those we 

incarcerate for health care but also by treaty and by promise and 

by trust, for health care for American Indians. 

We spend twice as much per person providing health care for 

those we incarcerate in America’s prisons than we do to meet the 

promise of health care for American Indians that we agreed to by 

treaty and trust. That is unbelievable to me. None of us experience 

it because none of us get our health care in these ways. 

I want to mention a couple of facts about the 2010 investigation. 

I mentioned earlier there are some terrific people working for the 

Indian Health Service. There is no question about that. I have seen 

them and you have seen them. 

If you visit these facilities and walk the halls, you see some people you care a great deal about and say thank God for doing this. 

Often it is in remote areas and so on but they are not the issue. 

The fact is, too many of them are working with outdated equipment, I mentioned inadequate funding, but it is also the case that 

there is kind of a split personality in my judgment. Having 

watched the IHS for a long, long time, I see kind of a split personality. 

13 

There are some really great people, some people who care, people 

who sign up and commit their lives to the Indian Health Service 

and deliver good health care. Then I see something else. 

I see the weaving of friendships and favors, relatives, incompetence, corruption and yes, even criminal behavior. It has all too 

often and continues to be, in my judgment, overlooked, excused and 

denied. That cannot continue. 

No organization in American of which I am aware can work properly in those circumstances. You have to determine what works 

and who works, what does not work and who does not, and then 

make the necessary changes. 

This is not some ordinary issue because as a number of you have 

mentioned. This is about people who die; this is about living and 

dying. We take for granted every year and every day for us and for 

our families’ health care administration that is routinely denied to 

many American Indians. 

Let me give you a couple of examples. It is not about philosophy 

or theory; this is about what they confront. Adele Hale Berry is 

having a heart attack. Because there is no contract funding left, it 

is that time of the year, do not get sick after June, she is sent to 

a hospital in a city. 

When she arrives on a gurney at the hospital, she has taped to 

her thigh an 8 x 10 piece of paper that explains to the hospital that 

if you admit this woman, there will be no funding from the IHS, 

contract funding for that tribe is over. A heart attack victim on a 

gurney with a taped piece of paper to her thigh explaining why she 

is not going to get funded for health care for a heart attack is unbelievable. 

I was at the Three Affiliated Tribes once on a tour. We walked 

around the hallway and the doctor who was a terrific guy working 

for the IHS said, here is where we are going to put the new x-ray 

machine. The old one is outdated and does not work very well but 

this is where the new one comes in. It is going to be a big deal. 

I said when is it coming? He said, not sure. He said, it has been 

approved and the paperwork has been waiting in Aberdeen for 18 

months to be signed, 18 months on someone’s desk. I am sure that 

makes you feel as I do. What on earth is happening? 

Finally, something I have described at great length, I want to do 

again because when we finally, after 17 years, passed the Indian 

Health Care Improvement Act, I asked it be named after Ta’Shon 

Rain Little Light. She was the inspiration. I took to the Floor a 

photograph of this beautiful six year old girl every single day that 

I spoke on that bill. 

She was a six-year-old girl with sparkling eyes, dressed in traditional dance dress, because she was a little dancer. She loved to 

dance. She died. She became sick and they took her three times to 

the Indian Health Service, two different services. Each time she 

was diagnosed and they sent her home saying she was depressed 

so she should take medicine for depression. 

In fact, she had terminal cancer. Some months later, she died in 

her mother’s arms and said, Mom, I am so sorry I am sick. That 

evening she died. The fact is this is about life and death for kids, 

for adults, and for elders. 

14 

I know this is going to be a hard hearing. I am going to conclude 

because you have a big agenda today. I want to say to you as one 

person, this is not about politics; everyone on this dais knows that. 

This is about the willingness of Republicans and Democrats and all 

people of goodwill to address problems and fix them because they 

need to be fixed. 

I say to you, Mr. Chairman and Vice Chairman, thank you for 

doing this, thank you for putting this on the agenda because it 

matters. You are going to save and improve lives. You will never 

know their names but that is what you will do because you have 

put this on the agenda. 

I want to make one final point. I know you are going to hear 

from a friend of mine today, Mary Wakefield. I have known Sylvia 

Mathews Burwell for decades. I think the world of her. I really like 

her, like the job she does. 

Mary Wakefield, you will excuse my being a homer about this 

but Mary is a North Dakotan who I am so enormously proud of. 

I know that Mary is tough and really smart. When she is told, as 

she has been, you are going to be accountable for this, she is going 

to fix this. 

It is hard to do but I have great confidence in Mary Wakefield 

and I hope as you understand this that she is new on the scene 

but she is one of the best breaths of fresh air I have seen to begin 

putting her fist around this issue and tackling it because she cares 

about Indian health care just as all of us do. 

I was given many years ago, as some of you perhaps have been, 

an Indian name called Shante Unwiica, a Sioux name that means 

thinks with his heart. I just think with all my heart, Mr. Chairman, when you called me I was happy to say I would be happy to 

come and be a part of what you are trying to do. 

I think with all my heart that what you and members of this 

Committee can do and will do by putting the spotlight on this spot 

will save lives. God bless you for doing it. 

Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Dorgan follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN, FORMER U.S. SENATOR FROM

NORTH DAKOTA; FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, CENTER FOR NATIVE AMERICAN YOUTH

Good afternoon Chairman Barrasso, Vice-Chairman Tester, and members of the 

Committee. My name is Byron Dorgan. I’m pleased to have been invited to come 

back to the Committee today. I served here as a member and Chairman for many 

years, and know how hard you work to deal with significant issues confronting the 

First Americans. 

Following my service in the U.S. Senate, I founded the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute, and currently serve as Chairman of the Board 

of Advisors. Although I retired from Congress, I did not want to retire from working 

on making positive changes in the lives of Native Americans, particularly Native 

American youth. While in Congress, I had the opportunity to visit the tribal nations 

in the Dakotas and also many tribal nations throughout this country. I was always 

impressed with the strength, resilience, and cultural knowledge of the youth I met 

along those journeys. I realized that they are the leaders of the next generation and 

we need to make sure that they have the resources available to them to become successful. 

You invited me here today to discuss an earlier investigation of Indian Health 

Service (IHS) health care in the Aberdeen Region. I’m pleased you are reexamining 

the delivery of health care services by the federal government to American Indians 

in the Great Plains and throughout the country. 

15 

The IHS has the important mission of carrying out our federal government’s trust 

responsibility to provide health care services to Native Americans. Most people living in tribal communities rely on the IHS as the sole source for their health care 

needs. 

It is not an easy task for the IHS to meet these needs. Failed federal policies towards Native Americans over the past two centuries have resulted in this segment 

of the population having the highest levels of health disparities within our country. 

It is a travesty! Further, it is a problem that will continue to have negative impacts 

for generations to come. I spent much of my time as Chairman of this committee 

focused on increasing funding for the IHS and trying to force some systemic changes 

in the bureaucracy that plagues that agency. It is an agency that seems far too resistant to change. 

In 2010, as Chairman of this Committee, I led an investigation that culminated 

in a report titled ‘‘The Urgent Need to Reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen 

Area’’ that was issued in late 2010. The extensive investigation was prompted by 

years of serious complaints about the healthcare services provided throughout tribal 

communities in my home state and the surrounding states. I have traveled to hundreds of tribal nations and communities, met with thousands of individuals, and 

tribal leadership. Although histories, cultures, and languages may be diverse, one 

theme was always consistent—the challenges of accessing healthcare and life-saving 

services. That combined with very serious allegations about mismanagement, theft, 

and full-scale healthcare rationing led me to launch this investigation. 

Let me be clear about the purpose of the investigation and report: it was not intended to criticize specific employees of the IHS. In fact, I have found that the IHS 

is full of passionate, committed employees who seek out their positions to serve and 

care for their families, loved ones, and community members. While there are definitely some problem employees within the IHS, merely replacing employees will not 

solve the systemic problems. 

The purpose of the investigation and report was to identify the systemic problems 

within the IHS so that Congress could force changes needed to solve the problems 

and improve the delivery of health care. 

The purpose was to let Congress know about patients like Ardel Hale Baker who 

while having a heart attack could not get lifesaving treatment but instead had a 

deferral letter taped to her leg saying that if any hospital treated her, the IHS did 

not have the money to pay for her treatment. 

The purpose of the report was to inform lawmakers about the tens of thousands 

of dollars being spent on expensive temporary healthcare providers rather than hiring fulltime doctors, the lost and mismanaged equipment, and kids not getting mental health services in communities with suicide rates ten times the national average. 

The goal of the investigation was to identify challenges and compel major changes 

within the IHS system in order to save lives. This government has a solemn obligation to our First Americans to provide adequate healthcare and there is an agency— 

the Indian Health Service—specifically charged with that task. Yet, we continue to 

see the same problems plague that agency year after year without real progress 

being made to improve the system. This is unacceptable and I hope the Committee 

will continue to put a spotlight on the IHS until real improvements are made. 

Our investigation included: reviewing over 140,000 pages of documents; visiting 

and interviewing three IHS service units; and meeting with tribal leaders and IHS 

employees. Over the course of the investigation, more than 200 individuals also 

reached out to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to share stories related to 

the IHS’ healthcare delivery system. 

In September of 2010, the Committee held a hearing on the findings of the investigation. The hearing highlighted deficiencies in IHS management, employee accountability, financial integrity and oversight, which led to reduced access and quality of health care services available in the Great Plains region. Testimony for a second hearing was collected and included in the final report, which was released in 

late-December 2010. 

The findings of the final report revealed policies and practices within the IHS that 

negatively impact healthcare provided to tribal patients. I will briefly highlight 

some of the more significant findings today, but encourage people to read the full 

report. Some of the major findings from the 2010 report are as follows: 

• Over a ten year period, IHS repeatedly used transfers, reassignments, details, 

or lengthy administrative leave to deal with employees who had a record of misconduct or poor performance. 

• There were higher numbers of Equal Employee Opportunity (EEO) complaints 

in the Aberdeen (Great Plains) Area compared to the entire IHS, as well as insufficient numbers of EEO counselors and mediators. 

16 

• Three service units had a history of missing or stolen narcotics and nearly all 

facilities failed to provide evidence of performing consistent monthly pharmaceutical audits of narcotics and other controlled substances. 

• Three service units experienced substantial and recurring diversions or reduced 

health care services from 2007 to 2010, which negatively impacts patients and 

quickly diminishes limited Contract Health Service (CHS) funding. 

• Five IHS hospitals were at risk of losing their accreditation or certification from 

the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or other deeming entities. Several Aberdeen Area facilities were cited as having providers with licensure and credentialing problems, Emergency Medical Treatment and Active 

Labor Act (EMTALA) violations, emergency department deficiencies or other 

conditions that could place a patient’s safety at risk. 

• IHS lacked an adequate system to detect instances of IHS health care providers 

whose licenses have been revoked, suspended or under other disciplinary actions by licensing boards. 

• Particular health facilities continued to have significant backlogs in posting, 

billing and collecting claims from third party insurers (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid 

and private insurers). One facility repeatedly transferred its third party payments to other facilities in the Aberdeen (Great Plains) Area. 

• There were lengthy periods of senior staff vacancies in the Clinical Director and 

Chief Executive Officer positions, resulting in inconsistent management and 

leadership at Aberdeen Area facilities. 

• The use of contract providers (locum tenens) was costly ($17.2 million in the 

last three years). While the overall cost of contract providers had decreased 

compared to 2009, two facilities had increased their locum tenens expenses in 

2010. 

The findings of the report paint a very stark picture of the IHS and its ability 

to provide adequate health care services to Native Americans. Some of my colleagues in Congress at the time read these findings and suggested that maybe one 

solution was to completely eliminate the IHS. But, that is not a realistic solution. 

There are some wonderful, dedicated individuals who do their best, amid substantial 

challenges, to provide necessary, lifesaving care every day. And, there are some IHS 

facilities that are performing well and have the support of the local tribal community. The reality is that many tribal communities in remote areas need facilities located on their lands to serve their people and others living on their lands. The facilities that are doing well provide services in a culturally appropriate manner, are 

well-managed, and regularly engage with the local tribal leadership and community 

about how to improve access to services. 

I believe that addressing a few key issues would substantially improve the IHS 

system: (1) Congress needs to improve the level of funding to the IHS, (2) the leadership of IHS needs to focus on recruiting and properly training individuals who can 

be good managers of the IHS Service Units, (3) problem employees who are underqualified or violate laws need to leave the IHS, and (4) IHS needs to focus on health 

professional recruitment. 

The IHS is severely underfunded compared to other federal agencies. You may 

have heard the phrase ‘‘Do not get sick after June,’’ because if you do, you will not 

be able to get care. This, to me, is a rationing of health care—care that is guaranteed by treaty. If we start funding IHS at levels commensurate with need, I believe 

we will solve a lot of the issues revealed in the 2010 report and the ones occurring 

elsewhere in this country. 

Funding challenges aside, it is also clear that the IHS—and tribal patients— 

would benefit from improving accountability and oversight within IHS. But, accountability and oversight cannot be improved if you do not have adequate managers. One of the biggest concerns that I heard from on-the-ground employees was 

the lack of good managers. After investigating the matter, it became clear to me 

that many problem employees get transferred and promoted in order to get them 

out of their existing environment. Over time, this led to some of those problem employees being placed in senior positions of the health facilities for which they were 

underqualified. This situation led to many of the day-to-day employees feeling demoralized, unhappy with their jobs, and many good employees ended up leaving the 

IHS. The vast majority of the problems identified in the report could be resolved 

if there was a concerted effort by the IHS national leadership to recruit good, qualified, and experienced managers. 

Once you have good managers in place, the issue of problem employees can be 

properly addressed. When an employee engages in misconduct, there need to be systems in place that deal with, and correct, that behavior. It is not enough to simply 

17 

transfer that employee to another facility, where they will inevitably engage in the 

same misconduct, and hope the problem goes away on its own. We saw this pattern 

repeat itself again and again. And, it led to the good employees within the IHS becoming disgruntled, inefficient, and ultimately poor performing. 

I know that there have been genuine efforts by some senior level career IHS officials to address these problems, but the problems persist. I long worked with Robert 

McSwain at the IHS, to try and address some of these problems, but in some circumstances, the problems have gotten worse. I know that the Winnebago Hospital, 

which is located in the Great Plains region of the IHS, recently lost its accreditation 

from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for its in-patient and 

emergency services managed by the IHS. I do not know all of the details surrounding this situation, but am aware that CMS conducted an investigation and 

concluded that there were deficiencies that represented an immediate jeopardy to 

patient health and safety. And, unfortunately, the CMS investigation was started 

only after a death of a patient. Too often these problems are ignored until there is 

a tragedy. We know what the problems are, and while finding solutions will be difficult, spending the time to solve these problems is worth it. 

When I retired from the Senate, I created the Center for Native American Youth 

to raise awareness of the challenges that Native American children face and to find 

solutions to teen suicide, substance abuse, high drop-out rates, and many others. We 

are making significant progress on tackling those issues by partnering with tribal 

leaders, tribal organizations, community members, and parents who work hard each 

day—with limited resources—to address the challenges faced by their children. We 

are also working with federal agencies, like IHS, to ensure that Native youth are 

a priority and that agencies are doing all that they can to meet their needs. 

Over the last five years we have connected face-to-face with more than 5,000 

youth to hear directly from them about their priorities; held public events to raise 

awareness of Native youth issues; convened a quarterly roundtable series with over 

30 federal agencies and ten national tribal organizations to increase coordination 

and collaboration among those important entities; and celebrated Native youth 

through our Champions for Change program and the Generation Indigenous initiative. Our work is framed around listening to Native American children and working 

with tribal communities to elevate and address their priorities. 

During our discussions with youth, we hear time and time again that their health 

is a priority for them, yet they are unable to receive the healthcare they need. 

Whether it is dental care, mental health services or routine check-ups, youth are 

not able to access what they need in order to lead full, healthy and successful lives. 

This has to change. Native children are already facing a steep uphill climb when 

compared to their non-Native peers on a variety of issues. Suffering in pain or in 

sickness because they cannot get into a doctor should not be one of them. 

As I mentioned, we interact with young Native Americans every day. Within our 

Champions for Change program we have some especially talented young people who 

are addressing health and access to care in their home communities. Cierra Fields, 

a high school student from the Cherokee Nation works with her tribe to promote 

diabetes prevention and cancer awareness among her peers. Another Champion, 

William Lucero, a college student from the Lummi Nation, has spent several years 

educating his peers and other community members about the dangers of smoking. 

Lastly, Joaquin Gallegos, a recent college graduate from the Jicarilla Apache Nation 

and Pueblo of Santa Ana, has worked tirelessly to expand access to much-needed 

dental care for tribal nations. We need to ensure that amazing young people like 

these three have the health care they deserve so that they can continue to do great 

work for their communities. 

I want to again thank the Committee for taking the time to examine this important issue, and I would like to offer the Center for Native American Youth as an 

ongoing resource to you. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Dorgan. You are always welcome here. You are family on the Committee dais. It is wonderful 

to see you. Thank you for that compelling testimony once again 

highlighting the needs of so many people. You do think with your 

heart and we are grateful for you. 

Senator DORGAN. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. We will now hear from our second panel of witnesses. As Senator Dorgan mentioned, Mary Wakefield will be first 

to testify. I would ask the second panel to please come forward. 

18 

Mary is a Ph.D., R.N. and Acting Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We will also hear from Mr. 

Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He will be accompanied by: Mr. Thomas Hamilton, 

Director, Survey and Certification Group, Center for Clinical 

Standards and Quality, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. We also have with us the Honorable Robert G. McSwain, Principal Deputy Director, Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services. We also have Susan V. Karol, M.D., 

Chief Medical Officer, Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of 

Health and Human Services. 

Thank you all for being here. I will remind the witnesses that 

your full written testimony will be made a part of the official hearing record. Please keep your statements to five minutes so that we 

may have time for questions. 

We look forward to your testimony beginning with Dr. Wakefield. 

Please proceed. 

STATEMENT OF MARY WAKEFIELD, PH.D., R.N.; ACTING 

DEPUTY SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester and 

members of the Committee, thank you so much for inviting me 

here today to discuss the quality of Indian health care on the Great 

Plains. 

Let me start by saying that the deficiencies cited in the reports 

by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are unacceptable. They are unacceptable to me and they are unacceptable to the 

leadership of HHS. 

Our department’s mission is to improve health, the health and 

well being of all Americans. As these reports have shown, we must 

do better for the Native communities that we serve. 

As was indicated, I am from North Dakota and both of my parents spent time working for the tribal community near us. I grew 

up witnessing firsthand the resilience of Indian Country and the 

strength with which they overcame so many challenges. 

As was indicated, I am also a nurse. From the day I started 

working in a small hospital as a nurse’s aide, the reason that I 

sought a career in health care was to care for patients and to support families. 

I have had the privilege of caring for American Indian newborns 

in a hospital nursery and American Indian elders in nursing 

homes. I have also seen firsthand some of the best that IHS has 

to offer. I know there are many dedicated healthcare professionals 

who are committed to serving their tribal communities well. To me 

any failure in the quality of care that patients and their families 

receive is one failure too many. 

Today I want to discuss with you our actions to address challenges in the Great Plains area. We have an intense effort underway right now to address the problems cited by CMS at these three 

hospitals. To assist IHS in these efforts, additional Commissioned 

Corps officers are augmenting IHS personnel now in the Great 

Plains region. 

19 

More broadly though, we have instructed the leadership of IHS 

to redouble their efforts to ensure that sustained quality care is delivered consistently across IHS facilities. To facilitate this, we have 

augmented leadership at both the local level and also at the national level to implement our expectations for high quality, consistent and sustained care. 

As part of this effort, IHS has hired two new deputy directors, 

two leaders, Mary Smith, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and a longtime advocate for Indian communities who has been 

at IHS for about four months. As deputy director, she has a primary focus on management. 

IHS created a new position, Deputy Director of Quality Health 

Care, late last year. Dorothy Dupree is an enrolled member of the 

Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux Tribes and the former Acting Area Director in Billings. She just joined us recently in this role. 

From the Phoenix IHS, Dorothy led the implementation of 

groundbreaking quality improvements. These improvements are 

being refined, expanded and considered for wider implementation. 

In her new role, Dorothy is working closely with tribal, State and 

local partners to execute a quality strategy that improves safety 

and the patient’s health experience. In consultation with tribes, 

this strategy will be implemented for the Northern Plains facilities 

and broadly across IHS facilities. 

However, IHS is not the only part of HHS that serves these populations. That is why we are also establishing a council of senior 

executives across HHS. We will have programs that serve American Indians and Alaska Natives. 

This executive council on quality care will use their expertise 

from across the department to ensure that our resources are closely 

aligned and leveraged on behalf of American Indian families and 

communities. Specifically, this group will augment IHS’s efforts to 

ensure that sustained quality care is delivered across IHS facilities. 

In addition, this group will address the long term, chronic challenge of provider recruitment and retention. Among other factors, 

the remote locations of Native communities, the housing shortage, 

and employment opportunities for spouses contributes to staffing 

shortages at many of these facilities. 

This group will use their combined expertise to further leverage 

and develop new approaches to addressing workforce shortages. I 

will give you an example. 

When I served as the Administrator of the Health Resources and 

Services Administration, we cut red tape and made all IHS facilities eligible as National Health Service Corps sites. Before we 

made these changes, there were about 100 approved tribal sites 

with 150 National Health Service Corps clinicians serving these 

communities. 

Today, we have more than 670 tribal sites that host more than 

420 National Health Service Corps clinicians. We want to develop 

more ideas like this from our senior leaders who serve these communities. 

Finally, we look forward to working in partnership with you to 

enact the President’s budget for fiscal year 2017. We do need the 

financial resources to invest in the high quality care that these 

communities deserve. 

20 

This Administration takes the challenges to delivering high quality care to these communities very seriously. You have my commitment that we will work tirelessly to make meaningful, measurable 

progress. We will undertake that work with you, tribes and our 

IHS health professionals in close consultation. 

Thank you so much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Wakefield follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARY WAKEFIELD, PH.D., R.N.; ACTING DEPUTY

SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Chairman Bai-rasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and Members of the Committee: 

Good Afternoon. I am Mary Wakefield, acting Deputy Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. I am pleased to join you today to discuss the 

Great Plains Area Indian Health Service (IHS) Hospitals. I want to begin by assuring you that Secretary Burwell and I are committed to working hard to provide high 

quality care for the American Indian and Alaska Native people we serve and are 

committed to making improvements to the quality of the care that we provide. 

By way of background, I am a native of North Dakota. At different points in time, 

both of my parents worked for a neighboring tribal community. Through those early 

ties, and my own subsequent interactions with American Indian communities in 

training nurses and working in rural health policy, the remarkable strengths of Indian people and the challenges they face are familiar and very much appreciated 

by me. Before becoming acting Deputy Secretary, I was the Administrator of the 

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for six years. During my 

time there, I made working with tribes and Indian people a priority. Consistent with 

Secretary Burwell’s vision, I am working to leverage other Agency assets beyond 

IHS programs to help strengthen the health care services we provide to Indian 

country; in Indian Country. The challenges facing hospitals in Indian Country, and 

those that IHS is responsible for helping to address include challenges that are common to many hospitals in rural America, such as being less able to take advantage 

of economies of scale because of low volume and difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified healthcare providers. 

I also recognize that, although facing issues similar to many rural hospitals, the 

IHS has a mission that differs from other hospitals. There are circumstances that 

are unique to AI/AN communities, including ensuring that they receive culturally 

sensitive health care services. These and other important characteristics influence 

both what care is provided, as well as how that care is provided Those issues range 

from the behavioral health issues related to historical trauma that the Substance 

Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) works in tandem 

with IHS to address, and the economic conditions that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) works with tribes to address, to the special needs of Indian 

elders that the Administration for Community Living (ACL) works to help tribes 

meet. For example, SAMHSA’s Native Connections grants help tribes reduce suicidal behavior and substance use and promote mental health among Native youth. 

ACF funds tribal TANF programs to help Indian families in poverty that reach 

nearly 300 tribes and Alaska Native Villages. And ACL’s Older Americans Act Title 

VI program helps fund tribes to provide the delivery of home and community-based 

supportive services for their elders, including nutrition services and support for family and informal caregivers. These and other HHS programs support tribes so that 

they can provide health and social services for their people in a culturally appropriate manner. 

At HHS, we strive to work together with and for Indian Country, to leverage programs and resources that support better outcomes for tribal communities. We fully 

recognize the trust relationship with the tribes and the need for meaningful consultation. As part of this recognition, former Secretary Sebelius established a new 

tribal leader advisory committee that continues to meet with our Secretary and senior leadership from around the department on a quarterly basis and provides us 

with a valuable venue for consultation. 

Fundamental to meeting the needs of Indian Country are effective program deployment and financial resources. Under President Obama, with the support of 

many of you, funding for IHS has increased by 43 percent. The President’s Budget 

for FY 2017 will continue to prioritize IHS and we look forward to continuing to 

work with you to enact the Budget. 

The Administration has also renewed its focus on improving the lives of Native 

youth through the Generation Indigenous initiative. At HHS, we work with Native 

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youth through a variety of programs. We have requested additional resources targeted to provide more and better behavioral health for young people and we appreciate your help in securing $15 million in the recent omnibus for the Native Connections grants I mentioned earlier. 

Now I would like to offer an example of our work across HHS on behalf of tribal 

communities. As a series of tragic suicides began to unfold on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota last winter, we engaged resources from across HHS, and 

other cabinet agencies, to respond. Within HHS, our Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers deployed to provide immediate additional behavioral health 

services. IHS has also added telebehavioral health services to reach the reservation 

community and we are supporting counselors in schools on the reservation on a 

weekly basis. IHS has also added case manager positions to the behavioral health 

department to help follow-up on patients and to be resources for families. And, over 

the past year, other HHS agencies and programs have provided additional resources 

and support to the community. 

For example, ACF’s Administration for Native Americans provided additional 

funding to help youth with summer jobs and the development of youth councils in 

the community. HRSA recently awarded the Tribe a telehealth grant that they will 

use to partner with Avera McKennan Health System to expand access to health and 

social services through school-based telehealth services. We have partnered with the 

Department of Education to convene the 17 schools across the reservation to 

strengthen their existing collaborations to address the needs of school aged youth 

around critical needs such as nutrition assistance, native language support, and immediate crisis response. Additionally, SAMHSA has worked closely with the Tribe 

and extended their current suicide prevention grant. The intent is to support suicide 

prevention efforts, assist with the response to the suicide cluster, and help the Tribe 

develop comprehensive suicide prevention activities with the goal of minimizing future suicide clusters. A SAMHSA Emergency Response Grant is also being awarded 

to the Tribe to help meet the continued urgent need to combat suicides. While today’s hearing focuses on reviewing care at these Great Plains facilities, we believe 

it is essential to continue to focus on exploring ways that the Administration, Congress and Tribal Nations can work together to strengthen behavioral health as part 

of the package of health care services for these tribal communities as well. 

And access to behavioral health services is a concern not only for Pine Ridge and 

other tribal communities served by the Great Plains IHS facilities, it is also a concern for tribal communities across the nation. The FY 2017 President’s Budget will 

continue to prioritize behavior health services and we look forward to discussing 

these initiatives once the President’s Budget is released in early February. 

We know that more needs to be done to ensure quality health care is provided 

by IHS. 

In terms of the specific issues that the Committee is reviewing today, it is our 

intent to further strengthen not only IHS’ work, but also the engagement of other 

parts of the department to assist IHS in improving the quality of care at these facilities. Let me share a couple of examples. 

First, CMS is providing both technical assistance to a number of IHS hospitals 

and regular reviews to monitor the quality of these health care services, as detailed 

in the statement of Acting Administrator Slavitt. For example, in the past, IHS hospitals have benefitted from technical assistance provided by Quality Improvement 

Organizations (QI0s) that operate under contract with CMS. Going forward, CMS 

and IHS are working together to explore ways that the Quality Improvement Program can continue to more directly provide support to the IHS and its hospitals, 

on a sustained basis, as part of the most recent QI0 Scope of Work. Through a 

strong relationship between CMS and IHS, increased technical support to IHS Area 

and hospital leadership and by addressing other underlying systemic issues, quality 

improvements will have a lasting impact, leading to a stronger focus on a culture 

of patient safety. Secondly, as I think we all recognize, staffing is a perennial challenge for IHS, given that its facilities are often in remote communities with shortages of housing and employment opportunities for spouses, challenges that are similar—and often more acute—than what we see in many other rural remote communities across the United States. Recognizing the staffing needs of hospitals in Indian 

Country, while I was at HRSA, we expanded the availability of National Health 

Service Corps-supported providers to IHS by making all IHS facilities eligible NHSC 

sites. Prior to eliminating the requirement for Tribal sites to apply to be NHSC 

sites, there were approximately 100 approved sites with about 150 NHSC clinicians 

working at those sites as of July 201 1. Today, there are more than 670 approved 

Tribal sites and more than 420 NFISC clinicians providing primary health care 

across Indian Country. Still, we recognize that there is unmet need for clinicians 

22 

and more to be done. Looking forward, the President’s FY 2017 Budget will continue 

to prioritize staffing at IHS facilities. 

Recognizing the challenges IHS facilities face in the northern plains and elsewhere, and the opportunity to strengthen other efforts, at the Secretary’s direction, 

we recently augmented the senior leadership team at IHS with two additional deputies that bring significant expertise to the Agency. Mary Smith, an enrolled member 

of the Cherokee Nation, joined IHS a few months ago as Deputy Director and brings 

an array of experience in Native American policy, including health policy, as well 

as state-level work in health care policy, implementation, and compliance. A longtime advocate for Indian people, she is already working to further strengthen efforts 

that cross agency and departmental lines with an eye toward achieving meaningful 

and lasting impact in many policy and operational priorities at IHS. 

We have also recently named Dorothy Dupree as Deputy Director, Quality Health 

Care. As some of you know, Ms. Dupree, an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux Tribes, was most recently the Area Director for the Phoenix IHS 

Area and also served as the acting Area Director in Billings, where she focused on 

improving quality of care concerns. Ms. Dupree’s priority was to ensure strong communications with tribal leaders and in using knowledge gained through data analytics to improve quality of care. She too brings substantial expertise in strengthening financial and clinical operations of health care facilities and her responsibilities include working with our direct service facilities to provide higher quality of 

care, and achieving that aim by working with external partners including tribal, 

state and other federal agencies. With Ms. Smith, Bob McSwain and the other IHS 

leaders, Ms. Dupree is mapping a Quality Strategy that includes northern plains 

facilities with patient safety and the patient experience as central to this strategy. 

It will include a focus on developing stronger data analytic capacity, improving 

training, and ensuring that facility governing boards are effectively working to monitor and improve quality of care. 

In summary, we recognize there are significant challenges facing hospitals in the 

Great Plains area that need to be fully addressed. The Secretary had directed actions to be taken, some of which I have outlined, and we will be taking additional 

actions in our work toward achieving the goal of high quality health care for American Indian and Alaska Native populations. We take the challenges we are here to 

discuss today very seriously and you have our commitment to work to make meaningful progress. 

Thank you. I welcome your questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. SLAVITT. 

STATEMENT OF ANDY SLAVITT, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, 

CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES; 

ACCOMPANIED BY THOMAS HAMILTON, DIRECTOR, 

SURVEY AND CERTIFICATION GROUP, CENTER FOR 

CLINICAL STANDARDS AND QUALITY 

Mr. SLAVITT. Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and 

members of the Committee, thank you for the invitation to discuss 

the quality and safety of health care provided at Indian Health 

Service facilities in the Great Plains. 

At CMS, we work directly with tribal leaders on the important 

issues which affect health care in the American Indian community, 

including expanding access to tribally operated behavioral health 

programs, working with States on waivers to expand Medicaid coverage and as it relates to this hearing, we evaluate and certify the 

quality and safety of hospitals that serve American Indian populations who are Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries. 

As this Committee well knows and as Senator Dorgan mentioned, healthcare quality for American Indians and Alaska Natives has been a significant concern in this Country. It was highlighted by this Committee’s report in 2010 and identified serious, 

ongoing patient safety issues at several Aberdeen area facilities. 

23 

More recently a 2013 Kaiser report found that American Indians 

and Alaska Natives are disproportionately likely to be in poor or 

fair health and suffer from serous conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease among others. 

I mention these reports to acknowledge that providers in the 

largely remote area of Indian Country face substantial and longstanding challenges. Nonetheless, our role at CMS is to enforce the 

same high standards of care and safety for the American Indian 

population as for all others we serve. 

I am joined today by Thomas Hamilton who directs CMS’s Survey and Certification Group. Thomas and his team are charged 

with the day-to-day work of holding institutions that participate in 

the Medicare Program accountable to provide safe medical care no 

matter who their patients are, and no matter where they live, no 

matter where they seek medical attention. 

To achieve this, CMS requires that all facilities serving Medicare 

and Medicaid beneficiaries, including Indian Health facilities, comply with health and safety requirements, that we conduct objective 

on-site assessments to make sure these conditions are being met 

and to call attention to and take action in situations where they 

are not. 

Since 2010, CMS has conducted 18 separate on-site surveys at 

three hospitals: Omaha Winnebago, Pine Ridge Hospital and Rosebud Hospital. We identified violations of our safety standards in all 

three. 

Problems have included the hospitals’ inability to respond appropriately to emergency situations, perform necessary screenings and 

diagnostic tests and ensure staff competencies. More details are 

available in our public survey reports and in our written testimony. 

After each survey, we have shared the findings with hospital 

leadership and required plans of action. After several years of improvement efforts and evaluations, out of concern for patients who 

were observed at these facilities, last year we terminated one of the 

hospitals, Omaha Winnebago, from the Medicare program. 

Recently, we issued two notices of potential Medicare termination to two other hospitals, Pine Ridge and Rosebud. Management at these facilities is currently in the process of responding to 

the survey findings. 

We appreciate the challenges that operators of these facilities 

face as the survey findings indicate the need to address serious, 

longstanding problems to protect the people and their communities. 

Given the systematic nature of some of the issues, including the 

universal challenges often faced by healthcare providers in rural 

and remote areas, CMS has been trying to do more than just evaluate the problems but provide resources to help the hospitals. 

Over the last five years, we have trained over 500 IHS staff in 

areas of quality and safety and have brought technical resources 

into three hospitals mentioned here today that specialize in working through root cause issues and improving patient safety. 

We know the challenges are significant and that much work remains. As long as patient safety is at risk, we stand ready to work 

side by side with these hospitals and provide whatever help we 

can. We are eager to participate actively in the HHS Council on 

24 

1For IHS facilities, Accrediting Organizations (AOs) or Federal surveyors conduct recertification and complaint reviews. This is due to their status as a federal facility. 

Quality Care mentioned by Acting Deputy Secretary Wakefield. We 

believe this can have significant benefits. 

While the ultimate responsibility for sustained improvement lies 

in the hands of the leaders of these facilities and frontline workers, 

we are committed to doing our part to assist the IHS in raising the 

quality of care for the American Indian community served in these 

hospitals. 

I appreciate the Committee’s attention and interest in these extremely important subjects. We will be pleased to take your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Slavitt follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANDY SLAVITT, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, CENTERS FOR

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES

Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and members of the Committee, 

thank you for the invitation to discuss the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) work to monitor the quality of health care provided at Indian Health 

Service facilities. CMS is committed to ensuring the safety of the millions of Americans who rely on the U.S. health care system every day. To monitor the safety of 

care provided throughout the country, CMS requires that all facilities seeking participation in Medicare and Medicaid comply with basic health and safety requirements set forth in the Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs). The Survey and 

Certification process is used by CMS to assess compliance with these requirements. 

It is CMS’ duty to provide objective, onsite assessments of the quality and safety 

in health care facilities, properly identify any deficiencies, and require that timely 

corrections are made to any identified deficiencies. We understand that our responsibilities and enforcement requirements may bring challenges to health care facilities, and CMS is committed to working with facilities and providers in good faith 

as they strive to deliver safe, high quality care. 

CMS has fulfilled this role in our work with Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities 

in the Great Plains area. CMS surveyors have conducted numerous recertification 

and complaint surveys at IHS facilities, required that corrective action be taken, 

and monitored their progress in addressing identified deficiencies. Also, in an effort 

to help IHS hospitals better understand the requirements of the CoPs and address 

quality deficiencies, CMS has provided considerable technical assistance to a number of IHS hospitals. For example, CMS encouraged administrators at IHS hospitals 

to participate in compliance training, and has trained 565 IHS staff to date as a 

part of that effort. CMS also provided onsite technical assistance to staff at the Pine 

Ridge hospital to help staff understand the quality and safety expectations embodied in CMS regulations. In addition, Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), 

under contract with CMS, provided technical assistance at IHS hospitals (specifically Winnebago) with regard to methods that the hospitals could use to meet Plan 

of Correction (PoC) requirements. These CMS efforts were intended to support and 

bolster the IHS’ own system-wide efforts to provide technical assistance, training, 

and personnel actions that might address quality of care issues. 

CMS Survey and Certification 

CMS maintains oversight for compliance with the Medicare health and safety 

standards for laboratories, acute and continuing care providers (including hospitals, 

nursing homes, home health agencies, end-stage renal disease facilities, hospices, 

and other facilities serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries). CMS’ Medicare 

CoPs for hospitals set out quality and safety standards on a wide range of topics 

such as emergency treatment, infection control, medication management, 

credentialing and privileging of physicians, and responsibilities of the hospital’s governing body to ensure safe care. 

Generally, State survey agencies (SAs) 1 conduct hospital recertification surveys 

every three years on behalf of CMS to assess facility compliance with Medicare CoPs 

and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requirements. 

However, CMS surveyors may also conduct these surveys, as is the case with IHS 

facilities. EMTALA requirements impose specific obligations on Medicare-participating hospitals that offer emergency services to screen, treat, or appropriately 

25 

2https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/ 

SurveyCertificationEnforcement/Downloads/ScheduleloflTerminationlProcedures.pdf 3 Credible allegations of compliance include, a statement or documentation that is realistic in 

terms of the possibility of the corrective action being accomplished, and that indicates resolution 

of the problem. 

transfer patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Surveyors also investigate complaints alleging hospital noncompliance with CoPs. A hospital cannot participate in 

Medicare unless it meets each and every CoP. As part of the CoPs, surveyors conduct Life Safety Code surveys to ensure the safety of patients from fire, smoke and 

other environmental hazards. These standards apply to all Medicare hospitals to ensure basic health and safety standards. Under section 1865 of the Social Security 

Act, CMS has also approved four accrediting organizations (AOs) for hospitals whose 

standards and survey processes are determined to be equivalent to those of CMS. 

CMS deems a hospital’s accreditation by an approved AO to be sufficient for Medicare certification. The AOs conduct recertification surveys at least once every three 

years for hospitals. CMS retains the right to conduct complaint investigations of accredited facilities, and remove a provider’s deemed status if CMS finds serious deficiencies. CMS also conducts validation surveys of a sample of accredited hospitals 

to check on the adequacy of the AO surveys. 

The survey and certification process includes, but is not limited to, conducting 

surveys to determine whether health care entities comply with Medicare CoPs or 

requirements; and conducting enforcement actions when these entities are found to 

be out of compliance with the Medicare CoPs. For example, during a hospital survey, the surveyors examine the hospital’s health records, interview staff and patients and observe the processes of care. This includes observing doctors and nurses 

as they provide emergency services to assess the facility’s ability to adequately provide emergency screenings and services. 

As a result of the survey, the SA or CMS may find the hospital in violation of 

Medicare’s CoPs, EMTALA, or find that the hospital has deficiencies so serious that 

they constitute an immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of patients, 

referred to as immediate jeopardy (IJ). Hospitals have 23 days to correct IJ violations and 90 days to correct other CoP and EMTALA violations to avoid termination 

from the Medicare program. 

If Deficiencies are Found 

If any deficiencies are found during the survey, the SA certifies that the facility 

is non-compliant and recommends termination to the CMS Regional Office (RO). 

The RO then sends the institution a ‘‘Statement of Deficiencies’’ outlining deficiencies that were identified during the survey. CMS follows a specific timeline for 

every hospital where deficiencies are found. 2 First, the institution is given five calendar days to respond to deficiencies at the IJ level or 10 calendar days in which 

to respond to less serious CoP or EMTALA deficiencies. The response must include 

a PoC for each cited deficiency, which is included on the form containing the statement of deficiencies. Once a facility has made a credible allegation of compliance, 3

surveyors conduct a revisit to determine whether compliance with the CoP or acceptable progress towards compliance has been achieved. Only two revisits are generally permitted in the hospital setting; one within 45 calendar days and one between the 46th and 90th calendar days. If compliance is achieved, the facility goes 

back to the regular certification schedule. 

If compliance has not been achieved, the SA certifies that the facility remains 

non-compliant. Within 65 calendar days following the date of survey, the RO determines whether survey findings continue to support a determination of noncompliance. If all requirements are met by the hospital, the hospital returns to its normal 

recertification schedule. 

If the determination of noncompliance continues, the RO sends an official termination notice by the 70th calendar day to the facility, the public, and the State Medicaid Agency if the facility also participates in Medicaid. The termination generally 

takes effect by the 90th calendar day if compliance has not been achieved. Termination can take effect in fewer than 90 days if all required procedures are completed. CMS sometimes extends the prospectively scheduled termination date if 

CMS requires more time to schedule or complete a revisit survey that is necessary 

to confirm that corrective action has restored the hospital to compliance with the 

CoPs, or if there are very unusual circumstances such as the need to make alternate 

arrangements for care of patients in remote areas. 

If an adverse action, such as a termination, is likely to be initiated against a 

Medicare participating provider or supplier, the CMS RO follows procedures outVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
26 

4https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/ 

som107c03.pdf 5https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/Internet-Only-Manuals-IOMs-Items/CMS1201984.html. The SIA content for organ transplant programs may be 

found at 42 CFR 488.61(h). 

lined in the State Operations Manual. 4 We note that every facility faced with termination from Medicare participation is provided with a full opportunity to take necessary remedial action and demonstrate compliance with the CoPs before the prospectively-scheduled Medicare termination date. In addition, if the institution disagrees with the finding of noncompliance, it may request a hearing before an administrative law judge of the Department of Health and Human Services, Departmental 

Appeals Board within 60 calendar days of the final CMS notice of termination. Finally, any provider that CMS has involuntarily terminated from Medicare participation has the right to apply for reinstatement at any time. To be reinstated, subsequent onsite surveys must confirm not only that the provider has restored its services to compliance with the CoPs, but that the provider demonstrates reasonable assurance that the deficiencies which led to involuntary termination are not likely to 

recur. We appreciate that, in some circumstances, Medicare termination of a provider 

may cause or increase access to care problems for beneficiaries. While such considerations do not influence in any way the proper identification of quality or safety deficiencies, we can consider such factors in the selection of enforcement methods. In 

an effort to balance patient access to care while ensuring high quality health care, 

CMS considers factors such as patient driving times to the next nearest facility, specialized services provided at the nearest facility, and the identified facility’s ability 

to achieve and maintain substantial compliance with CoPs. If patient access to care 

may be greatly affected, CMS may look into additional options to help preserve beneficiary access to care and help the hospital meet CoP and EMTALA requirements. 

An example that CMS has used in rare but serious access to care situations is a 

Systems Improvement Agreement (SIA). An SIA is an agreement, voluntarily entered into by CMS and a hospital that obliges the hospital to engage in a specified 

regimen of quality improvement, and make significant investments in improving the 

quality of care, in exchange for more time to make needed systemic improvements 

before Medicare termination would take effect. All of these requirements and 

timelines are available for public review in the State Operations Manual and in 

CMS regulations. 5 CMS, SA, and AO conduct CoP and EMTALA education and outreach to hospitals through Open Door Forums, and additional assistance is also provided to facilities from Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs). 

Both private and IHS hospitals in the Great Plains area face a number of challenges including their location in rural areas and difficulty attracting qualified administrators and physicians to work in their facility. Due to these and numerous 

other factors, three IHS hospitals, as described below, have had challenges meeting 

CoP and EMTALA requirements in recent years. 

Issues Identified at the Winnebago Indian Health Service Hospital 

CMS surveyors have been investigating and monitoring complaints made regarding Winnebago Indian Health Service Hospital. CMS conducted a complaint survey 

of the hospital on April 8, 2011 and found the hospital to be in violation of various 

Medicare CoPs. The deficiencies included failure to ensure there were systems in 

place to inform patients of their rights, to promptly investigate and respond to patient grievances, to ensure patients have information necessary to make informed 

consent regarding their care, and to investigate allegations of patient abuse to assure patients are protected. Due to the importance of these findings, the hospital 

was notified that a Medicare survey would be conducted to assess compliance with 

all CoPs, not just those that had been the subject of the complaint. 

CMS subsequently conducted a full recertification survey on October 14, 2011 and 

found the hospital to be out of compliance with nine CoPs: compliance with Governing Body responsibilities, Patients’ Rights, Quality Assessment and Performance 

Improvement, Medical Staff, Nursing Services, Radiological Services, Infection Control, Organ/Tissue/Eye, and Emergency Services. The hospital was notified of CMS’ 

intention to terminate the hospital’s Medicare agreement on January 16, 2012 if it 

did not correct these violations. A variety of plans of correction and improvement 

efforts ensued, including extensive direct assistance from the Nebraska QIO, under 

contract with CMS, throughout 2013 and 2014. 

In a response to another complaint filed, the hospital was surveyed on April 25, 

2014, and found to be out of compliance with CoPs concerning Nursing Services, 

specifically related to failure to assure the nursing staff were adequately trained 

27 

and possessed the necessary knowledge and skills to ensure patients were provided 

safe and appropriate care. Surveyors determined that this noncompliance placed patients in IJ. CMS provided Winnebago with a termination date of May 18, 2014. 

Surveyors conducted a revisit survey on May 15, 2014 that found Nursing Services 

remained out of compliance. In response to IHS requests for additional time, CMS 

conducted additional surveys and extended the Medicare termination date. 

An additional revisit survey, conducted on July 17, 2014, found the hospital remained noncompliant concerning Nursing Services and found that Emergency Services were also out of compliance. These concerns still constituted an IJ due to the 

survey’s findings that the hospital failed to provide services, equipment, personnel 

and resources within timeframes that protect the health and safety of patient receiving medical care in the emergency department (ED); and that the hospital failed 

to maintain policies and procedures for emergency medical services provided to all 

patients who receive medical care in the ED. 

An additional survey conducted on August 27, 2014 found the hospital to be out 

of compliance with EMTALA requirements. CMS determined that the EMTALA violation constituted an IJ, and also found continuing noncompliance with the CoP of 

Nursing Services and Emergency Services. Of the 25 medical records randomly selected from the ED log from March 2014 to August 2014, the hospital failed to provide adequate medical screening examinations to three patients and failed to provide stabilizing treatment within its capabilities to one patient. Winnebago submitted a performance plan to stay the termination. As part of our responsibilities, 

CMS scheduled a full Medicare survey before the hospital was scheduled to be terminated from Medicare on November 6, 2014. The termination date was later extended to December 5, 2014 to allow surveyors time to complete a survey report. 

On November 6, 2014, CMS surveyors conducted the full Medicare survey at the 

hospital to assess compliance with all the applicable Medicare CoPs and to assess 

that status of the noncompliance findings of the previous surveys. During this survey, the IJ findings cited in previous surveys were deemed removed and the previous noncompliance findings were determined to have been corrected. However, the 

hospital was found to be out of compliance with other Conditions concerning their 

Governing Body, Nursing Services, Food and Dietetic Services and Emergency Services. Although the deficiencies cited were serious, they did not constitute an IJ to 

the health and safety of patients. On November 21, 2014, CMS notified the hospital 

of these changes and extended the termination date to April 30, 2015 to allow a revisit survey. On April 23, 2015, the termination date was extended to June 15, 2015, 

to allow the revisit to occur. 

CMS Federal surveyors then conducted revisit and complaint surveys on May 14, 

2015 and found that the hospital was noncompliant with seven CoPs including: Governing Body, Nursing Services, Outpatient Services, Emergency Services, Appropriate Medical Screening Examination, Stabilizing Treatment, and Appropriate 

Transfer. The noncompliance was found to constitute an IJ. Because of ongoing noncompliance since 2011 and repeated IJ citations, despite technical assistance from 

CMS and the Nebraska QIO and repeated PoCs prepared by the hospital, it was 

determined no further extensions would be granted and that the hospital would be 

terminated July 23, 2015. On July 8, 2015, CMS issued notice of final termination 

of Medicare participation to the hospital, effective July 23, 2015, with concurrent 

newspaper notice. The hospital has appealed the termination. The IHS has continued to work with the hospital and Tribal officials, and has engaged a consultant 

firm to assist the hospital and facilitate resolution of the problems. CMS stands 

ready to respond to a request from the hospital for a survey that might start a reinstatement process if the hospital is found to be in compliance with the CoPs. 

Issues Identified at the Rosebud Indian Health Service Hospital 

To investigate an EMTALA violation complaint, Federal surveyors conducted a recertification survey at Rosebud Indian Health Service Hospital on November 16–19, 

2015 and a Life Safety Code Recertification Survey on November 17–18, 2015. 

Based on the survey findings, it was found that the hospital was not in compliance 

with all of the Medicare CoPs for hospitals and that deficiencies put patients in IJ, 

particularly related to risk of inappropriate care in the ED. As a result, CMS notified the hospital of the intent to terminate on December 12, 2015 if the hospital did 

not prepare a PoC and correct these violations. The hospital placed its ED on diversion. IHS later notified CMS that it would temporarily close the ED and CMS then 

removed the IJ. Following this closure, the IJ was removed, giving the facility until 

February 17, 2016 to address its remaining ED and CoP compliance issues. The hospital has agreed not to reopen the ED without seven days prior notice to CMS to 

allow CMS time to conduct an onsite survey of the ED. CMS will also reschedule 

a revisit survey once the ED has reopened. 

28 

On January 5, 2016, CMS also found that Rosebud Hospital was in violation of 

EMTALA requirements, specifically, failure to provide appropriate medical 

screenings and stabilizing treatment to patients presenting to the emergency department. On January 6, 2016, CMS sent the hospital a notice of intent to terminate Medicare participation due to the EMTALA deficiency. The hospital’s PoC for 

the EMTALA violation is due to CMS on March 15, 2016 to avoid a termination 

date of May 19, 2016. 

Issues Identified at the PHS Indian Hospital at Pine Ridge 

On October 29, 2015, following a complaint survey of PHS Indian Hospital at Pine 

Ridge, federal surveyors identified that the hospital was out of compliance with 

three CoPs and was in violation of EMTALA. CMS identified concerns with the hospital’s Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement program, which is the 

hospital’s system for tracking, analyzing and developing plans to address significant 

issues. As a result, CMS gave the hospital until January 27, 2016 to correct these 

violations to avoid termination. CMS received and approved the hospital’s PoC. 

On January 14, 2016, federal surveyors completed a revisit of this hospital. They 

found the hospital in compliance with the CoPs, but still in violation of EMTALA. 

CMS issued a termination date of February 23, 2016 for the EMTALA violation. The 

hospital will have one more opportunity to demonstrate compliance with the 

EMTALA requirements prior to this date. CMS expects the hospital to submit a PoC 

prior to February 23, 2016. If the PoC is accepted, another revisit would occur. 

Conclusion 

CMS remains diligent in our duties to monitor every hospital participating in 

Medicare to help ensure patient safety and access to care across the country. CMS 

surveyors have relied on longstanding policies when engaging with IHS facilities in 

the Great Plains area. It is our obligation to ensure all health care facilities are safe 

and can meet patient needs. CMS and QIOs have provided numerous hours of technical assistance to IHS facilities regarding quality improvements and deficiencies. 

We will continue to work with IHS as these hospitals strive to make improvements 

and to make sure patients are receiving quality health care services. We are hopeful 

that these hospitals will soon be able to come in to compliance with all relevant requirements and continue to provide much-needed care to patients in the Great 

Plains area. We appreciate the Committee’s interest, and I would be pleased to address any questions you may have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Slavitt. 

Mr. McSwain. 

STATEMENT OF ROBERT G. MCSWAIN, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY 

DIRECTOR, INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

Mr. MCSWAIN. Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and 

members of the Committee, I was reflecting back on previous 

events. 

I first came to the Indian Health Service in 1976. I am a proud 

member of the North Folk Rancheria of Mono Indians of California 

and personally understand the important work of the Indian 

Health Service and its mission. 

I recognize the frustration amongst the tribes and members of 

this Committee. I have worked the past 40 years to improve the 

health of our people. Providing access to quality medical care is a 

top priority for the Indian Health Service. 

When issues do arise, as regrettably has been the case in the 

Great Plains area, IHS is committed to taking immediate action 

which we can discuss later but to preserve patient safety above all. 

We are also working to make the improvements more lasting. We 

will talk about that in a moment. 

Despite these efforts, challenges remain. Some of the biggest 

challenges we face in the Great Plains area are associated with 

providing health care in rural, geographically isolated communities. 

29 

You all are aware of the isolation and the difficulty with staffing, 

housing and what have you. 

Three hospitals at issue today, Omaha Winnebago, Pine Ridge 

and Rosebud, have faced additional challenges. From July to October, as Mr. Slavitt mentioned, they received non-compliance notifications from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

IHS understands and accepts the severity of the CMS findings 

and has taken immediate steps and measures to correct them and 

implement safeguards to prevent recurrence. In addition, I know 

we have gone beyond just the CMS review and the area has contracted with a firm to take a wider look at the facility, not only in 

terms of the things CMS looks at but the things we need to look 

at as a comprehensive healthcare system. 

We have done that. We completed the assessment at Omaha 

Winnebago and are doing a similar analysis at Pine Ridge and 

Rosebud. Throughout we are communicating regularly with the 

tribes. In the case of Omaha Winnebago, we communicate weekly 

with them as we progress through the process. 

We believe these actions will address the concerns and issues in 

the immediate term and we also recognize the need for the longterm solutions. In that regard, you heard Acting Deputy Secretary 

Wakefield talk about Dorothy Dupree being added to our staff. Senator Tester if you are wondering where she wound up, she is now 

working for us. Her title is Deputy Director for Healthcare Quality. 

We have converted our hospital consortium established a few 

years ago to a quality consortium. We are working off Ms. Dupree’s 

actual work plan. Working with Dorothy will be Mary Smith, an 

enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation as mentioned earlier. 

Mary has extensive background in advocating for Indian people 

and is steeped in health policy. 

In conclusion, the IHS is committed to working to improve the 

quality of healthcare services received by our patients. We are also 

committed to working in a transparent partnership with Rosebud, 

Pine Ridge and Omaha Winnebago hospital leadership and their 

four respective tribes. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your longstanding commitment to 

improving Indian health in the Great Plains area and throughout 

the Indian Health Service, and for the opportunity to testify today. 

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. McSwain follows:] 

30 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROBERT G. MCSWAIN, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, 

INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. McSwain. 

Dr. Karol, I know you do not have an official statement and are 

here to answer questions. I do not know if you want to make any 

statement at this time or just wait for specific questions? 

STATEMENT OF SUSAN V. KAROL, M.D., CHIEF MEDICAL 

OFFICER, INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

Dr. KAROL. Just to let the Committee know who I am. Thank you 

for the opportunity to present. 

My name is Dr. Susan Karol. I am a Captain in the U.S. Public 

Health Service. I am the Chief Medical Officer for the Indian 

Health Service. 

I am an enrolled member of the Tuscarora Indian Nation which 

is in upstate New York. I graduated from Dartmouth College and 

the Medical College of Wisconsin. For the past 32 years, I have 

been a practicing general surgeon. 

My role at IHS Headquarters in Rockville is as the Chief Medical 

Officer. I advise the director and our senior leadership of the Indian Health Service. I assist in formulating and implementing 

those national policies adopted by the director. 

I have direct responsibility in oversight of the Office of Clinical 

and Preventative Service, the Office of Information Technology, the 

Office of Public Health Support and External Affairs for the Indian 

Health Service. 

I work with each of the 12 IHS Area Chief Medical Officers who 

provide direct oversight of the quality programs and work with hospital leadership and providers at our IHS service units, military 

clinics and health stops. 

Mr. McSwain provided our opening testimony. I stand ready to 

answer questions. 


203a6.eps
36 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Dr. Karol. We appreciate 

your being here and joining us today. 

Dr. Wakefield, we are dealing with severe, long term problems, 

a pattern of healthcare facilities that are so substantial in terms 

of the failures that CMS and another agency in your department 

have actually terminated its provider agreement with one of the 

IHS facilities. Other facilities are in jeopardy as well. 

You are a registered nurse, a Fellow of the American Academy 

of Nursing, Dean of the School of Rural Health at the University 

of North Dakota, and you were part of the Administration when 

Senator Dorgan had the first hearing on this. I just wonder what 

we can do to fix this problem in the Great Plains area, both short 

term and long term. What assurances can you give us that in five 

years we are not going to be in the same situation with the same 

problems identified again? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Thank you for that question, Senator. I would 

say a couple of things. 

First of all, in terms of short term strategies, Mr. McSwain and 

the IHS team are working now, immediately with assistance from 

our Commissioned Corps to turn around the circumstances in those 

three hospitals. It is our expectation that work is done as effectively and efficiently as possible. It is underway now. That is short 

term. 

Longer term, we have two strategies we are implementing. One, 

we have already started implementing which is to markedly 

strengthen the priority focus on quality in the IHS beginning with 

the leadership of IHS. 

You heard me talk about the expertise brought into that part of 

the agency at the helm of the agency on the executive team with 

specific priority, as I mentioned, placed on quality improvement 

and with expertise and with a plan to do that work that has been 

informed by consultation with tribes and also informed by features 

of that plan having already been implemented in the Phoenix area 

as well as in the Billings area. 

Secondly, we are also convening an executive council at the HHS 

at the request of Secretary Burwell to focus our assets across HHS 

from parts of the agency that have resources devoted to this particular population to drive and leverage an agenda on quality improvement forward. 

Andy mentioned CMS’s role briefly in that effort. That is the second part of our strategy. First is to strengthen IHS and second, to 

advance this agenda with the assets across HHS. 

The CHAIRMAN. We had listening sessions with tribal members 

in the region on the ground, visiting with people specifically. We 

got an earful. Tribal members have told Committee staff there is 

pervasive employee intimidation, retaliation, nepotism at every 

level of the Indian Health Service, that the employees are afraid 

to report their concerns, afraid to be honest and forthcoming when 

surveyors visit, are told not to speak with members of Congress, 

their staff or anyone else who might be able to help improve the 

conditions. 

Doctors and nurses, they tell us, are afraid because they are 

threatened repeatedly and directly and even openly. It was astonishing the sort of things they came back and said, this is what we 

37 

heard on the ground. Their families were denied health care, reputations were dragged through the mud. They try to do something 

right to protect patients and report criminal activity and feel they 

are ostracized and pushed out. 

I just want to make sure that you are completely aware of that 

and what we are going to do about this culture of harassment that 

seems to exist in the Indian Health Service. 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Our goal is to deliver high quality, consistent 

care. We have to have providers that are on the front lines, administrators on the front lines that share that commitment. Most of 

the providers in the field are absolutely committed to delivering 

high quality care as are the administrators. 

We have bright spots in the Great Plains area. We do. We have 

great providers in the Great Plains area. 

We also need to strengthen our management along the lines of 

what you just indicated. As I mentioned, Mary Smith has joined us. 

That is one of her priorities on the executive team of HHS. She 

brings experience in that area, in management and operations and 

it is a focus for us. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Slavitt, first we were told the situation at 

Winnebago was unique. As time went on, we heard from other 

tribes that they were experiencing similar problems impacting patient safety and patient care. Still the Administration claimed the 

issues facing Winnebago were an exception to the rule. 

Then CMS sent notices of intent to Rosebud and the Pine Ridge 

hospitals indicating that their provider status was at risk as well. 

Based on the information we received, I suspect the ‘‘immediate 

jeopardy conditions’’ found at these three facilities also exists at 

other hospitals in the Great Plains and beyond. 

I am asking how many IHS facilities have been issued this immediate jeopardy finding since 2010? Why does the problem seem 

to be so concentrated in the Great Plains area? 

Mr. SLAVITT. As you stated, we have issued in one situation termination of our participation in Medicare and Medicaid and in two 

situations late last year where there is similar potential. The management of the hospitals is in the process of giving us a response 

to those areas. 

I suggest I allow my colleague, Thomas Hamilton, to speak more 

specifically as it relates to the breadth of the work we are seeing 

across the Indian Health Service. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hamilton, welcome to the Committee. 

Mr. HAMILTON. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. 

As Administrator Slavitt indicated, since 2010, we have had 18 

site visits on these three facilities alone. All of our survey reports 

are matters of public record. We appreciate the Committee had requested a number of those and carefully examined those for the results. 

When we find there are serious deficiencies, then we issue a notice to the hospital scheduling a prospectively scheduled termination date which communicates a message that there will be no 

discussion about whether or not problems are fixe but rather, how 

quickly and how well. That is the situation playing out at these 

three facilities. 

38 

The CHAIRMAN. If I could, Winnebago’s first citation after the 

2010 report Senator Dorgan came out with occurred in April 2011. 

But CMS did not terminate the provider agreement until four 

years later in July 2015. Extensions have consequences. At Winnebago between 2011 and 2015, there were five extensions granted by 

CMS. 

I wonder if standard termination procedures and timelines were 

followed if it might have been different in terms of patient lives 

possibly being saved. I wonder why it takes so long for CMS to act 

on its own findings and what led the agency to finally make the 

decision to terminate the provider agreement at Winnebago? 

Mr. HAMILTON. Simply because termination occurred later does 

not mean that there was no activity. In fact, there was a great deal 

of activity. My colleagues in the Quality Improvement Group were 

enlisted. They got four quality improvement organizations under 

contract to provide direct on-site technical assistance between 2012 

and 2014 to Pine Ridge, Winnebago and Rosebud facilities. 

We were hoping at that point in time that a regimen of intense, 

technical assistance would do the job. When we went back out in 

April 2014, unfortunately, we found the problems had not been 

remedied to the extent necessary. At that time, we issued a termination notice again. 

The director of the Indian Health Service at that time personally 

became involved. Dr. Roubideaux went out to the facility, there was 

a change in the executive officer, a variety of other more intensive 

changes were put in place. For six months quality did improve. 

However, when we went back out in 2015, again, we found the 

gains had not been sustained and we reluctantly issued the final 

terminal notice from Medicare. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Slavitt. 

Senator Tester? 

Senator TESTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for 

your testimony. 

I will get right to it. Senator Dorgan brought up the point of incompetency and made a solid point. If you have someone incompetent, fire them; do not move them. Mary, do you have the capacity to fire folks in a timely manner for incompetence? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. We follow performance, government-wide standards associated with performance reviews. I have used those standards in my position as the Administrator of Health Resources and 

Services Administration. Yes, staff can be terminated. 

Senator TESTER. This is also an argument heard a lot in Veterans Affairs healthcare that Senator Moran knows about. Is it 

standard operating procedure to move them around or get rid of 

them if they are incompetent? I am talking about employees who 

do not cut the mustard. 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Senator, speaking for myself, when I have had 

staff that have not fulfilled their responsibilities, I have applied the 

opportunities that I have to help relieve them of their responsibilities, yes. 

Senator TESTER. Music to my ears. 

Now I want to talk about recruitment and retention which is exactly opposite of what I was saying. If you have someone that is 

39 

good or someone you are trying to recruit, what parameters do you 

have to bring them on? 

We are talking about areas, by the way, that are not like areas 

where I live. We do not have a doctor where I live either. We are 

talking about places that do not have housing, police protection is 

poor and Senator Heitkamp talked about it. Police protection is 

poor, schools are not top notch, you have no place to live and the 

list goes on. 

What can you do to help recruit doctors into areas that are one, 

frontier, and two, do not have places to live? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. One of our most effective strategies as I have 

looked across our workforce programs deployed by HHS is the National Health Service Corps Program. That is a scholarship loan repayment program that is extremely effective in helping to pay 

loans for physicians, nurse practitioners, psychologists and others. 

In exchange, they work for a minimum of two years in an underserved area. 

We have markedly expanded that program in the last five years, 

as I mentioned earlier. We now have 420 of those clinicians working in Indian Country with Indian populations. That is a big boost 

from the just over 100 that we had back in 2008. We are also focusing on retention, Senator Tester. It is recruitment but also retention. 

Senator TESTER. Do you have the capacity to incentivize these 

folks with additional wages? For example, Customs Border Protection, there are certain areas on the northern border where they 

cannot get people to serve there. They gave them a quarter boost 

right off the top on their salary if they served in certain areas. Do 

you have that capacity? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Yes, we do. We actually changed the program 

about five years ago to incentivize and provide more resources in 

terms of loan repayment and scholarship to individuals willing to 

serve in our greatest need areas. 

I could not speak for the scholarship program out of IHS, but I 

can speak to the National Health Service Corps. Yes, we have done 

that. 

Senator TESTER. Bob, can you incentivize their salary in IHS? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. We do. In fact, we offer pay packages based upon 

what is available. If it is a scholarship recipient or if it is loan repayment, we have a loan repayment program as well. 

Senator TESTER. What about salaries? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. We have the authority for physicians and dentists 

under Title 38. 

Senator TESTER. How much can you bump their salary? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. I think it is close to $300,000. 

Senator TESTER. Can you get back to me with the figures? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. Yes, I will. 

Senator TESTER. I will have a lot of questions for the record because time is wasting. There is about a 37 percent vacancy rate in 

the Great Plains area for physicians. Is that comparable with other 

IHS regions or is that high? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. I would say it is high for that area. 

Senator TESTER. Can you tell me why it is high? 

40 

Mr. MCSWAIN. It is those isolated, remote locations primarily and 

the housing issues. 

Senator TESTER. I am going to put some questions into the record 

because we have other folks who want to ask questions. I do want 

to close with one point. It is the point Senator Heitkamp brought 

up talking about what we pay for Medicare spending for beneficiaries, veterans and what we pay for IHS. 

Senator Dorgan said it also. He said we are 50 percent. The National Congress of American Indians said IHS is about 59 percent 

underfunded. I want to tell you if I was a farmer and this was my 

board of directors and you underfunded me by half, that means I 

would only be able to put 30 pounds of seed down in the spring and 

only be able to till my land two and a half times and at harvest 

time, there would not be any money to cut the crop. You would ask 

me how come we failed. 

We can put forth the best words we want in this Committee but 

unless we back it up with money, it is just that. It is baloney. Some 

of the same folks that talk about the problem with IHS vote 

against the budget. They vote against IHS funding. 

I am telling you guys, we can point the finger at these guys but 

there are three of them pointing right back at us. We can talk 

about the challenges out there with people harassing and nepotism. 

We should not stand for that. The folks who are not doing their job, 

we should fire them. 

In the end, we are never going to be successful if we do not deal 

with what it cost to treat people in medicine. You cannot do it with 

half. We can talk about what it takes to have good schools and 

good housing and good water because you will never get people to 

live there. 

It is a big issue. We can talk about it and say, damned that IHS, 

these guys just are not doing their job and by the way, there are 

cases where you are not doing your job and you need to clean it 

up. We need to clean up our act too. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Tester. 

Senator Hoeven? 

Senator HOEVEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Again, I would like to thank Secretary Wakefield for being here 

as well as the rest of the witnesses. 

Across the Country on and off reservation, there is a shortage of 

healthcare providers. Senator Tester asked about the shortage of 

doctors. There is a shortage of doctors just about everywhere. The 

reality is we do need more resources on the reservation but we also 

have to figure out how we leverage our resources. 

I am going to start with Secretary Wakefield. In drawing on your 

experience at the University of North Dakota, the rural health center there which you ran and is a tremendous operation, how do you 

create a culture of accountability and empower people, make sure 

people are accountable but also empower them? 

I would like for you to touch on what we are trying to do in the 

VA which is to create that culture of accountability and empowerment but also this concept of leveraging resources. We not only are 

striving to make sure that veterans can get good care directly 

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41 

erans’ choice so that where you have issues of distance or time 

delay, they can get services from local healthcare providers. 

How do you create that culture of accountability, empowerment 

and leverage your resources for example, like this veterans’ choice 

concept? I am going to ask both Administrator Slavitt and Mr. 

McSwain that question as well. 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. In terms of leveraging resources, I think we 

have to be real smart about what we are doing with regard to deploying our resources as efficiently as possible. I talked a couple of 

times about the National Health Service Corps Program. This puts 

primary care providers in the field. 

Most of the National Service Corps providers go to rural areas. 

From my vantage point coming out of the Great Plains, that is a 

good thing because we have such significant shortages there. As we 

leverage them to provide primary care, that frees up resources to 

staff out the acute care facilities we are even talking about here 

today. To your point, it really is about ensuring that we are not 

creating redundancies but are establishing systems that are working together collaboratively among the programs that play out on 

the front lines. 

In terms of accountability and supporting recruitment, we recently have spent more time focusing on retention, recruitment and 

retention and not just trying to retain an individual in a location 

based on what we are doing at the Federal level, but we are working with the local community. 

Quentin Burdick Hospital in Belcourt is a good example of that. 

We have a core of clinicians working together. It is that core nucleus and looks a lot like Hettinger, North Dakota, Senator 

Hoeven. You will know that experience of creating a local culture 

within the community that is supportive of that set of clinicians 

and clinicians supportive of each other in terms of the delivery of 

high quality care. We have bright spots. 

Senator HOEVEN. Those are great models. If you can help your 

team replicate those, you will go a long way to solving these problems. Those are great models. 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. They are great models. The Quentin Burdick 

model at the Quentin Burdick Hospital is a direct service hospital. 

It is the type of hospital we are talking about here today. 

Our aim is to achieve consistent, sustained quality care across 

our direct service facilities. We have those models in hospitals that 

already exist. It is a lot about focusing on the individual provider, 

but it is the community as well and helping communities establish 

a culture of support for those clinicians. 

Senator HOEVEN. I like your giving those concrete examples. 

That is very helpful. 

I would ask Administrator Slavitt the same question, particularly leveraging resources. Across the Country, nobody is providing 

adequate health care without leveraging resources because of the 

tremendous demand. 

Mr. SLAVITT. Thank you, Senator. 

There are three things in our experience that are important here. 

The first is transparency from the bottom to the top. Unless problems can be identified, they cannot be fixed. Obviously, that is critical. 

42 

Second is the leadership and engagement and the culture that 

my colleague, Deputy Secretary Wakefield, pointed to. The tone has 

to be set that it is okay to share these problems and people have 

to get engaged in those details. 

Third is accountability and resources. People need to feel like 

they can succeed, we need to know who is held accountable and as 

those things come in place, as my colleague Mr. Hamilton said and 

as Mr. McSwain said, there has been good leadership that has 

moved into these hospitals. When that has happened, we have seen 

progress. That should encourage us that we need to keep moving 

in that direction. 

Senator HOEVEN. Director McSwain. 

Mr. MCSWAIN. That is absolutely correct. I want to second Dr. 

Wakefield’s notion about Quentin Burdick. There is a model that 

has good leadership. We are finding if we can get good leadership, 

they can recruit people. 

The other part of it too is they do not have as many contractor 

physicians who rotate out. Their vacancy rate is 12 percent. You 

heard about the total vacancy rate for the whole area is 37 percent. 

They are at 12 percent. Why is that? It is leadership. It is the core 

staff. That is the model. 

To leverage that, I read your question a little more insofar as we 

are reaching out to other people, the VA, to pay for Indian vets, 

reimbursements. We are reaching out and leveraging our resources 

which are limited to other resources that might be available that 

would treat our population. 

As Dr. Wakefield said, in working with the rest of the department, there may be other opportunities that exist in the department that will come to bear on our problems. 

Senator HOEVEN. The leadership, the leveraging and then 

metrics, if you install metrics and can come back to us with metrics 

to show progress and deficiencies, it is very important and really 

helpful in what we are trying to do here. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Hoeven. 

Senator Heitkamp? 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I have a couple quick questions. Mr. Slavitt, when did CMS actually notify not just the hospitals but the leadership of Indian 

Health and potentially the Secretary’s office about these deficiencies? 

Mr. SLAVITT. I am going to ask my colleague to walk through the 

specifics and the timeline but our process is as soon as we are 

aware, we make the local representatives on the ground aware. In 

this particular case, Mr. McSwain and I spoke immediately upon 

the determination. I called him and we had a very direct conversation. 

Senator HEITKAMP. Are we talking about immediately upon the 

determination of deficiency or immediately upon the determination 

that you were no longer going to certify an IHS hospital? 

Mr. SLAVITT. Talking about both. In the case of the deficiencies, 

those were communicated as reports are completed at the local 

level. In the case of my conversation with Mr. McSwain, that hapVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
43 

pened in the case where we were going to notify they that were terminating. 

Senator HEITKAMP. I might suggest that in the future you not 

leave it up to just notifying the local people at the hospital. Obviously, we had an information gap here where people who should 

have been responsible immediately for change were not notified. 

That concerns me. 

Deputy Secretary Wakefield, when did the Secretary’s office become aware of the problems in these hospitals? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Senator Heitkamp, I will have to get back to you 

with an answer to that question. I would be happy to do that. I am 

sorry I could not speak to it specifically. I know that is what you 

are asking for, a specific date. 

Senator HEITKAMP. The point I am trying to make is that you all 

work under the same umbrella. We can talk about 

miscommunication and talk about metrics, but you have to all be 

communicating with each other. 

The other point I want to make is the extraordinary difficulty of 

serving a population with chronic disease, with a lot of history of 

trauma, a lot of history of challenges, both behavioral and mental 

health. 

We see it in the substance abuse. We see it in high rates of suicide. We see it in chronic disease being reflected from these conditions. 

I am a big believer, as a lot of people at SAMHSA, a lot of people 

working on this, that we can do better in terms of treating the 

whole person so we continue to treat chronic disease and never 

really get to the problem. 

I am wondering what IHS is doing and what HHS is doing to 

begin to address things like trauma informed treatment, begin to 

address merging this curative medicine model with behavioral and 

mental health model so that we can treat the whole patient. 

Deputy Secretary Wakefield? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Secretary Burwell asked the Administrator for 

Native Americans at the Administration for Children and Families 

to lead our HHS-wide effort on exactly this area. That is to develop 

what would be a comprehensive, integrated department-wide approach that stems from an understanding and the evidence based 

around historical trauma. That is department-wide. That is underway. 

We are looking forward to consulting closely with any member of 

this Committee who is interested in tracking against that work as 

it pushes forward. 

Senator HEITKAMP. I hope as we are looking at recruitment and 

retention, we are looking at recruiting a new kind of physician, 

people who actually have received this type of training because I 

think it is critical if we are going to have long term better outcomes 

that we change the dynamic of how we deliver the service. 

Finally, I want to make the point that no one here should be 

happy with this outcome. My frustration always is that there is almost a culture of failure. What can we do? There is nothing we can 

do. 

Yes, we have an obligation to fund but you have an obligation 

to come with the plan that changes outcomes. You have an obligaVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
44 

tion to tell us what you need. My frustration always is we are 

going to rearrange and I am not saying that is the response we are 

getting, but rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic because it is 

going to go down anyway. 

Let us not have this hearing again in five years. Let us come 

back, have constant communication about what we are doing, how 

we are changing outcomes and make sure whatever you do that 

this is done in consultation with the tribes because the people who 

are most concerned about these outcomes are the tribal elders, the 

tribal leaders, the mothers and fathers and people who see the core 

of the lack of delivery of health care every day. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Heitkamp. 

Senator Daines. 

STATEMENT OF HON. STEVE DAINES, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA 

Senator DAINES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I first want to give a warm welcome to Jace Killsback, the Executive Health Manager of the Northern Cheyenne from Lame Deer, 

Montana. It is great to have you, Jace. Thank you for appearing 

on this next panel. 

I would like to begin by noting that on top of facing the bureaucracy of the Indian Health Service, which we have discussed at 

length today, tribes are being hit with massive fines under 

Obamacare which is why we have introduced the Tribal Employment and Jobs Protection Act. 

It exempts tribal employers from Obamacare’s employer mandate. I am hearing about this from virtually all of my tribes back 

home in Montana. I hope through efforts like this with this legislation, we as a Committee and as a greater body, must continue 

working to uphold the United States’ trust responsibility to Indian 

tribes while honoring this very important government to government relationship. 

I recently heard from a constituent of mine, in fact I have the 

email here, who was a member of the Assiniboine Tribe of Fort 

Belknap who contacted me to voice the hardships she has faced in 

seeking treatment through IHS. Listen to this story. 

She drove 35 miles to the closest IHS facility, spent four hours 

there waiting for medication and then drove all the way home to 

find out she had been administered the wrong medication. This is 

all contained in the same email from one of my constituents. 

She described the way the IHS had treated her on multiple occasions as with extreme negligence. In fact, when she called and told 

them she had the wrong medicine, they told her to flush it down 

the toilet. This is in the context of where we have certainly abuse 

of prescription drugs and sometimes a lack of control. 

Problems like this have been happening for decades. The fact 

they are happening today is unacceptable. 

I want to point out something else. As Al Franken said back in 

2010 when this was first discussed, ‘‘We cannot keep throwing good 

money after bad.’’ In fact, in your testimony, you stated that under 

this Administration, funding for IHS has increased by 43 percent. 

45 

However, the issues we are addressing today are not the result 

of underfunding. Plain and simple, this is an issue of oversight, an 

issue of accountability, an issue of failing to follow through on 

promises and basic responsibilities to Indian Country. 

I do not think this is a healthcare system. I think this is a 

healthcare tragedy. I spend a lot of time with the families in Indian 

Country and seeing the outcomes of a system that is very, very broken. It is a real tragedy. We are dealing with the lives of real people, grandmas and grandpas, children and moms and dads suffering and dying prematurely. 

Mr. MCSWAIN. Dr. Wakefield states that the challenges facing 

hospitals in Indian Country and those IHS is responsible for helping address include difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified 

healthcare providers. What specifically have you done and what are 

you doing administratively to address the difficulties of retaining 

as well as recruiting qualified healthcare providers, as well as the 

low volume of these providers? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. We are using all the mechanisms available to us 

by existing authorities and requesting additional authorities, but a 

lot of it has to do with pay because we need to be competitive and 

be able to get them onboard. That is a big issue as you can well 

imagine. 

There have to be enough incentives to go to an isolated location. 

Those are the incentives that we are working on. We have requested to expand some of our pay authorities. The other has to do 

with working more closely with the tribes on what is needed in the 

community. That is another area we are working on. 

I know Dr. Karol has been working heavily on that. If you do not 

mind, I would like to have her respond as well. 

Dr. KAROL. I think a big part of our recruitment and retention 

package is also the work we have been doing with our scholarship 

program. I am a good example of that. I am an IHS 437 scholar. 

Basically it puts Native students into medical school, nursing 

school, dental school to get them educated and brought back either 

to their home tribes or to others. 

We have a loan repayment program. We are working with the 

United States university health systems, USUHS, in Rockville to 

educate at least two students a year who come back to our areas. 

Previously, they have been assigned to return to the Great Plains 

area so there are a number of students over the last few years that 

did come to the Great Plains area. We can give you more information. 

Senator DAINES. On the pay gap, how much is enough? What are 

the gaps approximately in percentage that we need to address the 

recruiting and retention issue? How far apart are we? 

Dr. KAROL. One example is emergency room physicians across 

the Country make about $350,000. Our Title 38 brings them in at 

about $220,000 to $240,000 so there is a gap there. 

Senator DAINES. Thank you. I am out of time. 

I know the Committee staff has been provided examples of where 

additional dollars have been put in but unfortunately were consumed on the administrative side of this instead of going to paying 

for providers actually on the front lines treating people and patients. That is another discussion to have. 

46 

Mr. Chairman, I am out of time. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Daines. 

Senator Udall? 

Senator UDALL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Director McSwain, I understand the IHS is working to get emergency resources for the NCI Detox Center in Gallup. As I mentioned in my opening statement, I believe there is a real public 

health crisis going on there. There is a real risk this center may 

close in a matter of weeks. 

The community is alarmed. We alerted you to this. When critical 

public health facilities close, people are going to die. That is what 

is going to happen. 

How can the IHS plan to work collaboratively and creatively with 

tribes and local officials in Gallup to fund a long term solution to 

this funding issue? How can the agency better leverage its resources to help address crisis situations like the one in Gallup, 

New Mexico? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. Senator Udall, as you know, we actually have 

identified resources that we are sending out. We are moving it 

through the Navajo Nation. That is the vehicle. Our relationship is 

with the Navajo Nation. We are going to be moving on a short gap 

and then we are having conversations with others like our partners 

at SAMHSA about long term strategies to maintain that program. 

It is a vital program certainly for the Gallup community. That is 

one we desperately need to complete. That is what we are doing 

right now both short term and long term. 

Senator UDALL. Thank you very much for that work. 

As we have heard today, IHS facilities across the Country experience interruptions in service due to staffing issues, poor facility 

conditions, and deficient patient care. I mentioned Crownpoint as 

the recent glaring example in New Mexico. 

The emergency room in a rural area closed for over a month. 

Thankfully the situation has improved but I remain very concerned 

about the long term success there and at other New Mexico IHS 

facilities and as we have heard, facilities across the Country. 

What is HHS’s plan to address these serious, ongoing staffing 

issues at IHS facilities and then the bigger issue we are talking 

about which is this whole issue of 50 percent under funding? Senators Tester and Heitkamp mentioned it. The National Congress of 

American Indians talks about 59 percent. 

Normally what has happened in these kinds of situations that I 

have seen in the past is an Administration steps forward. You 

know you cannot do it in a year but you step forward with a plan, 

a five year plan and we are going to wipe out this under funding. 

I hope with this hearing and the attention given to this that 

President Obama and your agency will step forward and give us a 

plan so we can get people to see here is the plan and who will vote 

for and support it because that is what is really needed here. 

Please go ahead. 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. We agree that there absolutely is a need to fill 

the gap, not just to recruit into underserved areas in Indian Country but also to retain those clinicians. There will not be just one 

strategy to accomplish that, it is going to be a set of strategies. 

47 

We have already been talking inside the agency. You talked specifically about emergency departments. One of the strategies we 

have focused on, and Mary Smith, the individual I mentioned who 

has been brought into the leadership of IHS, is focusing on, is a 

much more comprehensive approach to thinking about deploying 

telehealth technology. 

I am from a rural area. I know the difference that can make. We 

have in Montana and also out of Arizona associated with our direct 

service facilities, direct service hospitals, the application of telehealth technology. 

In Pine Ridge, for example, we have telebehavioral health. We 

have tele-ED out of Montana. That is one strategy but again, it will 

take a number of strategies. That is one strategy that I do not 

think we are leveraging as comprehensively as we could. 

It is important to back up those frontline providers and emergency departments that may see infrequently a particular case 

come in with special healthcare challenges. It is also an appropriate technology to use in connecting to specialty services, sort of 

a backup of primary care providers on the front end and also to deliver specialty services into particular areas. 

I mention that because you mentioned emergency departments 

specifically. We have some resources going into telehealth technology applications. We will continue to look at that and push the 

boundaries of that in our planning going forward. 

Telehealth does not solve it all. That is simply one strategy. Another strategy is also to make sure that we are investing in primary care providers to free up providers to provide care in acute 

care settings. 

I talked already about National Health Service Corps clinicians 

but should have also mentioned we have markedly expanded over 

the last five years our community health centers. As a result, 

today, our community health centers probably since about 2009 are 

seeing 30 percent more American Indian, Alaska Natives than they 

did four or five years ago. 

That is good news because that allows us to free up resources 

and personnel to be able to provide other non-primary care services, a set of strategies from expanding technology but also expanding the provider pool in a more comprehensive way rather than 

looking at this specialist by specialist, and rather leveraging those 

assets together. 

Senator UDALL. Thank you very much for that answer and for 

looking at this in terms of strategies. I am a big supporter of telehealth and many of the other strategies you mentioned. If you put 

them forward, you will get a lot of support from this Committee 

and in the Congress. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Udall. 

Senator Thune? 

Senator THUNE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, again for the opportunity to ask some questions and participate in the hearing. 

I too want to echo what was said. One of the things I hope comes 

out of this is better use of telehealth and telemedicine. We have 

three regional health systems in South Dakota, all of whom have 

done some pioneering work in the area of telehealth technologies. 

48 

That is a way, I believe, that we can do a better job of delivering 

healthcare services not just in our tribal communities but in rural 

areas of the Country. I would encourage you to carry on with that. 

Secretary Wakefield, in your oral testimony you noted the hiring 

of additional administrative staff, two new deputy directors and 

created executive level working groups, is that correct? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. Yes. 

Senator THUNE. Did IHS consider using that funding at the local 

level to invest in additional providers, those that directly serve patients or to address the emerging situation in Rosebud and Pine 

Ridge? 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. I would ask Mr. McSwain to speak to additional 

clinicians and administrators that have been or are being seeded 

into those three facilities. 

I would say the resources that we have committed at the local 

level from HHS, not from IHS, into that region are additional Public Health Service Corps clinicians, physicians, nurse, quality improvement experts into the Great Plains area to focus very sharply 

on the current challenges we have right now. They are there on the 

ground, have been on the ground and will continue to stay there 

as we work to stabilize and strengthen those three facilities and 

more broadly the area. 

With regard to the two positions I mentioned, I think these two 

positions are absolutely critical. We have to have a much sharper 

focus on quality improvement if we are going to sustain and 

strengthen the quality of care that IHS is responsible for delivering. That starts at the top. 

We have a tremendous expert we have brought to the table and 

were fortunate to get her. She has a plan that can be 

operationalized. It is concrete. I am not talking about it in the abstract. There are very specific strategies. I have looked at that 

plan. I have had people from CMS and the Federal Office of Rural 

Health Policy look at that plan. 

Her expertise at this level and that priority for that agency is 

one of our major strategies to begin to do the work, not just in the 

Great Plains area, but across Indian Health. This is a reset. This 

is a reengineering of how we are doing our work and our focus on 

quality. 

I think those two positions at the executive level set the tone for 

what we need to be focusing on, making this a top priority. It is 

for us. 

Senator THUNE. I guess I would say in addressing the situation, 

I am glad you are putting that kind of spotlight on it and focus, 

but I think it is important to remember that the solution to every 

problem is not growing the administrative size of the agency. We 

want to get people on the ground delivering healthcare services, 

doctors and nurses inasmuch as you need somebody that is going 

to do this. 

I hope that this time it gets done because after the 2010 report, 

there was a paper put out that had a strategy that was going to 

be implemented in the Aberdeen area. The Aberdeen area responded to that report with their own report about all the things 

they were going to do. In 2013, we had another report about all the 

49 

things that were going to be done and none of the stuff gets implemented. 

I guess my point is that when you look at these issues, clearly 

there are problems up the food chain and there is not the efficient 

oversight, follow through and implementation and all that. I am 

glad you are rightly focused on that. 

I think it is really critical that we get the help to people on the 

ground where we have the needs not being met and the conditions 

that have been so well documented. 

Mr. McSwain, I want to follow up with that because there was 

a lot of work done in 2010. The Committee report created this program integrity coordinating council that was to make recommendations for changes within IHS. As I said, they reported and the Aberdeen area responded with specific plans to better the region. 

Who was responsible at that time for compliance with the July 

2011 plan? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. You are testing my memory but let me answer the 

other question you had about staffing at the local level. Bear in 

mind we are talking about a 37 percent vacancy rate. How are we 

actually filing those positions? We are dealing with contractors. We 

would like to get away from the contractors because the contractors 

are costing us at least triple. That is another point. 

Getting back to your question about the program integrity coordinating council oversight and the actual work group that went into 

that, during that time, actually I may have been that in my previous job. I may have been the Deputy Director for Management 

Operations and therefore was actually overseeing the activities 

going on out there until I was changed out. 

That particular report focused on helping the agency move ahead 

with addressing the report itself, the report findings, some 19 findings. We walked through all of those items. We actually made very 

good progress on some of those items. Some of them are still very 

challenging. 

Senator THUNE. To your knowledge, are the reports submitted on 

the 30th of each month, something called for by each hospital outlining the level of compliance with the CMS conditions of participation, a requirement of the July 2011 plan, are those reports submitted, to your knowledge? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. Yes. 

Senator THUNE. On the 30th of each month? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. Yes. 

Senator THUNE. How is it possible that three hospitals in the 

Great Plains area have failed to satisfy the conditions of participation? Were IHS officials in the Great Plains area just rubber 

stamping these documents? How did this happen? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. They were not rubber stamping so much, Senator. 

They were taking and processing them through. What happened on 

the surveys is, and I will defer to Mr. Slavitt and Mr. Hamilton, 

but there were times where we actually achieved satisfaction on 

the surveys. 

Then, as I think Mr. Hamilton mentioned, we failed again. We 

fell back, so that was a year later. We achieve and then we fail. 

That has been the cycle. I think Dr. Wakefield is saying we want 

to sustain while we are up there and continue to move forward. 

50 

Senator THUNE. My time has expired, Mr. Chairman. There are 

some questions I would like to submit for the record. 

I would say in closing that in response to Secretary Wakefield’s 

comments about creating a structure or model, that this time it has 

to work. Mr. McSwain, even in response to the 2010 report, we are 

not sure exactly who was responsible. 

I am saying there has to be accountability. There has to be a 

chain of command, the buck has to stop somewhere to prevent 

these sorts of things from happening and to ensure that the conditions we have been finding and that CMS is responding to just do 

not happen again. That will take a lot of work on the part of a lot 

of people. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Thune. 

Senator Franken. 

STATEMENT OF HON. AL FRANKEN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this 

hearing. 

I want to thank Senators Thune, Heitkamp and Rounds for requesting this hearing and Senator Tester as well. 

I want to clarify something. What I said in 2010, I do not know 

if I necessarily said you cannot throw good money after bad. That 

might be a paraphrase of something I was saying. We did a word 

search for that and we do not quite have that. 

What I was saying was that we kind of a catch 22. We have 

members who do not want to increase funding because the bureaucracy is dysfunctional but you have a situation where the system is dysfunctional because it does not get enough funding. 

I think that is the nub here. I do not want to be taken out of 

context. 

Senator Heitkamp brought this to the Committee, to the hearing 

today. She has gone over it, Senator Tester has referred to it. Average spending per capita in the United States on healthcare is 

$8,097 as of 2014. The average for IHS per user is $3,600, less 

than half. 

Add to that everything we have talked about in this Committee 

in terms of housing, in terms of education. When you are attracting 

a healthcare provider to a hospital or clinic, if they are married, 

you are also recruiting their wife or their husband and their kids. 

It matters to that spouse what the schools are like. 

How much do we spend on the schools? How much is spent on 

law enforcement considering that we have the levels of violence 

that we have? When I am quoted as saying, you cannot throw good 

money after bad, that is not what I was saying. 

We had a hearing on suicide a few months ago. We have an epidemic of suicide in Indian Country. Senator Heitkamp talks about 

this all the time, talks about trauma, cultural trauma, but there 

is individual trauma. If you are living with another family, the 

chances are exponentially higher that you are going to see violence 

or domestic abuse or drug addiction. 

Though we spend less than half per American Indian on health 

care, we have heard in the testimony that the health condition of 

51 

the average Indian Native American is not as good as the average 

non-Indian American. 

We have to get real about this. I tried to get an $11 million loan 

guarantee for energy projects in the last omnibus bill. After we had 

that hearing on suicide, I asked for that member’s support and that 

member said, is there a paid for. When we did the doc fix, $120 billion was not paid for but I could 

not get a member here on Indian Affairs after a suicide hearing 

where we know that unemployment on Pine Ridge must be 75 percent, I could not get $11 million for economic development so people could have jobs. Please staff, ‘‘in context.’’ 

Let me ask about telehealth. I know I am over my time. Is there 

a problem with broadband in Indian Country because we are talking about telehealth? I think telehealth is great. I am co-chair of 

the Rural Health Caucus. I know the importance of broadband for 

telehealth. 

Dr. WAKEFIELD. I cannot speak specifically to broadband in Indian Country but I assume that it is going to be very similar to 

what I am going to say in terms of rural areas at large, so we do 

not have access to broadband across rural America but probably 

the bigger challenge in some respects or an additional challenge, I 

should say, is the cost associated with broadband. 

You are right, that can be a rate limiting factor to implementing 

telemedicine, yes. 

Senator FRANKEN. Mr. McSwain? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. Agreed. I agree with Dr. Wakefield. It is the cost 

of the broadband. We have had examples of challenges in Alaska, 

for example, where they have to rely on broadband. I heard of a 

case where the person was going to send an x-ray result and had 

to send it tonight so they can get it tomorrow. That is how long 

it took to get there. 

There are challenges about telehealth but I think more importantly, it is the staff support for telehealth on both ends. 

Senator FRANKEN. I think everyone on this Committee agrees 

with that. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Franken. 

Director McSwain, you have been around from previous Administrations and spent decades doing this. You know the agency well. 

I have a number of tribal resolutions and letters addressed to 

you and others seeking the removal of some specific IHS employees. I know Senator Heitkamp you asked a specific question during 

this. 

The joint resolution was adopted by the Omaha and Winnebago 

Tribes on August 12, 2015. It specifically identifies a number of 

underperforming IHS managers. As far as we can tell, these people 

have been shifted around the Great Plains area, in many cases 

given pay raises and promotions, not fired even though most of 

these people seemed to be directly responsible for the violations 

that were cited in the CMS surveys we are talking about today. 

I would like you to explain to the Committee why these people 

are still employed by the IHS? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. I would be happy to speak with you not in this 

public setting only because of personnel issues and privacy issues 

52 

with the employees and perhaps provide a full response to that 

question. 

It is a good one and I appreciate the question, Mr. Chairman, but 

we would need another forum to provide the response. 

The CHAIRMAN. I appreciate that and the confidentiality of workers and those issues but it does highlight the concerns that all of 

us on the Committee have about the ability to deal with problems 

when they exist. If they cannot be dealt with, how do we solve the 

problem? 

We have heard from some of our colleagues money is an issue. 

We also hear about lavish expenses, that so much of the money 

ends up at headquarters rather than being spent to actually take 

care of people. 

You would be astonished how many heads in the audience are 

shaking yes as I say that, Director McSwain and the smiles that 

coming to the faces because they know that is the case. There are 

huge concerns about that. 

Dr. Karol, I wanted to visit with you about one other thing. 

There was a December 4, 2015 conference call with congressional 

staff and HHS officials. My report is you almost brushed off concerns raised by the congressional staff about an incident described 

in one of those CMS surveys saying ‘‘If you only had two babies hit 

the bathroom floor in eight years, that is pretty good.’’ 

I want to be absolutely clear. You and I both took the same Hippocratic oath, we are both physicians. You have a professional 

duty, a trust responsibility, a moral responsibility to our patients 

seeking care. I just wonder if you would like to say anything about 

that and perhaps straighten out the record, clarify or say things to 

the folks here including the young mothers who you referenced on 

the call and the tribes actually impacted by this? 

Dr. KAROL. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso. 

Yes, I would like to say something. I am the Chief Medical Officer for the Indian Health Service. I am a Native and I am 100 percent committed to the Indian Health Service. 

Those comments are totally unacceptable, were really made after 

a long day. You know we all work very hard. I really am sorry that 

I made any reference to any negativity to patient care. My 100 percent priority is improving patient care, providing quality is my 

highest priority. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Senator Thune, I know you had a question? 

Senator THUNE. I have just one question, Mr. Chairman, for Mr. 

McSwain because this came up earlier and was in sort of a passing 

sense. 

I want to ask the question, to your knowledge is IHS still discouraging IHS employees from communicating with Congress and 

tribal governments? 

Mr. MCSWAIN. No. We actually have a process whereby if they 

are going to make a statement to folks that we know what they are 

going to be saying, that it is accurate and correct. Aside from that, 

there is no prohibition at all. 

Senator THUNE. I would just say I hope you will revisit this with 

your department because I will tell you personally from my staff’s 

53 

experience, we continuously have issues gaining information from 

IHS employees who observe some of these incidents but are fearful 

to step forward. 

It was an issue identified in the 2010 Committee report. I would 

like to remind you and your entire staff that it is against Federal 

law to interfere with an employee’s right to speak with Congress. 

I think if some of these employees had been able to come earlier, 

we might be having a different hearing today. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Thune. 

Senator Heitkamp. 

Senator HEITKAMP. Mr. Chairman, I have just one point. 

I almost got jealous listening to Senator Udall. Do you know 

why? We do not have any place for detox in North Dakota. It is 

a desperately needed service. In a recent visit with a tribal chairman, he told a story about tribal police being called. A woman high 

on methamphetamine was coming down and they had no place to 

take her. As they left, she walked to the church, sat on the steps 

of the church and froze to death. 

It is not just about the quality of care. It is access to care. If we 

do not build access to detox, substance abuse, rehabilitation, we 

will always fail. Those conditions add to and exacerbate chronic 

disease. 

We have record amounts of smoking. The highest rates of smoking in this Country occur among Indian people. We know what that 

means in terms of diabetes and chronic heart conditions. 

We not only need to look at how we do better with the services 

we provide but we need to think about new services. I asked Senator Barrasso if he had detox. I do not know if South Dakota has 

any detox but let me tell you, this is a desperately needed service 

in the Great Plains region. 

The CHAIRMAN. I want to thank all of the members of the panel 

for being here. I would remind the Administration our work is not 

complete. I look forward to continuing dialog including Committee 

briefings, listening sessions and more hearings. 

We do expect prompt, thorough and accurate responses. Some 

members may have some written questions as well. I hope that you 

would get back to us on those. 

This concludes our second panel. Thank you for being here. 

We will now hear from our third panel of witnesses who have 

traveled a long way to be here today. We welcome each of you to 

the panel. I will remind the witnesses your full testimony will be 

made a part of the official hearing record. 

Before we move forward with the testimony, I want to thank 

Sunny Colombe for her efforts to be here today. Unfortunately, due 

to weather, she was not able to be here to testify. We are very fortunate to have the Honorable William Bear Shield here today to 

provide testimony to the Committee. He is the Rosebud Sioux Tribe 

Council representative and sits on the tribe’s health boards. We 

thank you for being here. 

I also ask all of the members to please try to keep their statements to five minutes so that we have time for questions. I look 

forward to hearing testimony from each and every one of you. 

54 

As the panel takes their seats, I would like to turn to Senator 

Thune to introduce a special guest from South Dakota. 

Senator THUNE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I would like to introduce Sonia Weston who was mentioned earlier from the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Sonia is an enrolled member of 

the Oglala Sioux Tribe as well as a four time elected member of 

the Oglala Tribal Council. 

She graduated from Oglala Lakota College in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. She served two terms on 

the Pine Ridge High School Board and currently serves on the 

Tribal Public Safety Review Board, Personnel Board and as the 

Chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee. 

Sonia has been a longtime advocate for improving health care for 

Lakota people. I have enjoyed working with Sonia and her insight 

and expertise is greatly appreciated. I want to thank her for being 

here today and look forward to gaining her insights. 

I will also mention Mr. Willie Bear Shield who is an enrolled 

member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He received an honorable discharge from the United States Army in 1991 where he was a combat veteran in Desert Storm. 

He returned home and shortly after was elected to the tribal 

council on which he currently serves. Willie is also the chairman 

of the Tribal Health Board and is a member of the Great Plains 

Tribal Chairmen’s Association and the Unified Tribal Health 

Board. 

I have the deepest admiration for Willie’s dedication to his country and the people he represents. As you will see and hear, Willie 

is passionate about what he believes in and fights for. 

Thank you, Mr. Bear Shield for being here today. Thank you for 

your service to this great Country. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Thune. 

With that, we will start in order with the Honorable Victoria 

Kitcheyan, Treasurer, Tribal Council, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. 

STATEMENT OF VICTORIA KITCHEYAN, TREASURER, 

WINNEBAGO TRIBAL COUNCIL 

Ms. KITCHEYAN. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of 

the Committee. My name is Victoria Kitcheyan, an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe, currently serving as Treasurer of the 

Tribal Council. I thank you all for holding this very important 

meeting. 

I want to thank all those who have taken a personal interest in 

our crisis and have done things to elevate our concerns. 

I am here today with a heavy heart. I carry the burden of the 

countless tribal members who have been harmed at the IHS, including the five defined in the CMS survey who died unnecessarily. 

I carry the burden of the mourners and the concerns of the tribal 

members who are afraid to go to the Winnebago Hospital as we 

speak. It has been said in my community that the Winnebago Hospital is the only place you can legally kill an Indian. It is 2016 and 

our people are still suffering at the hands of the Federal Government. Kill the Indian, save the IHS sounds appropriate. 

55 

It is terrible what is going on at Winnebago. For decades and 

generations, IHS has had a notorious reputation in Indian county 

but it is all we have to count on. We do not go there because they 

have superior health care; we go there because it is our treaty right 

and we go there because many of us lack the resources to go elsewhere. We are literally at the mercy of IHS. 

Since 2007, there have been documented deficiencies at the Winnebago Hospital. My community believes that it is the dumping 

ground for poor administrators and unskilled providers. 

The back to back CMS findings have given our concerns some 

credibility. It took the loss of our CMS certification to finally bring 

light to the real issues going on. We thank you CMS for highlighting that and bringing us to this point. 

The Winnebago Hospital has a variety of issues from mismanagement to collusion, waste, fraud and abuse but most importantly, we 

are at the hands of a dated bureaucratic system that is not offering 

quality health care to many of the deserving Native patients it 

serves. 

We have a nurse who cannot properly administer a dopamine 

drip. We have an ER where nobody can find a defibrillator as a patient lies dying. We have a nurse who does not know how to call 

a Code Blue. All these things happened and are noted in the CMS 

report. It sounds ridiculous but it is true and our people have experienced this. 

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I know you all 

have families and close friends you love and we have all lost someone at some point. It is painful and even more heartbreaking to 

learn that your family member died at the hands of a Federal employee at a Federal facility. 

The hospital is supposed to be a place of healing, yet our people 

go there and are leaving in worse condition or not at all. God rest 

those souls. 

Our relatives do not have to die in vain. If you take a look at 

page four, there are some details in my testimony. Our relatives 

also do not have to be minimized to a patient number. Our relatives have names, Debbie, Shayna, Paulie, to name a few. I could 

go on and on but the point here is that these people had a role in 

our community and a place in our hearts. 

My Auntie Debbie was cited in the 2011 CMS report. She was 

overly medicated and left unsupervised. Even though the nursing 

staff was aware of this, they neglected her, she fell and it was undocumented. When we requested the chart, we met resistance. My 

other aunt was retaliated against when she was a nurse at the hospital because of our inquiries. 

Bad decisions continue to happen. Just yesterday, our hospital 

was closed down due to the blizzard and patients were being diverted to Sioux City, 20 miles away. It took an hour and a half to 

drive there. Our EMTs, our crews and patients were put at risk 

while a doctor and nurses sat collecting a paycheck in the ER. This 

is unacceptable. 

A corrective action plan is in place but it is useless to us when, 

excuse me, but stupid decisions are being made on a daily basis 

that affect our tribal members and the many other tribal members 

that facility serves. 

56 

The Winnebago Tribe is fed up. We have had enough. We have 

lost all confidence in the IHS. We have begun a draft planning 

phase to assume control of that facility through the PL 93–638 

compact but it cannot happen soon enough. 

As I stated, just yesterday, these things were happening. Someone could have died. Someone could have wrecked or died of exposure. It was that bad, yet these decisions are being made on behalf 

of Native people. 

Mr. Chairman, the Winnebago Tribe truly appreciates all you 

have done. We have some solutions we would like to offer in the 

listening session. We stand willing and anxious to work with you, 

members of the Committee and our fellow tribes in the Great 

Plains region. 

We cannot stand by and let this happen to any other tribe. IHS 

is killing our tribal members, patient by patient. This tragedy cannot continue. 

We thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Kitcheyan follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF VICTORIA KITCHEYAN, TREASURER, WINNEBAGO TRIBAL

COUNCIL

Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: 

My name is Victoria Kitcheyan. I am a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and I am currently serving as Treasurer of the Winnebago Tribal Council. 

Thank you for holding this very important hearing. Your Committee’s interest and 

your personal involvement in this matter is encouraging as we work collaboratively 

to improve the health care provided to our people. I would also like to thank the 

Members of our Nebraska and Iowa Congressional delegations, who have given us 

a great deal of support in these past few months, as well as the Members of the 

South Dakota and North Dakota Congressional delegations and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Without all of this support, none of the preliminary 

improvements that we have seen in these past few months would have happened. 

We also appreciate the work of the other Tribes in Nebraska and the Tribal leaders 

and staff of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, the Great Plains Tribal 

Health Board and the National Indian Health Board, all of whom have gone out of 

their way to assist. 

The Winnebago Tribe is located in rural northeast Nebraska. We are served by 

a small thirteen (13) bed Indian Health Service (IHS) operated hospital, clinic and 

emergency room located on our Reservation. This hospital provides services to members of the Winnebago, Omaha, Ponca and Santee Sioux Tribes. It also provides 

services to a sizable number of individual Indians from other tribes who reside in 

the area. Collectively, the hospital has a current service population of approximately 

10,000 people. 

The Winnebago Tribe has already provided the Committee staff with a number 

of documents, including numerous independent reports from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and a report from the independent contractor 

hired by IHS last fall to evaluate the facility. These materials document in great 

detail the appalling conditions which exist at the IHS hospital in Winnebago. I 

would ask that these materials all be incorporated into the record of this hearing. 

It would be impossible to cover everything contained in those hundreds of pages, 

so I will summarize a few of the very disturbing problems that these outside investigators uncovered. Many of these are problems that the Winnebago Tribe has been 

pointing out for years, but which have remained unaddressed. Many of these issues 

were also documented in this Committee’s 2010 Report ‘‘In Critical Condition: The 

Urgent Need to Reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area’’, which is now 

known as the Great Plains Area. Since 2010, the situation has moved from bad to 

worse and we are anxious to work with you and the other Members of Congress to 

find real concrete solutions. This is imperative because people’s lives are literally 

at stake. 

Because my testimony will be highly critical of the IHS, I would like to note that 

there are a number of fine and talented people who work for that Agency. Many 

of these individuals are as appalled as we are about what has happened at the WinVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
57 

nebago Hospital and are working hard to find solutions. Some are even risking their 

careers to accomplish this goal and have had to seek whistleblower protection for 

choosing to report incidents at an IHS facility. We thank each and every one of 

those fine IHS employees who perform a difficult job correctly under difficult conditions. We therefore call upon this Committee to protect every federal employee who 

stands up and does what is right. 

Before I provide you with the history of the CMS findings at the Winnebago Hospital, I would like to ask you to think about one thing. When a person suffers a 

medical emergency, we all do the same thing: We try to get to the place that displays the big bright sign ‘‘Hospital.’’ We learn as children that a hospital is a place 

where we will be assisted by highly trained professionals who have the skills and 

the desire to make us better. We are taught that we can trust a doctor and a nurse. 

When they tell us to take the blue pill twice a day for ten days and we will be fine, 

we believe them. Unfortunately, too many of our tribal people have not found these 

things to be true at this IHS Hospital. 

Since at least 2007, this IHS facility has been operating with demonstrated deficiencies which should not exist at any hospital in the United States. I am not talking about unpainted walls or equipment that is outdated. I am talking about a facility which employs emergency room nurses who do not know how to administer such 

basic drugs as dopamine; employees who did not know how to call a Code Blue; an 

emergency room where defibrillators could not be found or utilized when a human 

life was at stake; and a facility which has a track record of sending patients home 

with aspirin and other over-the-counter drugs, only to have them airlifted out from 

our Reservation in a life threatening state. I am also talking about a Hospital which 

had at least five documented ‘‘unnecessary deaths,’’ including the death of a child 

under the age of three. These are not just our findings, they are the findings of the 

Federal Government’s own agency, CMS. 

In fact, the CMS uncovered deficiencies which were so numerous and so life 

threatening that this last July 2015, the IHS operated Winnebago Hospital became 

what is, to the best of our knowledge, the only federally operated hospital ever to 

lose its Medicare/Medicaid Certification. Because this Committee’s 2010 Report was 

fairly comprehensive, please allow me to pick up where that report left off. 

In 2011 CMS conducted a re-certification survey of our hospital and detailed serious deficiencies in nine areas, including Nursing and Emergency Services. My wonderful Aunt, Debra Free, was one of the victims of those deficiencies. She died in 

the Winnebago Hospital in 2011. According to what our family learned, Debra was 

overmedicated and left unsupervised, even though the nursing staff at the Hospital 

knew that she was dizzy and hallucinating from the drugs and should be watched 

closely. After her death, a nurse at the hospital told my family that Debra had fallen during the night. She said that that nurses from the emergency room had to be 

called to the inpatient ward to get Debra back into bed because there was inadequate staff and inadequate equipment on the inpatient floor to address that emergency. 

While the hospital insisted that they did everything possible to revive her and 

save her life, we question just how long she remained on the floor and what actually 

happened. Among those doing the questioning was Debra’s sister, Shelly, who was 

a nurse at the hospital during that period. Unfortunately, Aunt Shelly was not on 

duty when this occurred, but she did know enough from her professional training 

to question why the body temperature and reported time of death did not appear 

to match up. The body was still warm when the family arrived after receiving the 

call. 

When my Aunt Shelly and the family requested to see the charts to determine 

what actually happened, we were met with immediate resistance. First, my mother, 

also Debra’s sister, was told she was not authorized to request the chart. Then my 

grandmother, Aunt Debra’s own mother, Lydia Whitebeaver, submitted a request 

and was denied the information. In fact, the whole family and the Attorney that we 

were forced to hire were all told that the chart was ‘‘in the hands of the Aberdeen 

Area Office’s attorneys’’ and was not available to us. 

Because she demanded answers to our very reasonable questions, my Aunt Shelly 

was retaliated against in the worst way. As an IHS employed nurse at the Hospital 

she was regularly intimidated by her supervisors and colleagues, and generally 

treated in the most horrific way by the Director of Nursing and her cronies. One 

of those nurses even reported Shelly to the State Licensing Board. Thank goodness 

the State Licensing Board’s Members saw that report for what is was and dismissed 

the inquiry almost immediately, but this is a prime example of why we have been 

unable to get the proof that this Committee has been asking for, before the CMS 

Reports were released. Fear of retaliation within the IHS system is real and as your 

Committee’s 2010 Report document, such retaliation has been present at the WinneVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
58 

bago Hospital since well before 2010. One former IHS employee of our Hospital even 

told your own Committee Staff that those employees who threaten to speak out are 

regularly reminded to ‘‘remember who you work for.’’ Another employee told your 

staff that Hospital employees, at least for a period of time, were told not to report 

incidents of improper care on the Webcident system. This, as you may know, this 

is the federally established system for reporting improper care in all federally funded facilities. 

When the CMS was finally able to obtain the records that we were denied, there 

was no record whatsoever of the fall that my Aunt Debra suffered. A fall which a 

nurse told us about in some detail. It is common knowledge in our area that the 

then Director of Nursing and the two other nurses involved in Debra’s care are close 

friends. It is regularly asserted by other IHS hospital staff that they have been 

known to cover up events which might get one of them in trouble. 

My Aunt Debra Free left behind a nine year old daughter and a loving family. 

She should not have been allowed to die like this. Her story and those of countless 

others need to be told. This example of substandard care and the numerous other 

examples documented by the CMS Reports are indicative of the federal government’s loose commitment to upholding its federal trust responsibility. The Great 

Plains Service Area is in a state of emergency and the patients who seek care at 

the Winnebago Service Unit are in jeopardy as we speak! 

My ancestors made many sacrifices so that our people’s livelihood would continue. 

As a tribal member and tribal leader, it is my responsibility to carry their efforts 

forward to protect my people. Neither the Winnebago Tribe, nor I, will stand idle 

as Indian Health Service kills our people, patient by patient. 

In addition to my Aunt’s case, the 2011 CMS Report also found that during that 

year: patients who were suicidal were released without adequate protection; that a 

number of patients who sought care were sent home without being seen, or with 

just a nurse’s visit, were never documented in any electronic medical records; that 

out of twenty-two (22) patient files surveyed by CMS, four (4) of those patients were 

not provided with an examination which was sufficient enough to determine if an 

emergency existed, and that at least one of those patients was sent home from the 

emergency room. The staff failed to diagnose that he had suffered a stroke. 

When some of the findings of the CMS 2011 Report became public, in early 2012, 

former IHS Director Roubideaux publically promised improvements. While some 

minor issues were addressed, many other things got worse. 

In just the past 2 years, four additional patient deaths and numerous additional 

deficiencies have been cited and documented by CMS. These incidents and reports 

include: 

• April 2014. A 35 year old male tribal member died of cardiac arrest. CMS investigated this incident and found that the Winnebago Hospital’s lack of equipment, staff knowledge, staff supervision and training contributed to his death. 

Specifically, the nursing staff did not know how to call a Code Blue, were unfamiliar with and unable to operate the crash cart equipment, and failed to assure the cart contained all the necessary equipment. CMS concluded in its report that conditions at the hospital ‘‘pose an immediate and serious threat’’ 

mandating a termination of the Hospital’s CMS certification unless they were 

corrected immediately. 

• May 2014. A second CMS survey conducted a month later found that a number 

of the conditions which pose immediate jeopardy to patients had not been corrected, and that the Hospital was out of compliance with CMS Conditions of 

Participation for Nursing Service. 

• June 2014. A female patient died from cardiac arrest while in the care of the 

hospital. This time the death occurred when the staff was unable to correctly 

board her on the medivac helicopter. This is documented in the July 2014 CMS 

report. This young woman was employed by the Tribe’s Health Department and 

played an active role in the lives of many youth, who often referred to her as 

‘‘mother goose.’’ 

• July 2014. A 17 year old female patient died from cardiac arrest because the 

nursing staff did not know how to administer a dopamine drip ordered by the 

doctor. CMS also documented this event in detail in its July 2014 report and 

found that numerous nursing deficiencies remained uncorrected at the hospital. 

This resulted in the issuance of a continuing Immediate Jeopardy citation for 

the hospital on the Condition of Participation for Nursing Services. 

• August 2014. In its fourth survey conducted this year, CMS concluded that failure to provide appropriate medical screening or stabilizing treatment ‘‘had 

59 

caused actual harm and is likely to cause harm to all individuals that come to 

the hospital for examination and/or treatment of a medical condition.’’ 

• September 2014. CMS survey jurisdiction of this hospital was transferred from 

the Kansas City regional office to Region VI in Dallas, TX. 

• November 2014. Just four months later, CMS returned again for another survey. This report again identified more than 25 deficiencies. 

• January 2015. Another death occurred when a man was sent home from the 

Emergency Department with severe back pain. A practitioner later left him a 

voicemail after discovering his lab reports showed critical lab values telling him 

to return in 2 days. The patient died at home from renal failure. This situation 

is documented in the May 2015 CMS report. 

• May 2015. CMS conducted another follow up survey. In addition to documenting 

the January 2015 death noted above, the report states that seven CMS Conditions of Participation and EMTALA requirements were found out of compliance 

at the hospital. 

• July 2015. CMS terminated the Winnebago IHS Hospital provider agreement. 

CMS stated that the hospital ‘‘no longer meets the requirements for participation in the Medicare program because of deficiencies that represent an immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety.’’ 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I know that each of you have families and close friends, and I assume that most of you have also suffered a loss or 

know someone who has. It is a profoundly painful experience. Now, imagine going 

through that pain only to learn a year or more later, through some government report, that the death might have, or even should have, been avoided. Keep in mind 

that the deaths and findings cited here are only the ones that have been documented by CMS. When CMS conducts a survey, only a small sampling of patient 

records are reviewed. We have no way of knowing how many more unnecessary 

deaths and misdiagnosis have occurred at the hands of IHS personnel. There is also 

no way that we can portray the tremendous pain and loss that has been suffered 

by our families and our community in these few pages. Our people are devastated, 

angry and demanding change. Given what has happened, and been allowed to continue to happen, I respectfully submit that we have every right to those feelings. 

As the CMS reports piled up, we have started to see less Hospital admissions and 

less care being provided in the Emergency Room. We believe this is due, at least 

in part, to hospital staff fearing on-going CMS oversight of their lack of training and 

skills. We have actually been told this by some of our members who work at the 

facility. This is possibly contributed to the most recent documented death in January 2015 (noted above). 

The totality of these circumstances finally led CMS to notify the Indian Health 

Service in April of 2015 that it was pulling its CMS Certification of the Winnebago 

Hospital, unless substantial changes were made. Changes were not made and CMS 

terminated that certification on July 23, 2015. 

I wish to note for the record that throughout this period the IHS assured the Winnebago Tribal Council that the CMS findings, most of which were never provided 

to the Winnebago Tribe at least in their totality, were being addressed. In fact, less 

than two weeks before CMS actually pulled the Certification, the IHS Regional Director was still telling the Tribal Council that the threatened CMS decertification 

would not happen because IHS was talking to its lawyers and planning an appeal. 

When the termination happened, the Winnebago Tribe and its attorneys asked to 

see a copy of the latest CMS report. We were told by the IHS Regional office that 

it needed to be reviewed for privacy concerns before it could be released to us. We 

finally obtained a copy and also learned that the CMS oversight of Winnebago IHS 

Hospital was transferred from Kansas City to the Dallas Office. When we asked one 

CMS employee why this transfer had occurred, he was fairly quick to suggest that, 

in his opinion, this was forum shopping. Whether there is any truth to this or not, 

this transfer of CMS oversight certainly raises questions. Perhaps this Committee 

can get the answers that we cannot. 

Immediately after the hospital lost its’ CMS Certification, the Winnebago Tribal 

Council got on a plane and came here to this Committee and to its Congressional 

delegation for help. You responded. Thank you! 

While the Winnebago Tribe had heard and reported stories of these atrocities for 

years, the CMS reports have provided independent verifiable documentation of what 

was really going on. What we have learned since then is equally disturbing. 

When we asked Acting Director McSwain about the professional medical review 

that the IHS had engaged in after each of these five deaths occurred, and what role 

the Central Office played in those reviews, we were shocked to learn that the IHS 

60 

does not appear to have an established procedure for dealing with questionable 

deaths or other unusual events that occur in its hospital. In fact, if there was ever 

a professional peer review of any of those five incidents of questionable death, we 

can’t find it! When we pushed harder on this issue we were told that this review 

should have been conducted by the ‘‘Governing Body’’ of the hospital. This basically 

means that a body, composed largely of other IHS employees who are not doctors 

or other medical professionals, were supposed to review the actions of the physicians, nurses and anesthesiologists in the emergency room. I can assure you that 

this would not happen at the Georgetown Medical Center or Med Star Hospital in 

Washington, D.C. The end result, however, is that—to the best of our knowledge— 

no one was fired, no one was reprimanded, no one was suspended pending a medical 

investigation and no one was reported to the licensing board. This is outrageous! 

Again, many people have asked us why the families of these individuals did not 

sue. The answer is simple: Most Indian people do not place a dollar value on human 

life. Others, who might be willing to sue, either did not know that they could, did 

not know how, or could not afford it. Medical malpractice cases are complicated and 

expensive. You need expert witnesses who are willing and able to testify, and we 

have trouble getting federal employees to answer questions about CMS findings. A 

litigant also needs access to medical records which are not easy to get from the federal government, and they need a lawyer who has the financial means to front the 

costs for a family with few financial resources. These types of lawyers are not plentiful in our area. So yes, our people have rights under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 

but taking on an federal agency which has all of its own experts on salary is not 

as easy as its appears. 

It is also important to note that the Winnebago IHS Hospital has become a short 

term stop for a number of IHS contractors. Many of the doctors who take care of 

our needs are not federal employees, they are private contractors who rotate in and 

out of the facility. This forces even the best of those physicians to rely heavily on 

the nursing staff who remain at the facility, many of whom have been found by 

CMS to be serious undertrained. The negative media coverage of our hospital over 

the past six years has made recruiting all the more difficult. Would you want to 

see your daughter, fresh out of medical school, step into a mess like this in a hospital managed by a dentist or pharmacist? 

After the Tribe met with Secretary Burwell’s legal counsel in August of 2015, the 

IHS finally hired an outside consultant to perform its own review of the facility. 

This review was conducted applying standard federal and state medical standards. 

During this review, this independent consultant found 97 deficiencies, many of 

which were never uncovered, or at least never reported, by CMS. 

The IHS also employed that consultant to develop a corrective action plan for the 

Winnebago facility. This is clearly a step in the right direction. At the same time, 

I, and the other Members of our Tribal Council, will not be satisfied, until one of 

our members comes up to me and says ‘‘I was just at the emergency room with my 

mom—what a difference.’’ I am not going to trust that simply checking an item of 

a list is getting us the real change that we need to see or that those changes will 

be sustained. 

To this day, when we pressure the IHS on the big issues, we get the same excuses: 

• ‘‘Employees are protected by the Federal Employee Regulations’’. In fact, it 

seems all but impossible to fire a federal employee. In conversations with your 

own Committee staff, Winnebago hospital employees reported that some of their 

colleagues believe that their job can never be put in jeopardy because they are 

protected by the Civil Service System. When did there become two standards 

of care- one for the private sector on one for federally operated hospitals? 

• ‘‘We wished that we could hire people more quickly but the OPM system has 

to be followed.’’ How many professional people can wait months for an OMP approval? We have lost a number of good candidates who refuse to wait six 

months or more to be hired. You simply cannot recruit under these circumstances. 

• ‘‘IHS lacks the resources to recruit the best people.’’ There is truth to this and 

we encourage the committee to look into this problem. At the same time, while 

we hear about recruiting problems, we have seen no real effort to recruit from 

our local Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota Medical Colleges. In any event, we 

will never agree that inadequate resources justifies the continued employment 

of an undertrained or incompetent individual. It seems like the IHS positon has, 

over time, evolved into ‘‘even a poor doctor is better than none at all.’’ 

61 

The IHS hospital management has also been an on-going problem. Even though 

CMS has documented countless problems in the emergency care division, we have 

had a pharmacist and a dentist as acting CEO’s, and I have to ask you what training a dentist, even one of the top dentists in the country, has in dealing with issues 

like renal failure, cardiac arrest and overdoses. 

So what should be done? 

First, we ask the Committee to examine the role that Federal Employment Policies and Regulations are playing in allowing incompetent and undertrained employees to continue to work in the Indian Health Service. Employees need to be held 

accountable for their actions. No longer can IHS continue to protect, cover up, shuffle, transfer, or perpetuate incompetency. 

Second, we recommend that the IHS be mandated to institute a formal process 

for investigating any report of a questionable death or other unusual medical incident in any of its facilities. If problems are identified, immediate action must be 

taken to correct the problem, including disciplinary action against any employee 

who has failed to do their job. 

Third, we recommend that the IHS mandate, as a condition of on-going employment, that its employees report any improper care or mismanagement that they observe, and that those reports be sent directly to Central Office. The standard of care 

must be raised and every IHS employee should feel responsible for helping to fix 

this problem. 

Fourth, we recommend that IHS be authorized and directed to immediately terminate any employee who retaliates or threatens to retaliate against a person who 

files such a report. The culture must change. Employees should be encouraged to 

make improvements and find better ways of doing things, not intimidated into 

maintaining the status quo. 

Fifth, we feel strongly that each of the tribes who are served by a direct care facility should be given full and immediate access to any CMS, Accreditation or other 

third party reports or studies performed on that facility. We further recommend 

that all negative reports should be shared with this Committee and its counterpart 

in the House. IHS needs to stop hiding the ball. 

Sixth, we recommend that the IHS be directed to insure that no tribe suffers the 

loss of services or resources because of IHS mismanagement. The third party billing 

from Medicare and Medicaid represented a sizable percentage of the Winnebago IHS 

Hospital’s operating budget. 

Seventh, we insist that IHS mismanagement should not be used as an excuse for 

eliminating or cutting back on services. Already, IHS is discussing how the underutilization of our facility makes it difficult to seek the funding necessary to fix its 

problems. It like a death spiral—IHS creates an environment that people do not 

want to go to. They refuse to admit patients because they fear further scrutiny. 

Then they conclude that the hospital is too underutilized, so maybe they should shut 

down some services. This is a totally unacceptable. It is a flagrant violation of the 

Federal Government’s treaty and trust obligations, and someone should be fired for 

even raising this as a possibility. 

Eighth, tribes should be given a real role to play on the governing bodies of IHS 

operated facilities, not just a token attendance right. Let me give you an example. 

The IHS will tell you that since the ‘‘corrective action plan’’ has been implemented, 

our tribal Chairwoman has been invited to participate in the final interview process 

for key positions at the hospital. This is true. What they do not tell you is that she 

only received the resume just before the meeting and she was never told how many 

others applied for the job, who they were, what the differences were in their credentials, or even how many candidates there were. 

The bottom line, Mr. Chairman, is that things need to change and they need to 

change now. We have just heard that both the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Hospitals 

are now threatened with a loss of CMS certification and we also know that many 

of the things that CMS has documented at Winnebago are happening at other hospitals throughout the Great Plains and Billings Regions. These are our families, 

many of our people are veterans, and they all deserve better. 

Two of your own Committee Staff Members were at Winnebago earlier this 

month. Would any of you want to see one of them to end up in an emergency room 

with IHS Winnebago’s reputation, if they were involved in an automobile accident? 

The Winnebago Tribe has already begun developing a draft plan to assume control 

of this hospital under a P.L. 93–638 compact. For years we have trusted the IHS 

to do its job. Over and over again, the IHS has failed. At this point, the Tribe feels 

that it has no alternative. Contracting is a great thing, and our tribe already operates a number of programs under P.L. 93–638. At the same time, contracting or 

compacting should be a tribal choice, not something forced upon us by circumstances 

62 

like this. We know that if we move forward with this effort, we are taking on a 

highly troubled enterprise. That is very concerning to us, and to our members. 

Mr. Chairman, the Winnebago Tribe truly appreciates your efforts to date and 

stands ready, willing and anxious to work with you, the Members of this Committee 

and our fellow tribes to insure that our members receive the health care that they 

deserve and that no other tribe suffers these same tragedies. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you so much for your compelling and 

heartfelt testimony. We are very grateful that you have come to 

share that with us. 

I will let you know that the prior panel has all stayed. They are 

here in the audience in the room and are hearing every word that 

all of you are saying, just so you know that your words are being 

heard by them as well as by the Committee members. 

I would like to turn to the Honorable Sonia Little Hawk-Weston. 

Thank you for being with us. 

STATEMENT OF SONIA LITTLE HAWK–WESTON, CHAIRWOMAN, 

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE, OGLALA 

SIOUX TRIBAL COUNCIL 

Ms. LITTLE HAWK-WESTON. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. 

Chairman and members of the Committee. Thank you for holding 

this important hearing. Thank you, Senator Thune for your help in 

requesting this hearing. 

My name is Sonia Little Hawk-Weston. I am the Chairwoman of 

the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council’s Health and Human Services 

Committee. 

First, I would like to thank Senator Dorgan for the 2010 report. 

The lack of adequate health care is one of the greatest challenges 

facing our reservation and community. Clearly not enough progress 

has been made since the 2010 hearing and Senator Dorgan’s report. 

Just last November, CMS cited the Pine Ridge Hospital for several EMTALA and certification violations. This put the hospital at 

risk of losing its right to participate in the Medicare program. This 

would pose serious financial problems for the Pine Ridge service 

unit which is underfunded as it is. 

It is more than the funding issue we are worried about. The CMS 

finding shows that the hospital failed to meet basic Federal standards for quality of care. CMS accepted IHS’s corrective plans but 

the tribe is wary that this will result in a temporary fix. We want 

to work with this Committee and the IHS towards true lasting reform. 

The tribal council hears ongoing complaints from our members 

about the quality of health care on our reservation. In one case, a 

tribal member with severe back pain was told several times that 

a complete hysterectomy was needed. Thankfully, prior to the surgery this member was seen at a non-IHS hospital off the reservation where the member was diagnosed with a herniated disk in the 

spine and advised that no hysterectomy was needed. 

Another tribal member went to the hospital complaining of chest 

pains and was diagnosed and treated for acid reflux. Hours later 

at home, this member suffered a massive heart attack and passed 

away. 

63 

Access to care is also a serious problem for our members. Often 

the IHS cannot provide the kind of services that tribal patients 

need. Due to limited funding for purchase of referred care, IHS 

often refuses to pay when patient are referred to non-IHS providers 

unless the issue is life threatening. 

For example, IHS referred a tribal member to a specialist for an 

assessment. The specialist said surgery was needed but IHS refused to cover the cost of the surgery. What good is an assessment 

if the patient cannot pursue the recommended treatment? 

Those who do go to appointments often cannot pay when IHS denies the service. Members have shared with the council stacks of 

IHS denial letters and bills for medical services they have received. 

Many tribal members cannot bring on lawyers to deal with the situation. Instead, they are plagued by debt collection actions and 

credit score downgrades. 

One member told us he is being pursued by a collection agency 

for $72,000 for medical services. Our members cannot pay that. 

Many of our members who are referred to Rapid City or elsewhere 

for treatment do not have the means to cover the transportation 

cost. 

For on-reservation access to care, our hospital lacks the staff, 

space and equipment to meet demand. The service unit estimates 

it operates at 50 percent of need. Patients endure long wait times 

to be seen by medical staff. Seriously ill patients cannot withstand 

these wait times. Nobody should have to. 

Further, we truly appreciate the efforts to address suicide prevention but more is needed. Recently, a clinical psychologist 

brought in to help a suicide prevention worked for one day before 

quitting. Providers usually only stay as long as their contract term. 

We need permanent physicians who will stay and become a part 

of the community and get to know their patients. The area needs 

to recruit, hire and retain skilled medical staff. That is not happening for several reasons. 

One major factor is the critical shortage of housing for medical 

staff. Limited funding for facilities and equipment is another challenge. Work environment is also a key factor in recruitment and retention. Medical personnel want to work in a well managed facility 

where high quality patient care is a priority. 

We have heard that the practices of recycling problem employees 

through reassignment or administrative leave cited in the Dorgan 

report continues in our area. We would like this issue looked into. 

We want greater transparency in the allocation of funding for the 

Pine Ridge service unit. We cannot make sure the area is maintaining its funds to ensure that the greatest amount of funds possible are used for direct patient services. 

We hope this hearing will spur further reform but we are wary 

of a temporary fix. We need to make sure that the Great Plains 

area is managed in a way that patient care comes first, noncompliance issues are nonexistent and our service unit is an attractive 

place to work. All we want is quality health care for our people 

without the struggles we currently endure to receive any health 

care at all. 

64 

This should not be unachievable in the United States of America, 

especially when the United States of America bears treaty and 

trust responsibilities to our people. 

Mr. Chairman and Committee members, thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am happy to answer questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Weston follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SONIA LITTLE HAWK-WESTON, CHAIRWOMAN, HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBAL COUNCIL


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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Ms. Weston. 

If I could ask the Honorable William Bear Shield to testify. 

STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM BEAR SHIELD, COUNCIL 

REPRESENTATIVE, ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE 

Mr. BEAR SHIELD. Honorable Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman 

Tester, members of the Committee, and Senator Thune, good afternoon. 


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I am William Bear Shield, an enrolled member of the Rosebud 

Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. My family has served as public servants for generations. My father, William Bear Shield, Sr., was 

Chief of Police for the City of Gregory, South Dakota and killed in 

the line of duty on July 26, 1976. 

We have served during World Wars I and II as well as in the 

Korean and Viet Nam Wars and in current wars. I served in the 

United States Army and was a combat veteran during Desert 

Storm. I lost my hearing from artillery fire during combat. Since 

Desert Storm, I have suffered nerve problems, skin irritations, back 

problems and had cancer surgery. 

After receiving an honorable discharge in 1991 from the United 

States Army, I returned home and was elected to Tribal Council in 

the fall of 1991 for the first seven terms and served on the Rosebud 

Tribal Health Board for several terms. 

In 2011, I was again elected to Council and I was placed on the 

Health Board and elected Chairman. I also have been designated 

by the Tribe to sit on the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association and Health Board which covers the States of Nebraska, North 

Dakota and South Dakota. 

Because of health concerns for tribal members being mistreated 

at the Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City, the tribes created the Unified Tribal Health Board of which I am currently the Chair. This 

board allows for support and advocacy of our membership in the 

Rapid City area. 

I recently have been nominated to sit on the Health and Human 

Services Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee. 

I want to start by thanking you and the Committee for sending 

out your staff to our area last month to gain insight into our concerns. I am here on behalf of President William Kindle and the 

Sicangu Lakota Oyate. 

Our utmost concerns are quality and safety of health care for our 

people. These concerns have been ongoing for generations and unfortunately for our tribe, continue to get worse. The lack of funding 

plays a crucial role in our challenges. However, we have witnessed 

firsthand the level of mismanagement and unethical practices both 

at the area level as well as at the local level that is completely unacceptable and disrespectful to our ancestors and our treaty with 

the Federal Government. 

The dysfunction of the Great Plains area has only grown in intensity since 2010. Our people continue to pay the price for these 

atrocities with our lives and health. I would like to take the opportunity to share with you some of these concerns. 

Our tribe has organized numerous meetings with IHS leadership 

nationally, regionally and locally, HHS leadership and congressional leadership over the past 15 months. We have been voicing 

our concerns and demanding to be involved. We have said that the 

current situation was going to occur and wanted to prevent it but 

we went unheard. 

HHS acknowledges the trust responsibility and the need for 

meaningful consultation with the tribes in their testimony today 

but their actions contradict this. Just this week, the decision was 

made to remove our current director from the Great Plains area 

and a replacement was appointed. However, there was no tribal 

77 

consultation regarding this. This is only one example but the point 

is their actions do not align with their words. 

We want an explanation as to why the past area director was 

abruptly detailed somewhere else and is not here today to answer 

our concerns. 

On November 16th, CMS came to our IHS facility for a full hospital recertification survey and to investigate alleged EMTALA 

complaints. Two days into the survey, they found significant quality and safety issues in the emergency department that posed an 

immediate and serious threat to any individual seeking care and 

placed the service in an immediate jeopardy status. This extremely 

significant finding was not timely addressed by IHS. 

At 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 5th, our tribal health administrator and president were informed that HHS continued to identify 

significant issues in the ER and they were going to be relieving 

multiple staff of their duties. Therefore, effective the following day, 

Saturday, December 6, 2015, the IHS was suspending their designation as a dedicated emergency service. 

The tribe was outraged. The lack of planning and communication 

on the part of IHS caused severe and significant hardships to our 

communities and surrounding healthcare facilities. In fact the surrounding hospitals, who then became responsible for providing this 

service to our people, were not contacted by IHS at all. 

Furthermore, we were informed this diversion would last about 

six weeks. We are still on diversion and have been informed it 

could be another 30 to 60 days. 

Another interesting fact is that no employees were relieved of 

duty. The same staff providing care in the ER is now the same 

staff providing care in the urgent clinic. To put this in perspective 

from a patient view, three weeks ago our ambulance was dispatched for a patient having chest pains. They responded within 10 

minutes of the call. Immediate CPR was started and the patient 

was transferred to the nearest ER in Valentine, Nebraska, over 50 

miles away. Our hospital was seven miles away. 

The staff at Valentine worked on our relative but unfortunately 

he did not make it. This diversion poses real life or death risk to 

our people. We cannot predict when an emergency will happen but 

we are confident that the longer the service is available, the higher 

the risk to our people. This is unacceptable. 

Over the past year, we have had at least five executive level positions filled with acting problematic employees who have been asked 

to leave other reservations in our region. These employees played 

a huge role in getting us in the situation we are in today. 

We have been informed of recent hiring practices of at least five 

nurses of whom at least one did not have an active license and 

three were hired with temporary licenses. Furthermore, the relocation expenses and hiring practices with regard to these nurses was 

extraordinary. 

We have been informed that the interview of one of the nurses 

was conducted in another language. How is this justifiable when 

we have elders that only speak Lakota who now are being expected 

to understand and convey their health issue to these providers. 

It is a direct reflection of the severe lack of leadership and oversight of our facility and of the Great Plains area. The disheartening 

78 

and traumatic realities described above are the creation of choices 

to create treaties long ago, choices to dishonor those treaties, budget choices, allocation choices, the choice of professional leadership 

to act unethically and against the exact mission with which they 

are tasked and the health and behavioral choices of individual people. 

If there is to be meaningful and sustainable change, all of these 

issues must be explored and addressed. Such public and political 

education will only occur when the current dangerous status quo 

is exposed and a mobilization by politicians, native communities 

and the healthcare community unite for change. 

Until then, the premature deaths of our people and this dysfunction we speak of will continue to flourish. We expect change. We 

are here willing to be an active player to achieve this change we 

dream of. We will not accept anything less than you or the President of these United States or anyone else expects of your 

healthcare and needs of your loved ones. 

In the next couple of week through written testimony, we will 

offer solutions to our healthcare woes. We need your help. Address 

tribal resolutions. Besides addressing the budgetary shortfalls, cut 

the wasteful spending of the area office. Get rid of the area office. 

It does us no good. Historically, they work against us. 

Help us get funding straight to our service units from HHS 

where the money will go towards the health care of our people. 

I would also like to thank Senators Thune, Rounds, Franken and 

Heitkamp for their letter to the Committee and asking for this 

hearing. 

It may be too late for many of our members, but it is not too late 

to make a change for better health care for the Native children 

that come from the poorest counties in our Nation. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bear Shield follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM BEAR SHIELD, COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE, 

ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE

Good afternoon, Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and Members of the 

Committee: 

I am William Bear Shield and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe 

of South Dakota. 

My family has served as public servants for generations, my father William Bear 

Shield was the Chief of Police for the City of Gregory, South Dakota and was killed 

in the line of duty on July 26th 1976. We have served during World War I and II 

as while as the Korean and Viet Nam War. I served in the United States Army and 

was in combat during Desert Storm. I lost my hearing from artillery fire during 

combat. Since Desert Storm I have suffered nerve problems, skin irritations, back 

problems and had cancer surgery. 

After receiving an honorable discharge in 1991 from the United States Army, I 

returned home and was elected to Tribal Council in the fall of 1991 for the first 

seven terms and served on the Rosebud Tribal Health Board for several terms. In 

2011 I was again elected to Council and I was placed on the Health Board and elected Chairman. I also have been designated by the Tribe to sit on the Great Plains 

Tribal Chairman’s Association and Health Board which covers the States of Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Because of health concerns for Tribal 

members being mistreated at the Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City the Tribes created the Unified Tribal Health Board which I am the Chair of. This board allows 

for support and advocacy of our membership in the Rapid City area. I recently have 

been nominated to sit on the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee. 

79 

I want to first start out by thanking you and the committee for sending your staff 

out to our area last month to gain insight to our concerns. 

I am here on behalf of President William Kindle and the Sicangu Lakota Oyate. 

Our utmost concern is the quality and safety of healthcare for our people. These 

concerns have been ongoing for generations and unfortunately for our Tribe continue to get worse. 

The lack of funding plays a crucial role in our challenges however, we have witnessed firsthand a level of mismanagement and unethical practices both at the Area 

level as well as the local level that is completely unacceptable and disrespectful to 

our ancestors and to our treaty with the federal government. The dysfunction of the 

Great Plains area has only grown in intensity since 2010, our people continued to 

pay the price of these atrocities with their lives and health. 

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of our concerns. 

Mutliple Attempts for Meaningful Consultation to Prevent the Current Situation 

Our tribe has organized numerous meetings with IHS leadership nationally, regionally, and locally, HHS leadership, and congressional leadership over the past 15 

months. We have been voicing our concerns and demanding to be involved. We have 

been saying that the current situation was going to occur and wanted to prevent 

it. We went unheard. 

The HHS acknowledges the trust responsibility and need for meaningful consultation with tribes in their testimony today but their actions contradict this. Just this 

week the decision was made to remove Ron Cornelius as the Great Plains Area Director and a replacement was appointed however, there was NO tribal consultation 

regarding this. This is only one example but the point is their actions are not 

aligned with their words. We want an explanation of Ron Cornelius’ abrupt detail 

and not being here today to answer to our concerns. 

Closure of ER Services 

On Nov 16th, CMS came to our IHS facility for a full hospital recertification survey and to investigate alleged EMTALA complaints. 2 days into the survey, they 

found significant quality and safety issues in the Emergency Department that posed 

an immediate and serious threat to any individual seeking care and placed the service in an Immediate Jeopardy status. This extremely significant finding was not addressed by IHS timely. At 4pm on Friday Dec 5th, our tribal health administrator 

and President were informed that IHS continued to identify significant issues in the 

ER and they were going to be relieving multiple staff of their duties and therefore 

effective the following day, Saturday Dec. 6th the IHS was suspending their designation as a dedicated Emergency Services. The tribe was outraged. The lack of 

planning and communication of the part of IHS caused severe and significant hardships on our communities and surrounding healthcare facilities. In fact the surrounding hospitals who then became responsible for providing this service to our 

people, were not contacted by IHS at all. Furthermore, we were in formed this diversion would last about 6 weeks, we are still on diversion and have been informed 

it could be another 30–60 days. Another interesting fact is that no employees was 

relieved of duty. The same staff providing care in the ER is now the same staff providing care in the Urgent Clinic. To put this in perspective from a patient view, 3 

weeks ago our ambulance was dispatched for a patient having chest pain. They responded within 10 mins of the call. Immediate CPR was started and the patients 

was transferred to the nearest ER in Valentine NE over 50 miles away. Our hospital was 7 miles away. The staff at Valentine worked on our relative but unfortunately he did not make it. This diversion poses real, life or death risk to our people. 

We cannot predict when an emergency will happen but we are confident that the 

longer this service is unavailable, the higher the risk to our people. This is UNACCEPTABLE! 

Recycling of Problem Employees 

Over the past year, we have had at least 5 executive level positons filled with Acting problematic employees that have been asked to leave other reservations in our 

region. These employees played a huge role to get us in this situation. 

Recruitment Practices 

We have been informed of recent hiring practices of at least 5 nurses of whom 

at least 1 did not have an active license and 3 were hired with temporary licenses. 

Furthermore, the relocation expenses and hiring practices with regard to these 

nurses was extraordinary. We have been informed that the interview of one of the 

nurses was conducted in another language. How is this justifiable? When we have 

elders that only speak Lakota and now are being expected to understand and convey 

80 

their health issue to these providers. It isn’t, but it is a direct reflection of the severe lack of leadership and oversight of our facility and of the Great Plains Area. 

The disheartening and traumatic realities described above are the creation of 

choices. Choices to create treaties long ago. Choices to dishonor those treaties. Budget choices, allocation choices, the choice of professional leadership to act unethically 

and against the exact mission they are tasked with and the health and behavioral 

choices of individual people. If there is to be meaningful and sustainable change 

here, all of these issues must be explored and addressed. Such public and political 

education will only occur when the current dangerous status quo is exposed and a 

mobilization by politicians, native communities and the healthcare community unite 

for change. Until then, the premature deaths of our people and this dysfunction we 

speak of will continue to flourish. We expect change. We are here willing to be an 

active player to achieve this change we dream of. We will not accept anything less 

than you or the president of these United States expects for your healthcare and 

that of your loved ones. It may be too late for many of our members, but it is not 

too late to make a change for better healthcare for the native children that comes 

from the poorest counties in our nation. 

This concludes my testimony and I am happy to answer any questions you may 

have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you for your testimony and thank you 

also for your service. 

Our next witness to testify is Mr. Jace Killsback, Executive 

Health Manager, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Board of Health from 

Lame Deer, Montana. Thank you so much for joining us today. 

STATEMENT OF JACE KILLSBACK, EXECUTIVE HEALTH 

MANAGER, NORTHERN CHEYENNE TRIBAL BOARD OF HEALTH 

Mr. KILLSBACK. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso and distinguished members of the Committee who are still here with their 

staffers. 

I am submitting written testimony so a lot of the issues that 

were brought up we share that sentiment with the tribes. I do 

thank Senator Thune, the non-Committee member, for sticking it 

out with us. 

On behalf of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the tribes of Montana and Wyoming, your State, I provide this testimony. 

It was my ancestors, my great grandparents, who paid for goods 

and services in exchange for lands, freedom and peace with their 

blood. We expect nothing less in return with our treaty rights and 

our trust responsibilities. That is not being fulfilled by the Federal 

Government. 

It took a lot to come here to the place of power, for my office to 

come here, getting resources to travel here. I would like the staffers 

to take these messages to their bosses. It would have been more 

appropriate for the tribal leaders here to speak first; they have 

traveled a long way. 

I am reiterating the fact that IHS is a broken system, a broken 

system with no funds. Constantly having to deal with decisions and 

budget cuts and never being able to recover from sequestration, 

tribes constantly ask and have in the last few years for advance appropriations and to have our funds protected from discretionary 

title. We have an entitlement to these funds. 

We learned through the Affordable Care Act that IHS is not 

health insurance. Indian tribes were left in the dark when it rolled 

out because none of our community members were able to be properly empowered or educated on the importance of having health insurance. 

81 

This opportunity is being missed by the IHS as a means to improve or enhance their third party collections. The culture we 

talked about today, the culture of misdiagnosis, poor customer service, lack of resources, not having proper equipment, losing accreditation, will continue. 

I ask the leadership, the Senators and their staffers, do you 

know the difference between direct service tribes and self governance tribes? Do you now the dichotomy that exists with the budget 

formulation process tribes currently go through right now? 

Do you know that we, the Northern Cheyenne, view this as a tactic of divide and conquer amongst tribes who fight over scraps for 

IHS funding? Funding is an issue. We know it is the major issue. 

We wonder why and how these areas, the Great Plains, the Billings 

area, the Rocky Mountain area, consistently have to deal with 

IHS’s substandard quality of care and the lack of resources. The 

tribes are labeled the do nothing tribes or the handout tribes. 

One of our elders likened it to the old notion of hang around the 

fort. Which tribes hang around D.C.? In the past, which Indians 

hung around the fort to receive rations first? Tribes who do not 

have the resources or the wherewithal, the consultants or the lawyers to travel to this place of power, Washington, D.C., to get help 

or get your ears, are the ones left out. 

Capacity is an issue. Capacity is an issue for tribes in our region 

because our tribal governments lack those resources. When we try 

to move forward towards Title V under the 638 law, we are met 

with red tape and resistance because career and legacy IHS employees do not want to lose their jobs. 

It should be the opposite. They should be working themselves out 

of a job and letting us become more self reliant and self determinant as tribal nations. 

The healthcare system and the Federal Government, I want to 

again reiterate that the bureaucracy is causing these issues we are 

talking about, that our tribal counterparts are mentioning. 

A perfect example was contract support costs. Self governance 

tribes agreed probably at the detriment of direct service tribes to 

take funds from the headquarters and tribal shares to pay for fully 

funding contract support cost claims. That is a perfect example of 

this divide and conquer tactic. 

Other issues I wanted to bring up are in regard to the issue of 

life or limb. The PRC changed its name to Patient Preferred Care 

but it is still CHS. Often doctors in our local IHS service units have 

to game the system to get a CT scan. It may be considered a Level 

2 service but they will find a way to game the system and make 

it a Level 1 so their patient who they care about can get that CT 

scan. 

Yesterday I heard my board member lost his wife to cancer. If 

she had gotten a colonoscopy sooner, maybe they would have been 

able to treat the cancer. The issue was the doctor said there was 

no blood in her stool so they could not refer her out. 

That touches home because that is a tribal leader who lost his 

wife because of this direct care. As direct service tribes, we constantly have to battle funding issues related to the PRC system 

and the level of care we ask for. This is a trust responsibility and 

a treaty right. 

82 

Solutions I want to recommend in closing are you heard about 

recruitment and retention. IHS does need to be able to compete 

with the private sector. There need to be more opportunities than 

just the loan repayment program. 

In Montana, recently the legislature passed the Help Act which 

provided us with Medicaid expansion. In consultation with the 

tribes, the State of Montana and the Governor created an Office of 

American Indian Health to deal with the health disparity that Senator Tester mentioned earlier, that a whole generation of Indian 

people in Montana is dying before our white counterparts. 

We think there should be some facilitation to improve and increase tribal-State relations and also build capacity and in the 

transition for direct service tribes to self governance. We hope the 

Committee hears these and we thank the distinguished members 

of this Committee for allowing me to express the views of the 

Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the region of the Billings area. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Killsback follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JACE KILLSBACK, EXECUTIVE HEALTH MANAGER, 

NORTHERN CHEYENNE TRIBAL BOARD OF HEALTH

Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and Members of the Committee, 

thank you for holding this important hearing on the substandard quality of health 

care experienced by Indians in the Great Plains and more specifically in my region, 

the Rocky Mountain Area which includes both the Chair and Vice Chair’s home 

states Montana and Wyoming. 

On behalf of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the Tribes of Montana and Wyoming, I submit this testimony. 

My ancestors, my great grandparents paid for goods and services in exchange for 

lands, our freedom and peace—with their blood. Their sacrifice was made for me, 

my grandchildren and their grandchildren into perpetuity. Because of our Treaties 

with the federal government and your promises to my people there is a trust responsibility for your government to provide health care to my People: Your trust responsibility is not being fulfilled! I come to you revealing a tragic and sad truth: health 

care is rationed and inadequate for the Northern Cheyenne and surrounding Direct 

Service Tribes. We are required to utilize this inadequate, hostile system in our isolated and frontier parts of the United States—the places we call home. 

IHS: A Broke and Broken System 

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs should be experts now on the funding 

issues that plague the Indian Health Services (IHS). For years the data show that 

the IHS has continually operated on a close to 40 percent budget. IHS has never 

been fully funded based on need. In addition, the IHS Budget has never recovered 

from budget cuts, recessions and sequestration. We all should know by now that increased funding and advanced appropriations will make a huge and positive impact 

in the IHS healthcare system. Even more important, Congress needs to protect the 

IHS budget from discretionary funding and budget cuts. Of course these realities 

help create and sustain a health care system that the Northern Cheyenne and other 

DSTs are forced to utilize because it’s the only game in town. No matter that it is 

substandard, lacks any real resources, and is not customer-friendly or culturally appropriate toward its patients. We need to be progressively aggressive in preventing 

and treating diseases in our communities, to remain eligible and mission driven to 

meet accreditation standards and to effectively compete with the private sectors. 

IHS is not a public health system. 

IHS is not health insurance. We learned this the hard way with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Indian Country. This distinction about insurance 

was not made clear in our communities and the federal government missed an important opportunity to educate and empower tribes and Indians. Now that tribes 

have to subsidize the underfunded IHS system with other agency grants, third-party 

revenue and even Tribal dollars, when possible. Tribes have to be more and more 

creative in providing support for the direct health care of our tribal citizens. I say 

direct care because the Tribes in our regions are still a majority direct service tribes. 

83 

Direct Service Tribes 

How many distinguished members of the committee know the dichotomy of the 

IHS Tribes? It is Public Law 93–638, the Indian Self-determination and Education 

Assistance Act of 1975, empowered and created authorities for to tribes to be truly 

sovereign nations in managing and governing federal resources for their people. In 

healthcare, PL–638 has shown that the levels of tribal government capacity in regard to self-governance varies within the 12 IHS regions. Most commonly, the 

Tribes in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota remain Direct Service Tribes. And in the more recent decade, this label has had a negative connotation 

that is associated with the ‘‘do-nothing tribes, hand-out tribes, or the tribes who 

don’t have stable governments, lack tribal resources to hire consultants and lawyers, 

who lack funds to lobby and travel to the place of power—Washington DC.’’ The 

playing field for tribes is far from level. 

Direct Services Tribes receive health care directly from the federal government 

and these areas that still have direct service tribes tend to be viewed by other 

Tribes and by IHS as unsophisticated and uneducated governments who lack the 

understanding to taken advantage of Title 5 of the Indian Self-determination Act. 

The scrutiny is that if we, the Direct Service Tribes of the Great Plains and Rocky 

Mountain Area complain so much about IHS, than why don’t we just take over the 

clinics, hospitals and programs and run them ourselves? First of all, why should we 

have to? But, it’s just not that easy to do. 

Tribes like the Northern Cheyenne still have our language and our ceremonies, 

we still have customs and traditions that are original to this land and seem foreign 

to the federal government. The Northern Cheyenne were one of the last tribes to 

lay down our arms against the US Army. We resisted the longest and now we suffer 

the most. 

Now when Tribe’s in our areas want to contract or compact, we are met with resistance and red tape. Federal employees who work for the IHS would be working 

themselves out of a job if they help to ensure that the Tribes and Tribal Health Programs can properly manage their own health care functions, the purpose of PL–93– 

638. In the DST-dominant areas of IHS, our federal Indians are career driven and 

legacy minded professionals who are quick to hinder our efforts instead of helping 

our cause to be self-determined in our healthcare. Examples include the contracting 

of clinics, business office functions and the Patient Referred Care for tribal premium 

sponsorships programs under the ACA. 

The healthcare system under the Federal Government is set-up as a divide and 

conquer tactic that can be compared to the ‘‘hang-around the fort Indians’’ concept 

where those who are in Washington, DC (the fort) get the help (the food and health 

rations) first. 

Direct Service Tribes are pitted against the Self-governance Tribes annually when 

it comes to IHS and HHS Budget Formulation process. Priorities of one group 

versus another group are discussed and debated on where the already underfunded 

budget allocation (or increases) for IHS will go. The federal government has us 

fighting over scrapes again and history is only repeating itself. 

The problem with this and the difference between Direct Service Tribes and SelfGovernance Tribes is capacity. As a direct service tribe, I know we are still making 

gains to build our capacity to be able to take over our clinic and run it the way 

we would like in a culturally significant manner, free of federal bureaucracy. But 

because we, ourselves, have been given a tribal government system through the Indian Reorganization Act that assures a revolving door of tribal instability, we continually have to start over every two years to make any real progress towards true 

self-governance. Yes, this portion of the situation is ours and we are moving towards 

tribal government reform and we will revise our tribal constitutions: we will get 

there. 

Take for example the hot issues of Contract Support Cost (CSC). The fact is the 

IHS had to eat the cost of fully funding CSC last year and did so mostly at the expense of Direct Service Tribes. Then on May 22, 2015 we learned that the IHS paid 

out $68 million to settle overtime disputes with 20,000 IHS employees. $48 million 

came from the third party billing revenues Tribes fight to bring in to fund our system. Why was that funding sitting at Area IHS offices, available for re-purposing 

when our People are desperate for doctors and other health care providers? Again, 

11 IHS doctors were sent to Africa to address the Ebola Virus outbreak—when our 

own People are dying in a health system with nearly 40 percent vacancy rates for 

physicians in the Great Plains Area, alone. Here we have an already underfunded 

healthcare system being gouged to take from its coffers money funds and capacities 

that are supposed to be used to provide direct health care for tribes like the Northern Cheyenne. And now these funds are being used to pay for indirect cost for tribes 

who are empowered and experts of PL–638 and who provide their own tribal health 

84 

care; back pay from a mis-managed personnel system and for Peoples overseas with 

whom the federal government does not have a trust responsibility! 

In the case of the CSC case, the federal government with approval of Tribes 

(mostly self-governance tribes) agreed to support the taking money from the direct 

service tribes to pay for the majority of self-governance tribes contract support cost. 

Sure, the Northern Cheyenne will be settling our CSC claims but it is sad to think 

that the money is coming from our IT support shares from headquarters or the IHS 

nurses and doctors salaries in Lame Deer, Montana. 

So why doesn’t the committee question the system they authorize and fund? This 

system is still a paternalistic model of colonization. There are tribes at all different 

levels of success and self-governance. Take a look at the Tribes in the Great Plains 

and Rocky Mountain areas and see where our capacity is and see how our relationship with the federal government is. It has become normal and ‘‘ok’’ to: be 

misdiagnosed by locums who are contacted on the weekends to work in our ERs; 

to wait until you’re going to lose a leg or your life in order to be referred out to 

receive the right healthcare you need; for a baby to be born in a car on the way 

to the Northern Cheyenne hospital because IHS no longer delivers babies at Crow 

hospital. If you go out of IHS to make a life decision for your family or yourself that 

does not meet the IHS standard of ‘‘life or limb,’’ you will have to pay for it yourself. 

Many of my people have been sent to debt collectors or had their fixed incomes compromised because they could not pay for medical care that IHS denied. This protocol 

has administrators making business decisions over medical providers’ medical directions. Now you have doctors at the local level learning ways to game the system 

in order to ensure that a tribal member receives a CT scan that will eventually save 

their life versus waiting until one’s health erodes into a far more costly and lifethreatening condition. 

Since we cannot get referred out to for ‘‘Level 2 or Level 3’’ services under the 

PRC system, tribal members remain in pain or their diseases go undetected and untreated. Most become addicted to pain bills or lose faith altogether and resort to selfmedication with alcohol or substance abuse. This vicious cycle, along with the circumstance I mentioned with the funding and capacity issues for Tribes, makes one 

believe that the Indian Wars are not over and that the treaties continue to be broken and that there is not ‘‘trust’’ worthy of our U.S. Government’s responsibility. 

In closing I want to point out some positives and solutions that seem to be working in Montana. 

1. Montana, Medicaid Expansion and Tribal-State Relations 

The Northern Cheyenne has a political and government-to-government relationship with the federal government and yet we are still being classified and grouped 

into race or ethnicity driven discussions. For example, in Montana, the state issued 

a report in 2013 identifying the mortality rate of American Indians to be 20 years 

less than that of our white, non-Indian neighbors. We die a whole generation before 

our white counterparts. This figure went unmentioned and was not addressed. With 

an alarming health disparity that is based on a denominator of race/ethnicity, the 

report and the figure neglected to acknowledge the political status First Montanans 

have in respect to State-Tribal relations. Montana responded and Governor Steve 

Bullock met with Tribes to create, by Executive Order, the Office of American Indian Health to address the health disparities Indian people face in the State. 

As of January 1st, 2016 some 20,000 American Indians in Montana became eligible for Medicaid Expansion under the HELP Act. With Medicaid Expansion. Tribes 

and more importantly, IHS facilities are able to increase their billing opportunities 

for the services they provide to increase revenue that hopefully increases the PRC 

referrals and direct services. We thank the state for picking up the slack of the federal government. 

2. Recruitment and Retention 

Recruitment and retention of qualified medical providers is a game changer. For 

example, the emergency rooms are difficult to staff with permanent ED physicians. 

Coverage is provided by contract doctors. Primary care doctors then have to cover 

the ED, which destabilizes the primary care setting and that is our core function. 

I believe that if IHS fully staffed all the service units with providers many of their 

issues would disappear. IHS could then focus on optimizing the delivery model and 

improve access points for the patients. Again, speaking as a Direct Service Tribe, 

recruitment is more than just pay and with competing against the private sector, 

IHS should consider their own health care infrastructure (newer equipment, robust 

EHR, support staff, adequate space etc.), schools, housing, shopping, cell coverage 

and spouse satisfaction to name a few. 

85 

Fill all vacancies and streamline the selection and hiring process for positions. 

Work with Tribes on fillings positions and remove the PSA requirements for toplevel positions. Too often the IHS is burdened with career-oriented and legacy minded individuals who lack any true commitment to the service of tribes and American 

Indians. Cultural competency should be a standard in recruitment also. 

3. Transition Toward Self-governance 

Provide better technical assistance and funds for Direct Service Tribes to begin 

to transition into Self-governance. Begin a pilot project for Tribes in the Great 

Plains and Rocky Mountain areas to help build capacity and strategize a plan to 

increase contracting and eventually compacting services and function of the IHS. 

4. Allow Tribes to be Voting Members on IHS Governing Boards 

Tribal participation on IHS’s Clinic/Hospital Governing Boards is limited to exofficio status. Allow Tribal representatives to have full membership and insurance 

coverage to make decisions on these boards in a true government-to-government 

manner. This would also train and prepare Tribes to transition into self-governance. 

Thank you for the opportunity to offer this testimony for the committee on this 

important topic that I am so passionate about. I express the Northern Cheyenne 

Tribe’s support for the work that this Committee has previously done to support the 

Indian Country and look forward to working with you to find solutions for to achieve 

excellent health care delivery and status of our indigenous people. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Killsback. 

At this time, we will go to questions. Senator Thune. 

Senator THUNE. I would direct this to the panel. You obviously 

heard Mr. McSwain state that the IHS is committed to a transparent working relationship with Rosebud, Oglala and Omaha 

Winnebago tribal leadership. 

To date, how transparent do you feel the IHS has been and what 

recommendations would you make to improve IHS’s transparency 

with the tribal leadership? 

Ms. KITCHEYAN. I would like to address that. I would say we 

have made great strides from last July when we first learned of our 

CMS termination through the media. The former area director was 

in our tribal chambers reassuring us that everything was fine. We 

have come a long way since that time. 

We have weekly calls, a monthly face-to-face but we have begun 

to feel as if it is just lip service. We are not seeing improvements 

that we would like to see quick enough, as I mentioned in the blizzard situation. 

There is not complete transparency. We ask for things. Some of 

the questions seem repetitive. We ask for them over and over 

again. In some sense, we are being entertained but are not getting 

the solutions our community needs and that we need to provide to 

assure them that the health care is back on track. 

Senator THUNE. Do you feel that IHS is responsive to the concerns of the tribal council and the Tribal Chairman’s Health Board 

when they bring forward issues? 

Ms. KITCHEYAN. I think collectively between the Tribal Health 

Board and IHB, the National Indian Health Board, the tribal councils, it is taking all of us to work together to get to this point. Each 

individual agency, I do not think, has received answers they deserve or have asked for. 

Mr. KILLSBACK. Senator, in the Billings area under Dorothy 

Dupree as Acting Director, she allowed the tribes to be ex officio 

on the governing boards for the facilities. In my written testimony, 

I have asked that they allow tribal representation to be voting 

members of these governing boards over these facilities so that 

86 

they know the ins and outs of the accreditation standards that are 

needed, the reporting standards that are needed in managing a 

medical facility. 

That was a solution and right now we are asking for full voting 

authority to be members of these governing boards. 

Senator THUNE. Ms. Weston? 

Ms. LITTLE HAWK-WESTON. I believe that IHS need to needs to 

be more I guess based on consultation. I believe they need to do 

more of the consultation piece to the tribe, especially the tribal 

leaders. 

One of the Senators talked earlier about a communication breakdown between the staff in D.C. and the Aberdeen area down to the 

local service units. I believe that sometimes communication is not 

happening between the staff here in the D.C. area and down to our 

service unit directly at times. 

I think there is a communication breakdown but I really believe 

that the tribal leadership needs to be involved in a lot of these 

meetings. I know what Mr. Killsback mentioned is the governing 

body meetings. I know representation from the tribe all the time 

is the chairman of the tribe or the chair of the Health and Human 

Services committee. 

I believe sometimes we are notified and there are times we are 

not notified. I really believe the consultation piece needs to be reinforced to make sure that IHS is consulting with tribal leadership, 

especially when it comes to budgetary or any other important decisions based on our IHS service units. That needs to continue all the 

time. 

Thank you. 

Mr. BEAR SHIELD. Senator Thune, I think even since the CMS 

review and we had a plan of correction in Rosebud that was accepted by CMS, there still continues to be practices that continue that 

just do not give us any hope that things are being taken seriously. 

I feel there needs to be more direction as far as up the chain 

where they need to be more actively involved and help us work towards getting our ER services reopened. The other day it was supposed to be reviewed to see if we could open the first part of February. From what we are hearing, by no means are we ready for 

that. 

In answer to your question, I feel that there is a lot of work yet 

to be done. In my testimony when I mentioned our resolutions between the Committee and Congress, besides budgetary woes that 

we fall on, listen to the tribes. 

Your staffers are great. Ms. Hoelyn is a great asset in listening 

to us and addressing and letting me know how things are. You will 

be seeing some of the resolutions coming from us. We are addressing some of what we want to see for the future. 

Some are short term but there will be long term solutions. We 

need your help. You will see that in the next ten days or so. 

Senator THUNE. My time has expired. 

The CHAIRMAN. Go right ahead. 

Senator THUNE. Ms. Weston, you mentioned in your testimony 

air ambulance flights that place a significant burden on the service 

area’s budget. I have recently been told that IHS does not have a 

flat contract with providers in the area. 

87 

Since this is clearly placing a burden on the operating budget, do 

you know if IHS has been exploring ways to standardize these 

flights to ensure continuity when it comes to billing? 

Ms. LITTLE HAWK-WESTON. I think the area of the air ambulance 

was a concern a while back with the HHS committee as well as 

leadership. We only had one air ambulance picking up our patients 

and taking them either to Rapid City, Sioux Falls or Scotts Bluff, 

Nebraska. 

We had inquired about what was going on, we only had one air 

ambulance. Come to find out there were other vendors that also 

transport patients but according to the Acting CEO they call on one 

air ambulance because they have a contract with that air ambulance according to the way the structure is with the Aberdeen area 

on how they RFP out vendors to pick up patients within the Indian 

Health Service. 

They utilize only one air ambulance right now. The cost of it we 

were told was enormous. We did get copies from the Acting CEO 

on the amount of money we were spending. I will tell you that it 

is quite high. I think she did mention it does take a lot from the 

base budget of the Indian Health Service at our service unit. 

Senator THUNE. Thank you, Ms. Weston. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you so much. Thank you so much for being 

here today. It has been very, very helpful. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Weston, if I could follow up a bit on what 

Senator Thune was talking about. When these folks are transported for care, families are a long way away. Can you talk about 

some of the challenges of just getting people back home after they 

have received their care? 

Ms. LITTLE HAWK-WESTON. That is one of the concerns of our 

tribal membership back home on the Pine Ridge Reservation. One 

of the things that we as tribal leadership has found is that we are 

spending quite a bit of money out of our general fund budget within the Oglala Sioux Tribe to transport our families to and from the 

hospital. 

At times, we have to pay for the cost of their transportation, 

their hotel room, food and whatever else that comes with the time 

the family has to stay there at the hospital. 

On the tribal side, we are spending quite a bit of money. I think 

I did address that in my testimony, how much we are spending 

within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the general fund of our 

tribe. 

It is always a concern because we have to send the family when 

a loved one is in a hospital, whether it be in Rapid City, Sioux 

Falls, Minneapolis or in one of the Nebraska hospitals. It is a big 

concern of ours and a big concern of our families back home. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Kitcheyan, you talked about CMS’s confirmed surveys that a number of tribal members have died unnecessarily due to deficiencies. Can you discuss what impact that had 

on the community? 

Ms. KITCHEYAN. It has had a horrible impact on the trust. Our 

people do not want to go to the facility. IHS then tells us that our 

average daily patient load is down, a means of determining the 

needs of the hospital. The need is there but our people do not want 

to go. They look at it as a death trap. 

88 

People are suffering at home. They are refusing to seek the care 

they need. As I mentioned in my testimony, this is our only option. 

Most of our tribal members do not have insurance or do not even 

have a vehicle or resources to go somewhere else to maybe an urgent care facility or something like that. 

It really has impacted the morale of our community and the morale of the employees at the hospital. They are afraid. We have 

been told that the nurses were told not to admit because they do 

not want to be scrutinized and further cited in CMS reports. 

In addition, we have many people who have procedures done in 

Sioux City or other places and they want to come home to recover. 

They cannot come home because they will not admit them, yet we 

have vacant beds and patient nurses and staff who refuse to go 

downstairs and help the clinic. 

Who can make these nurses work? These are Federal employees, 

collecting a paycheck, refusing service. It has had a terrible impact 

on the trust of the community. They come to the tribal council. We 

feel helpless. We cannot make those nurses work. We cannot make 

them admit our people. 

Beyond that, sometimes they lack the equipment to even service 

these patients who want to come home. My Auntie Debbie who I 

mentioned in this report was one of those people who came home 

after having an amputation. She died just recovering, over-medicated, did not take the pain patch off and continued to give her 

medication. She was a dialysis patient. They overdosed her. 

There is fear within the community to even go there. It is terrible. 

The CHAIRMAN. Would any of the other three of you like to comment on that or give some final thoughts or comments you might 

have or something else that has come to your mind? 

Mr. KILLSBACK. I just want to reiterate the capacity topic I 

brought up about tribes in our area that want to go to self governance, that there should be some additional resources or a pilot 

project where we can take on the function of our service units, 

manage our clinics in a more culturally significant way that benefits or people because we know our people. Let us do the recruitment and retention piece. 

Again, with capacity building and self governance tribes are able 

to be more a lot more flexible, have a lot more billing opportunities 

that brings in revenue to supplement the underfunding that IHS 

already receives and would allow us to build better capacity in regard to consultants and having lawyers and experts help us with 

our governance piece. 

The CHAIRMAN. Anyone else? 

Mr. BEAR SHIELD. Once again, I would like to thank you for having us today and allowing us to voice our concerns. I think the 

main thing is we are also here to offer possible solutions. We just 

need the help of Congress and committees like you. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Weston, any final thoughts? 

Ms. LITTLE HAWK-WESTON. I also want to say thank you for 

holding this important hearing today and bringing us all the way 

from our reservation. 

89 

I want to say everything we spoke about in our opening statement is very true to our heart. Also, we need to make improvements within the IHS facilities but we cannot do that unless we 

have full funding. 

Today, I think our service unit only receives 50 percent of base 

funding. We would like to see one day 100 percent funding so that 

we can address the adequate space, equipment for our facilities and 

staffing. We also want to see maybe an increase in our purchased 

referred care, including our transportation costs. 

All of this comes back to how we would like to work with IHS 

to sit down and look at ways of how we can improve the quality 

of health care for our people back home. That is what I want to 

say today, Senator. 

With that, I would like to say thank you for bringing us here and 

giving us time to talk about the many concerns we have about our 

tribal members back home. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank all of you so much for your testimony. The 

hearing record will remain open for two weeks. I want to thank you 

all for being here. 

I think you all know that when this oversight hearing concludes 

in a few moments, we are going to have a very short recess and 

then follow this with that a listening session called Putting Patients First, Addressing Indian Country’s Critical Concerns Regarding the Indian Health Service. 

The statements made during that listening session are also going 

to be included in the record of this hearing for today. Everyone’s 

voice will be heard. 

I know numerous tribal leaders and tribal organizations have 

traveled to Washington to provide their statements at the listening 

session. It is my hope that hearing directly from these leaders will 

help guide Health and Human Services and all of its agencies to 

develop, as you said, answers and lasting solutions for better patient care. 

Thank you all very much. The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 5:24 p.m., the hearing was adjourned. The Committee proceded with a listening session.] 

(91) 

LISTENING SESSION ON PUTTING PATIENTS 

FIRST: ADDRESSING INDIAN COUNTRY’S 

CRITICAL CONCERNS REGARDING IHS 

The Committee and participants met, pursuant to notice, at 5:40 

p.m. in room 216, Hart Senate Office Building. 

STATEMENT OF T. MICHAEL ANDREWS, MAJORITY STAFF 

DIRECTOR AND CHIEF COUNSEL 

Mr. ANDREWS. I feel like a captain of an airplane here. Can we 

all take our seats before takeoff, please? 

Let me first start and obviously thank everyone for staying 

through a very important and long hearing. I think overall it was 

a good dialogue. I think any time you get the diverse witnesses 

that we had, the Administration, of course, being a central part of 

that, and then our tribal representatives, I think it’s a good recipe 

for solutions. 

Really that’s kind of the premise for this listening session. I 

think Tony Walters and I, who are staff directors on the majority 

side and on the minority side, when we put this concept together 

of this hearing, we knew about the outcry and the demand of listening to everybody, giving everybody an opportunity to come before the Committee and telling us your story, telling us areas that 

you think that we to improve upon as Committee staff who draft 

the legislation. 

So that is our goal here. We want to get to everybody. I think 

Mr. Killsback said it best, about the tribal leaders have an opportunity to speak first. And so I think in terms of that, I think that’s 

probably the correct procedure, how I think we ought to run this 

listening session. And really not to outweigh one or the other, I 

think the safest thing to do, without getting in the crosshairs of 

picking one tribe or the other is really to go by alphabetical order, 

to hear from the tribes, first, then tribal organizations, and then 

anybody else. I think that will be kind of in a systematic way. This 

way we capture everything. And as Chairman Barrasso said, we 

have a court reporter here. Whatever you say will be part of the 

record. And it will help drive the discussion with Committee staff. 

And in terms of you statement, try as best you can, and I know 

it’s a sensitive topic, if you can, to adhere to a three or five minute 

rule. Again, it’s a sliding scale. We want to capture what you have 

to say. 

And I think in terms of the tribes, obviously the chairmen and 

the presidents and the elected officials, I will defer to you on who 

best to represent your tribe coming before us. 

With that, Tony, do you have anything you want to add before 

we kick this off? 

92 

STATEMENT OF ANTHONY WALTERS, MINORITY STAFF 

DIRECTOR AND CHIEF COUNSEL 

Mr. WALTERS. Sure, thank you. I’ll be pretty brief. 

I just want to tell everyone I appreciate their being here and 

spending this whole evening with us, essentially, afternoon and 

evening. It’s one of the longest hearings we’ve had on this important topic. I think you can see how the Senators were engaged. Obviously, Senators have to come and go. But clearly, some of them 

stuck it out. Obviously they know the importance of these issues 

brought in. Senator Dorgan, who was chair of this Committee five 

or six years ago, obviously he still understands these issues. And 

we wanted to even get input from him from having that perspective. 

Thanks to all the tribes who have come in today to provide more 

statements at the listening session. If you have anything in writing, of course, feel free to always send that in to the Committee. 

Staff is always here to look at anything that comes in. I know 

Mike’s staff and mine as well have regular, constant dialogue with 

IHS folks here in D.C., in the regions where the tribes are having 

issues. So we’re here to be as helpful as we can, we want to understand as many of the issues that you all have as you can bring forward to us, so we get a better grasp on it and know how we can 

help the best. 

So I’m not sure if we have any overall time constraints, but we’re 

going to be here for as long as we need, I guess. 

Mr. ANDREWS. We will be here until we hear from you all. In 

terms of the listening session, the microphones are up front here 

on the side. So looking at alphabetical order, Cheyenne River Sioux 

Tribe, Chairman Frazier, if you want to address us first. 

Chairman, thanks. 

STATEMENT OF HON. HAROLD FRAZIER, CHAIRMAN, 

CHEYENNE RIVER SIOUX TRIBE 

Mr. FRAZIER. I’m Harold Frazier. I’m Chairman of the Cheyenne 

River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. 

As I was back here and I was listening, I felt like grabbing my 

papers and throwing them away. Because everybody knows the 

problems. Everybody knows the solutions. I can’t understand why 

we’re not fixing them, or addressing them. We know about recruitment and retention. We know the barriers. We know the weaknesses. We all know that. But nobody’s doing anything about it. 

I got elected in 1988 on tribal council, four years, and I served 

another four years as tribal chairman. Health care was a priority 

back then and it still is. One of the things is that presently, when 

there’s something wrong with the Indian Health Service, we get rid 

of the service unit director. Since 1998, on the Cheyenne River 

Service Unit, I think we’ve gotten rid of about 10, 12 of them. And 

I’ll guarantee the problems are still there. 

Even today, with our area director getting rid of Cornelius, I 

guarantee you tomorrow the problem is still going to be there. It 

is a system with regulations. 

One of the questions was answered, and you were talking about 

corruption. A colleague of mine in tribal council says, why do you 

think that’s happening, the corruption? I said, because they think 

93 

they’re untouchable. When you’re a Federal employee, you don’t get 

terminated. You get transferred on or moved on. And that’s reality. 

They’re protected by somebody. 

To me, when I got in office, just one year ago, I dealt with the 

Indian Health Service. But to me, the solution is, the only way I 

see for Cheyenne River is to compact and let some professional 

company manage it for us like Avera, Sanford Health. Those are 

the two big health companies back home in South Dakota. I think 

that’s the only way. You can play these games, spend a lot of 

money on travel, hire experts. 

About 10, 12 years ago we did a health care seminar like this, 

had a court reporter, did testimony, with up to five of our biggest 

communities. One of the things we found that was common 

throughout the testimony was our people were upset by having to 

see a new health physician or health professional every time they 

went into the IHS. They were tired of telling their health history. 

And at that time, pharmacy was a big problem on Cheyenne River. 

So we looked into it and we found that our service unit, because 

of the regulations, they could only pay $45,000 a year. And when 

we looked into the private sector, they were paying $100,000 to 

$150,000 a year. But I still have to provide that service. 

So then they get into a contract with a firm or some company. 

And that company locates them. That’s why our people have seen 

that. 

So I know regulation is a big issue, big problem. I feel that. To 

me, government is over-regulated itself. And I want to quote Senator Rounds, from about six, seven years ago when he was Governor of South Dakota, VA was having problems, he said, governments cannot run the hospital. I agree with that. Tribes can’t, Federal Government can’t, you guys can’t. It’s a proven fact. 

Now I’ll get to my speech. That was my opening. You guys know 

all the statistics, you guys know all the concerns. One thing I want 

to talk about I think is a big issue is suicides. Right now, I think 

our delegation is looking at building a treatment center or putting 

a behavioral health center in Pine Ridge. I think, I mean, we would 

support something like that. Because I want to tell you something, 

IHS, they refer a lot of our kids to Rapid City Regional West and 

Rapid City. I get reports back from our tribal staff that the people 

over there that work at Rapid City Regional West are telling our 

kids, you tell us you’re not going to kill yourself and we’ll let you 

go. And the kids, many times, are not ready to be sent home. 

So I did talk to our service unit director, I said, hey, you need 

to, I hear this is happening, I hear it’s happening from reliable 

sources, you need to sever that contract with Rapid City. I also told 

him, what you should be doing is interviewing patients. How are 

you treated out there, good, bad? So then, whenever you do go into 

contract with whomever, it would be justified, whether we go on 

with them or we sever ties with them. 

Right now, there’s no prevention. And that does lead on into 

higher costs and also a loss of life, as was addressed earlier. Specialty clinics, we don’t have them, and we used to have them. It’s 

a hardship for our people to travel to Rapid City. Rapid City from 

Eagle Butte is 166 miles one way, Sioux Falls probably 300 and 

some miles. Bismarck, 120 miles. 

94 

And we probably live in the top 10 of the poorest counties in the 

United States and probably in South Dakota, on the reservation. 

So you can imagine the struggles for many of our people just to go 

to these places for a clinic. So that’s something. 

I have also seen too, and studied IHS, like I made a comment 

earlier about them being over-regulate. Our history is that 1908 

Homestead money, we built our hospital. We built it down on our 

agency along the Missouri River. Then in 1960, the Government 

built their dam and flooded us out. So the Corps of Engineers replaced our hospital in 1960 in Eagle Butte. They built a 26-bed inpatient facility. Just recently, about four or five years ago, we got 

a new hospital from IHS. 

But one of the things a lot of our elders can tell you, the patient 

rooms used to be filled up. But before they closed the old facility, 

many of the patient rooms were turned into offices. So I think 

when they closed up, there was probably two or four patient rooms. 

Because IHS is so worried about being in compliance, they are forgetting patient care. 

You look in our area, third-party billing, they can do it. It’s a 

proven fact. It’s why they closed Rosebud. I’m sure that’s the problems in Winnebago. 

But I think if Congress really wants to do something, they need 

to look at the recruitment, the bonuses that should be and can be 

given out. Money talks. We all know that. And I talked to our service unit director and he said he wished he could offer another 

$100,000 a year to recruit doctors. But the regulations prevent him 

from doing that. 

President Steele is here, he was going to mention something to 

me out there. IHS in their statement and their testimony said they 

consult with the tribes on everything. Last week, Friday, I found 

out Ron Cornelius was transferred out, and it was from one of our 

tribal staff. I had no idea. And it just happened to be, I was meeting with our service unit director. And he didn’t know, either. 

So why weren’t we consulted about him? Was it because this 

hearing was going to happen and IHS did not want him to testify? 

That’s a question that Congress should ask IHS. Why was he 

transferred? Was an evaluation done on his performance? Not that 

I’m sticking up for him, but I think it’s important to know why he 

was transferred out. It should be for Congress as well. 

And I liked Senator Tester’s comments, that’s the bottom line. 

Find it. 

Thank you. 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you, Chairman. How about the representative for the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe? A couple of councilmen, I believe. President Steele? We can always go back. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN YELLOW BIRD STEELE, 

PRESIDENT, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE 

Mr. STEELE. I think everything has been said. The Senators 

know everything. I would just like to emphasize that that individual person, the patient, a lot of them get no care at all. They 

go to the hospital, and the doctor tells them, we don’t have any 

services for you here. I’m sending you to Rapid City. So they go 

home, not knowing what’s wrong with them. 

95 

And two weeks later they get a letter, you’re declined an appointment in Rapid City, lack of funds. So there is no health care at all. 

And we jump up and down and say, we have a treaty that promises 

health care. In 1980, the United States Supreme Court, its words 

were the most rank and ripe case in the history of the United 

States to illegal taking of the Black Hills. Why won’t the government sit down with us over that? We wouldn’t be here today asking 

you for health care for our people, basic health care. 

Gentlemen, they are helpless. They can’t do anything about it. 

We all here feel a responsibility to see that they get any kind of 

health care. Sometimes when they do, they finally get a second 

opinion from Gordon, Nebraska, or Rapid City, the doctor there 

tells them that they were misdiagnosed. You were given the wrong 

medication, that medication is dangerous. 

People have no faith in the Federal Government. They’re just 

caught up in the system, and who cares? 

Everything the Senator said today applies. I applaud Senator 

Thune and his staff for getting that letter signed by four Senators 

for this hearing. We hope something comes of it. And I think it already has. I talked to one of the IHS staff here after the hearing, 

and I’m getting some action on some specific points. So I don’t need 

to tell them to you. 

I just thank you for having this hearing. 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you, President Steele. We really appreciate 

those words. 

Chairman Vernon Miller, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska. 

STATEMENT OF HON. VERNON MILLER, CHAIRMAN, OMAHA 

TRIBE OF NEBRASKA 

Mr. MILLER. Good evening. My name is Vernon Miller and I’m 

Chairman of the Omaha Tribe. I want to first of all thank Mr. Andrews and Mr. Waters for providing this opportunity during this 

listening session to hear the tribal leaders who weren’t allowed to 

provide testimony today to the Committee. It is very important, 

this hearing that was held today, to specifically address the mismanagement of the health care within our region. 

I speak on behalf of the Omaha Tribe, who is a part of the 

Omaha Winnebago Hospital. Oftentimes it is miscommunicated 

and not understood that that hospital just isn’t for the Winnebago 

Tribe, it is for the Omaha and Winnebago Tribe. That is historically how the hospital was formulated and how it came about, was 

because of Winnebago Omaha people. Sometimes that is not often 

communicated. And both tribes are very separate tribes as well. 

That is sometimes misinterpreted as well, that because it’s Omaha 

Winnebago Hospital, it’s one tribe, but we’re very two distinct, separate sovereign nations and we both have our own issues and concerns. 

So I want to take this time to express some of my people’s concerns with the Omaha Tribe. And I already submitted my written 

testimony, so I’m going to deviate a little from that so I can address specifically some other concerns that came to my attention as 

the hearing was transpiring. 

The first one is in regard to the inadequate consultation from the 

tribes in regard to the removal of Ron Cornelius. We’re happy that 

96 

finally happened. The Winnebago Tribe and Omaha Tribe identified that as one of the most important actions that needed to be 

taken clear back several months ago. So when we talk about the 

communication level, it is very indicative if you look at the date on 

that joint resolution that was displayed. It shows the date on there 

and how long it took the IHS headquarters to even address that 

concern. 

It is unfortunate now that we have two other hospitals or facilities within the region now who are in the position that the Omaha 

and Winnebago Tribes are in. When our hospital was put into immediate jeopardy, that was known for two years. You can kind of 

see how that finally, the CMS finally said, okay, we’re going to pull 

the accreditation. And now the hospital can no longer bill for Medicare and Medicaid now. 

And they are maneuvering it somehow, they are able to bill for 

certain things now, they are telling us, and they cannot bill for this 

yet. So like I said, communication is kind of spare, I’m going to be 

honest with you. There isn’t adequate consultation when any decisions are made. Like I mentioned earlier, the removal of the area 

director, we’re happy to have it happen, but it would have been 

nice to have some feedback from us on who was going to be put 

in that position. Because a lot of us, through our tribal programs 

as well as our employees, have history with some of the members 

that are being put in those positions. 

I want to further go on and talk about how when people are removed they are placed somewhere else and are transferred to other 

places. The Omaha Winnebago Hospital is one of those places that 

a lot of the employees that are sent from other tribal facilities went 

to. Our hospital was, okay, let’s send them to Omaha Winnebago 

Hospital, we’ll get them out of Sisseton Wahpeton’s facility and 

move them down there. We’ll get them out of somewhere and send 

them on over to Winnebago. Let them transfer out there so we can 

show the tribe, yes, they were removed. But they were given to 

some other tribe and made somebody else’s problem. 

As a result of that, you see what happened with our hospital, losing our accreditation, several patients have died, several patients 

are afraid to go there now. I can honestly tell you as one of the 

tribes with a dialysis center as well as a nursing home, we divert 

all of our patients to go to that hospital now, because that health 

care is not safe. So we take them to other facilities, we utilize our 

own third party revenue. We never use Medicaid or Medicare. We 

take them to other facilities to get adequate health care. 

So it’s truly indicative of how there is no trust in our community 

for that hospital. And that still hasn’t improved. Mentioned yesterday, the hospital emergency room was shut down. There was no 

tribal consultation in that decision at all, to how can tribes help 

find a solution to that. That’s truly another reason why there’s 

some miscommunication here. 

I also wanted to bring up another issue in regard to one of the 

questions that was asked to the IHS staff was about employees 

that are working in the facilities, they’ve been told, do not talk to 

members of Congress, do not talk to their staff and do not talk to 

tribal council members. That is true. I can tell you that we have 

had several of those employees come to us and say, I’ve been told 

97 

if I say anything I’m going to lose my job. We obviously respect 

their confidentiality. We’re not going to go that. 

But I can give you specific names. I’m not going to give them 

here now because there are personnel issues that are going on, of 

which employees do tell our tribal members that and tell employees 

of those hospitals, if you want those. So that is another whole section and even hearing on that. 

I also want to talk about the consultation process a little bit further. We have a DDU within our area, the Omaha Tribe and Winnebago Tribe. I can tell you another example of how there was no 

adequate consultation, because when I first got elected chairman, 

not even three days later, I was informed through one of CMS’s reviews that they were going to pull, after a survey was done, the 

DDU was found not in compliance because our polices were not 

consistent with the actual hospital. Well, they are two separate entities. Because there’s a hallway that connects those two buildings, 

they considered it one building. As a result of that, I got a phone 

call on a Saturday morning, said, Chairman Miller, I just want to 

let you know, it was one of the acting CEOs saying, we’re going to 

have to close down the DDU. We were just starting a cycle of treatment and our patients that were there, we’re going to have to send 

all the patients home that are there for treatment because you 

don’t have enough adequate nurses and doctors on staff according 

to what CMS is requiring. So we need you to say that’s okay, that 

area takes over this now. And obviously I don’t want to see anybody who’s going through treatment process to be sent home and 

to now be able to utilize services that are supposed to be guaranteed to them. 

So I and the other chairman of the other tribe, obviously we don’t 

want to see those patients go home, said okay, do what you have 

to do to make sure that facility can stay open. Like I said, that adequate consultation wasn’t there and as a result, that DDU’s now 

sitting in area’s hands, not tribal control which it was before. 

So that’s a concern of adequate consultation that’s not happening. That’s a good example of how we need to really think about 

how that consultation process is occurring. 

Another issue I want to talk about is echoing the issue of the 

governing board. Apparently the tribes, the chairmen are sitting as 

ex officious on the board. The rest of the board is all area staff, who 

aren’t even at the hospital, who aren’t there in the field at the actual hospital level, hearing these concerns and hearing directly 

what’s happening, the level of inadequate health care that’s being 

delivered to them. So we really need to reconsider how we’re even 

providing the governing process for those hospitals. I know Chairman Frazier mentioned earlier, maybe I should be privatized. 

That’s something I would like to consider talking a little bit further 

about before we take those steps. But the governing process is definitely an issue. That corrective action plan which we’ve had from 

the Omaha Winnebago Hospital, they’ve identified as an issue is 

the governing process. 

So I’ve brought that up numerous times already, but I want to 

make sure you are aware of that, that issue, and that we brought 

that up. 

98 

I also just want to talk about patient advocacy. That’s a huge 

portion of why the hospitals are the way they are. At our hospital, 

we did have a patient advocate, but unfortunately, because of the 

structure of the hospital, my tribal members’ needs weren’t being 

adequately addressed when they were receiving this inadequate 

health care, when our go in and work, didn’t feel safe there, they 

had no one to turn to. I want to thank the area office for identifying that after we brought that to their attention. 

So what they’ve done, just so you’re aware, is they allocated specific funding for the Omaha Tribe to have an advocate there. Because they recognized that they weren’t receiving advocacy and 

they weren’t being made aware of those mistreatments and 

misdiagnoses as well as inadequate health care. So that’s indicative 

of how if you communicate with the tribes, it’s something that we 

can do. 

We also just want to make sure that we’re maintaining a level 

of communication that’s necessary. We do have weekly phone calls, 

but they’re really short. And I think they’re almost just there as 

an obligatory action, it has to happen. We are really concerned, because since we lost accreditation in July, it’s almost about into the 

third quarter now, when we’re going to start into the funding, or 

half of the second third quarter of the funding mechanisms, for no 

longer being able to rely on that Medicaid or Medicare as a revenue 

source to operate that hospital. So we’re really concerned what 

services are going to be cut. Is our emergency room going to get 

shut down? Are they going to have to lay off employees? We’re already standing at 60 to 70 percent rate of not having enough employees to even staff. We’ve had a turnover almost every 30 days 

of a new CEO. 

So when we talk about trying to have management there, leadership there to help get the hospital there to a level of performance, 

when you have a new CEO coming in, all that work that was done 

in that 30 days gets kind of thrown to the back again and restarted 

over. So it’s a cycle that’s completely starting over and over again. 

So I wanted to make sure you are aware of that, as we just had 

another acting CEO who was just now cycled out again and now 

we have another one. I’m not even sure who it is, Seneca Smith? 

Maybe somebody else. But just one of those things, that’s kind of 

what we’re dealing with. We can’t hire a CEO there for some reason. We’re not able to, I guess, get a correct panel that can get adequate support to move along the process. 

I just want to relay those issues to you. I know we’ve had other 

side conversations. I want you also to remember that it is the 

Omaha Winnebago Hospital. We recognize that the Committee 

wanted to come to the region. We were left out of those conversations, and so we made a special time two weeks ago when our tribe 

was in town for the Supreme Court case, to let you know, hey, it’s 

also the Omaha Tribe, here’s our concerns as to what’s going on. 

I just want to remind everyone that we are here too, we are here 

to make sure that our tribal members’ needs are being met as well. 

Thanks to the Committee, and thanks, everyone else, for listening. 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you, Chairman. 

99 

Is there a representative from Three Affiliated? How about a representative from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe that would like to address us? 

STATEMENT OF EVELYN ESPINOZA, HEALTH ADMINISTRATOR, 

ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE 

Ms. ESPINOZA. Good afternoon. My name is Evelyn Espinoza. I’m 

an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. I’m also a registered nurse. I’m currently the health administrator for our tribe. 

Who am I speaking to? Who’s represented here? I see a lot of 

tribal representation. But who else is represented here. I may have 

missed the introduction. I apologize for that. 

Mr. ANDREWS. We opened this up to really any tribal organization that would like to talk about—oh, are you talking about staff? 

Ms. ESPINOZA. No, is this Congressional folks, is this HHS? 

Mr. ANDREWS. These are all Congressional staff. 

Ms. ESPINOZA. Okay. Well, the reason why I asked is it’s very 

disappointing that we’re here talking about such an important 

issue that is devastating lives and spirits of our tribal members 

and everybody gets up and leaves. We have made the trip to come 

out here and talk to people and have our voices be heard and our 

stories be heard. And everybody left. And I’m very disappointed by 

that. 

Mr. ANDREWS. I did want to say, I do see—thank you—that other 

Congressional folks and HHS, IHS, is here as well. 

Ms. ESPINOZA. Thank you. I do see Mr. Grinnell, and I was really 

intending, he said he wasn’t going to be here, so I’m really happy 

that you did decide to stay. 

This is very, very frustrating. I’m sure you can tell by my tone. 

But we’re talking about entire communities being destroyed. We 

are talking about families being affected for generations. And we 

see here, it’s almost like we have to prove these awful things are 

happening, when they’re documented things happening. It’s so frustrating to be on this side and to be a person that has a responsibility to advocate and protect our tribal people. You feel helpless. 

It’s like hopeless. You get stuck in this, the sense of gloom, like it’s 

never going to change. 

How many people have to die? There are babies that have lost 

their lives because of this. 

We talk about suicide rates, we talk about alcohol and substance 

abuse, we talk about all this. But this situation that we’re in is 

completely unhealthy. We’re talking about the health care of our 

people. The way things are practiced, the way medicine is being delivered, the way communication is between these agencies and our 

tribes is unhealthy. It’s creating the same exact challenges that 

we’re here trying to fight against. 

Until we can come together and respect one another and acknowledge that things have to change, it’s going to continue to go 

on. People are going to continue to lose their lives. Our parents are 

going to continue to lose their children and our children are going 

to continue to lose their parents. This directly affects us. The majority of the people in this room, you have no idea the level to 

which this affects us. Our whole being as tribal people, we’re very 

spiritual people. Our spirit is very sacred to us. And this current 

100 

situation and the way health care is provided to our people completely goes against our beliefs. 

We at one time had a very solid foundation, a very solid understanding of who we were and what we believed in. And that was 

taken from us. A hundred and fifty years of history created the situation that we’re in. We have tribes fighting against tribes over 

scraps. We have other relatives being left out, their voices not 

being heard. We have tribes that are in better condition, IHS’s that 

are in better condition than the Great Plains area and the Billings 

area, that don’t have the problems. But they’re the ones that continue to get the improvements, while us that struggle and have 

these challenges, we continue to go down. 

We’ve had multiple meetings, multiple opportunities to share 

concerns, asked to be involved, we want to be involved, we want 

to be an active player in this game. We want you to take our suggestions and take action on them. We sit in situations like this and 

we end up with this afterwards, okay, maybe finally something will 

happen. And nothing happens. No follow-through. We have a beautiful report Senator Dorgan initiated six years ago. And it’s only 

gotten worse. 

No follow-through. No expectation. It’s like we’re not being treated as human beings. We have blood vessels, structures, anatomy 

the same as anybody else. We’re no less than anybody else. 

I’ll give you a little timeline here of the last six months. Our relatives in Winnebago and Omaha were put in a horrible situation 

last July. My heart is heavy for them and for what they’re going 

through, and for all of our tribes. In August, the second week in 

August we had a council meeting. The acting CEO came to our 

council and I said, what are we doing to prepare for CMS? What 

do we have in place? How can we help? What resources do you 

need? How can we work together to make sure we’re ready, that 

this doesn’t happen to us? 

That CEO told us, they’re completely ready. They didn’t need any 

help. They had everything under control. 

November 4th, an organization known as DNV that’s hired under 

contract by Indian Health Service came in, surveyed the facility, 

said it was the best survey that our facility had in eight years. Best 

survey, very minimal concerns found. A week later, on November 

8th, OIG visited. The CEO sends an email out and says, congratulations, staff, passed with flying colors, we impressed the OIG, we 

impressed DNV. CMS, bring it on. 

On November 16th, CMS arrives. On November 18th, they put 

our emergency services in immediate jeopardy because they found 

situations that existed that posed immediate and serious threat to 

the health and wellness of any individual seeking emergency services there. On December 6th, our ER went on diversion. 

All that happened within one month. We were told continually 

a year prior to that, everything’s okay, don’t worry about it, we 

have it under control. I had regular meetings, multiple meetings 

every month, IHS, this is the complaints I’m getting. These are the 

stories I’m hearing. Here’s a copy of the complaints. 

Seventy-nine documented complaints that I have not received a 

response from Indian Health Service on. Seventy-nine. 

101 

They told us their main problem is contractors, the quality of 

contractors. Last week on our call, our weekly call that they update 

us with, well, what are you doing about that, IHS? You have an 

area-wide contract with these companies. What are you doing to 

hold them accountable? How many meetings have you had with 

them? What expectations have you provided to them? How many 

contracts have you canceled, if this is such a problem? 

Ms. Espinoza, you make a good point. I’ll take that into consideration, that’s something that we can start working on. But no, we 

haven’t done any of that yet. 

I sat in the close-out at the hospital when CMS left, listened to 

what they had to say. The survey, Interior’s, mind you, at the end 

of the survey is saying, the quality of care here has to improve, and 

I highly recommend you include the staff providing this care in the 

plan for correction that you’re going to submit to us. Last week on 

that conference call, same conference call, same group of people, 

the staff is telling me they haven’t even see the report. They don’t 

know what their corrective actions are. 

So I asked this governing body of our hospital, how have you involved the staff that’s doing the work? Because I sat there and witnessed in these meetings, it’s not them involved in this. It’s this 

team for area office that has been deployed here made up of people 

removed from other reservations, developing a plan of correction for 

the Rosebud Hospital that the staff doesn’t know about. So, one, if 

the staff doesn’t know that there’s an issue and there’s something 

that they need to improve on, why would they improve it? 

So this recommendation by CMS at that close-out, that that area 

office was on the call with, they ignored it. So we continue to have 

the same things happening. The practices haven’t changed. The 

policies haven’t changed. Nothing has changed. The only thing that 

continues to change is our people continue to suffer and our services continue to decrease. 

I can stand up here and I can go on and on. I could share my 

horrible experience with the Indian Health Service that I had. I 

was a registered nurse for them for 10 years. I work for them, 

hard. And it was such an unhealthy environment, and it affected 

me in such a negative way, I had to leave that. My profession that 

I had worked for, I put that down and walked away for my own 

health. 

This has to change. Has to change. It’s unacceptable and people 

are going to continue to die, we’re going to continue to have this. 

For what? All this drama? It’s not changing anything. It’s horrible. 

It affects every one of us on a level you can’t even imagine. 

And I’m asking everybody here to take these things back to who 

you can to help us change this. Mr. Ganard, I’m asking you to hold 

your staff accountable. If your job is quality, then I want to see 

quality. And if you can’t do the job, then step down so somebody 

else can. 

Thank you. 

[Applause.] 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you, Ms. Espinoza, for that heartfelt, we 

can all say how heartfelt were your comments. 

Is Chairman Flute here? Is there a representative for the 

Sisseton Wahpeton? 

102 

STATEMENT OF SARAH DAKOTA, HEALTH COORDINATOR, 

SISSETON WAHPETON OYATE TRIBE 

Ms. DAKOTA. Yes. Chairman Flute was not able to come. I’m 

Sarah Dakota, I’m the Health Coordinator from Sisseton Wahpeton 

Oyate. So I’m here on behalf of the tribe. 

I agree that everything that has been said today, a lot of important things have been said today. The thing that is, a week ago I 

really had not heard about any of this. I want to thank Evie 

Espinoza for sharing with us at Sisseton Wahpeton the report from 

Rosebud. We were not aware that some of these problems that are 

occurring. 

So east of the river, we don’t have hospitals. We have health centers. And the same types of issues with the emergency room and 

hospital is not occurring. But I guess what we were aware of was 

that our doctor, one of our permanent doctors, was assigned to go 

over and help at Rosebud. And I’m sure we want to help. But it 

leaves us short-staffed, because our positions aren’t all filled either. 

And we have vacancies. We’re using the contract doctors, and many 

of the same issues that have been talked about today are our 

issues, too. 

The other mystery that was solved is that our practice, when we 

don’t, because we don’t have a hospital, and is that if someone 

needs an elective surgery, like a tubal ligation or something of that 

nature, they need to be referred to an IHS facility. So we had a 

patient who has been waiting for a tubal ligation since November, 

kept faxing her stuff out. And she had the impression, the staff at 

our IHS must not have been aware that this was happening in the 

referral facility either at Rosebud. So they kept faxing the paperwork out. This person’s been waiting for their elective surgery and 

wondering, well, they keep losing my paperwork. 

I wanted to mention about vacancies. We have had vacancies in 

our behavioral health department for three years. This past year, 

we’re having a lot of suicidal behavior in children. We had some 

completions. And it isn’t that we don’t have the funding to hire the 

positions, we just can’t get the positions filled. So the question is 

why? Why can’t we get the positions filled? 

We have the same concerns as Sisseton Wahpeton about quality. 

I think you’ve noticed that Mr. Tom Wilson from KXSW, our radio 

station, is here. He also has something to say about quality that 

I think would be, if he would be willing to speak at this time. 

STATEMENT OF TOM WILSON, STATION MANAGER, KXSW 

RADIO STATION 

Mr. WILSON. Good evening. The quality, it’s like we get put on 

the back burner. To come out here, I had to wait an extra day and 

change my flight to see the doctor to get my meds filled. And to 

see the doctor only took me five minutes, to get my meds filled. But 

it cost me like $75 to change my flight to come out here, which I 

said, be there Friday, we had a set, scheduled appointment to get 

everything filled. And it only took me five minutes to see the doctor, because I had to cancel everything just because of that one 

thing. 

Some of the listeners are FaceBooking me and asking if they can 

ask a question. So I don’t know if I could or not. One of them is 

103 

why the SWO and the Great Plains Region can’t retain doctors permanently. 

Mr. ANDREWS. You ask a good question. We will certainly take 

that back. Of course, we have our friends from HHS here that we’ll 

be obviously directly communicating with. I don’t want to put them 

on the spot, but this is the type of information, that back and forth, 

that Tony and I need so we can continue to develop and advocate 

for all your health and on all your behalf. So that is the best I can 

give you right now. 

But I expect other great questions to come forward as a result 

of this listening session. And of course, the many questions that 

were generated by both, all three panels today. 

Mr. WALTERS. I’ll just add a real quick thank you. The question 

of attention, that’s across the board. I don’t think it is just in the 

Great Plains Region, as you mentioned. But I think we’ve heard 

from different folks all day today that it’s across the board with 

IHS, that issue. They’re trying as much as they can to work on 

those issues. 

So we’ll keep working with them and tribal folks and tribal leaders who come in and express these issues with us. 

Mr. WILSON. The doctors, the nurses, the staff, they need all 

that. So kudos to all the nurses that are out there that give you 

that extra care. When we make an appointment, the daily appointment, 8:00 o’clock you start calling. By 8:03 it’s all filled up. And 

that’s the frustrating part. I don’t know how it can fill up that 

quick, in three minutes. It takes me three minutes just to say ‘‘ah’’ 

before I go on and get my appointment. 

So thank you. 

Ms. DAKOTA. Sisseton Wahpeton is interested in being a part of 

the finding solutions. We’re interested in that. And we look forward 

to more dialogue. Because we don’t want what has happened at 

Rosebud, Pine Ridge and Omaha Winnebago to happen to us. 

Thank you. 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you. Is there a representative from the 

Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska? 

STATEMENT OF VINCE BASS, VICE CHAIRMAN, WINNEBAGO 

TRIBE OF NEBRASKA 

Mr. BASS. Good evening. My name is Vince Bass. I’m Vice Chairman of the Winnebago Tribe in Nebraska, northeast Nebraska. 

I heard a lot of real good testimony today. I am not going to go 

over it and be redundant. I know you’re looking for solutions also. 

First, allow me to say that I think it’s important to note that Winnebago Tribe is a treaty tribe. Our forefathers had the wisdom to 

put into our treaty that the Federal Government take care of our 

health care of our people forever. So that’s in there. That’s noted, 

that’s in there. That’s a big part of the reason why IHS decided to 

locate the Winnebago IHS hospital on our Winnebago trust land. 

So I wanted to get that out, I wanted to make that clear. Also, 

I wanted to say our people were moved from Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, western South Dakota and back down to 

Nebraska, where we currently reside. We lost thousands of tribal 

members during those, as they moved us, due to disease, due to 

starvation, punishment and just the, they didn’t have planes or 

104 

anything back then, so naturally they had to walk. Most of our 

women and children and elders had to walk. 

So what I’m saying is we paid for this hospital already in blood. 

So we feel that we don’t need to continue paying for this hospital 

in blood. We lost five Winnebago tribal members, and one was too 

many. So we’re very, very angry. 

And yet we want to be able to work with everyone involved to 

try to resolve some of these issues that we currently face. It’s really 

a huge issue. I mean, look at all the different people, look at all 

the different tribes. We’re very thankful that the Senate Committee 

on Indian Affairs held this oversight hearing, so we can bring this 

to light and bring up a lot of evidence and have people testify, and 

bring the truth out. We heard from IHS. And we also heard the 

truth from the tribal members. So I kind of wanted to say it like 

that way. 

I don’t want to go on and on, either. But I do have a list of some 

recommendations from our tribe that I would like to share with 

you. It’s also in our testimony, but there may be people here who 

don’t have that testimony. So if you don’t mind, I would like to go, 

starting with number one. 

First of all, we would ask the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to examine the role that the Federal employment policies and 

regulations are playing in allowing incompetent and under-trained 

employees to continue to work in the Indian Health Service. Employees need to be held accountable for their actions. No longer can 

IHS continue to protect, cover up, shuffle, transfer or perpetuate 

incompetency. 

Second, we recommend that IHS be mandated to institute a formal process for investigating any repot of a questionable death or 

other unusual medical incident in any of its facilities. When problems are identified, immediate action must be taken to correct the 

problem, including disciplinary action against any employee who 

has failed to do their job. 

Third, we recommend that the IHS mandate as a condition of ongoing employment that its employees repot any improper care of 

mismanagement that they observe, and that those repots be sent 

directly to central office. The standard of care must be raised and 

every IHS employee should feel responsible for helping to fix this 

problem. 

Fourth, we recommend that IHS be authorized and directed to 

immediately terminate any employee who retaliates or threatens to 

retaliate against a person who files such a report. The culture must 

change. Employees should be encouraged to make improvements 

and find better ways of doing things and not intimidated into maintaining the status quo. 

Fifth, we feel strongly that each of the tribes who are served by 

a direct care facility should be given full and immediate access to 

any CMS accreditation or other third party reports or studies performed on that facility. We further recommend that all negative reports should be shared with this Committee and its counterpart in 

the House. IHS needs to stop hiding the ball. 

Sixth, we recommend that IHS be directed to ensure that no 

tribe suffers the loss of services or funding because of IHS mismanagement. The third party billing for Medicare and Medicaid 

105 

represented a sizeable percentage of the Winnebago IHS hospital’s 

operating budget. 

Seventh, we insist that IHS mismanagement should not be used 

as an excuse for eliminating or cutting back on services or funding. 

Already, IHS is discussing how the under-utilization of our facility 

makes it difficult to seek the funding necessary to fix its problems. 

It’s like a death spiral. IHS creates an environment that people do 

not want to go to. They refuse to admit patients because they fear 

further scrutiny. Then they conclude that the hospital is too underutilized, so maybe they should shut down some of the services and 

funding. This is totally unacceptable. It is a flagrant violation of 

the Federal Government’s treaty and trust obligations and someone 

should be fired for even raising this as a possibility. 

Eighth, tribes should be given a real role to play on the governing bodies of IHS-operated facilities, not just a token attendance 

right. I’ll give you an example. The IHS will tell you that since 

their corrective action plan has been implemented, our tribal chairwoman has been invited to participate in the final interview process for key positions at the hospital. This is true. What they fail 

to tell you is that she only received the resume just before the 

meeting and she was never told how many others applied for the 

job, who they were, what the differences were in their credentials 

or even how many candidates were there. That’s in my testimony. 

I came up with a couple more. 

As Chairman Frazier alluded to earlier, he feels that compacting 

may be the only way out of this. That’s why the Winnebago Tribe 

is doing this, because we feel this is the only way out. Our hospital 

has been managed by IHS for all these years, even after the Dorgan Report. The same things that you’re hearing today, it’s still 

happening. In fact, it’s even worse than when the Dorgan Report 

came out in 2010. 

Tribes shouldn’t feel that they need to exercise self-governance to 

fix IHS issues. We have no confidence in IHS. We will take over 

using the compacting, self-governance process to manage our hospital. We are in the process now, in the planning process. 

There is a major lack of communication. For example, we lost accreditation on July 23rd of 2015. No one told us, neither CMS, IHS. 

I heard it on the evening news. So that’s just an example. And you 

heard other examples of lack of communication that occurs over 

and over and over again. 

As you are doing today, I would allow tribes to have input on 

what’s going on. Because as you know, the solutions to the problems in Indian Country are best provided by Indian people. So we 

haven’t had a whole lot of communication with the other tribes in 

the Great Plains area, but we intend to. And I hope that all the 

tribes don’t feel that they need to feel obligated to compact, even 

though we’re going to have that discussion and we’re going to work 

at it together if that’s what we decide to do. 

So I wanted you to know that the tribes in the Great Plains are 

pretty much all united on this. I do not know one tribe that is not 

united on the issues that are facing us right now. In fact, throughout Indian Country, I think I can say that’s almost true as well. 

I think you’ll see other things coming up in other parts of the 

Country that’s happening in the Great Plains region today. 

106 

So I just want to say thank you again for taking the time to listen to tribes. We’re in a situation where we need to all work together. And I think we can do that. I think awareness has been 

raised. Because a lot of people didn’t know what was going on. 

That lady from Sisseton Wahpeton did not know what was going 

on. 

So now that everybody knows what’s going on, I think we could 

all get together, and we really look forward to future meetings 

where we can collaborate and work jointly to resolve these issues. 

I thank you very much. 

[Applause.] 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you, Chairman Bass. Very heartfelt as 

well. 

Have I missed any other tribes that would like to have their representative speak? Sir? 

STATEMENT OF CHARLES HEADDRESS, VICE CHAIRMAN, 

FORT BECK ASSINIBOINE SIOUX TRIBES OF MONTANA 

Mr. HEADDRESS. I want to thank the Committee here who is absent at the time. I think they have our back. I think the Winnebago 

Tribe and the Rosebud Tribe should have been the first ones at the 

table to be heard while they were here, because that impact would 

have been, it would have been sent home a lot better. I’m not saying that the staffers don’t work hard, we appreciate all the work 

that you guys do, also. 

My name is Charles Headdress, and I am the Vice Chairman of 

the Fort Beck Assiniboine Sioux Tribes in Montana. We have the 

very same issues. We’ve had two hospitals that kind of teetered 

from time to time, Blackfoot Hospital and the Crow Hospital. 

I’m also the regional representative to the National Indian 

Health Board board of directors. We did have, two weeks ago we 

had the Winnebago Omaha Tribe in to talk with us, and Rosebud 

also, by teleconference. 

As you know, last year we had those non-profit organizations 

serving all 565 federally-recognized tribes when it comes to health. 

The United States assumed the Federal trust responsibility for 

health by exchanging compensation and benefits for peace in Indian land. We all know that. In other words, we prepaid for these 

programs. 

As recently as 2010, when Congress renewed the Indian Health 

Care Improvement Act, they have found it is the policy of this Nation to ensure the highest possible health status for Indians. And 

to provide all resources necessary to effect that policy. I think Senator Tester said it best when he says, fund it. 

I’m not going to go over a lot of this stuff because it’s redundant, 

everybody has had their say on a lot of it, so I won’t repeat it. So 

I’m going to skip over some of this stuff. The problems that were 

in the Dorgan Report exposed much of this chronic mismanagement. A subsequent 2011 report by a separate HHS task force 

noted that ‘‘The lack of an agency-wide systematic approach makes 

it virtually impossible to hold managers and staff accountable for 

performance and to correct problems before they reach crisis proportions.’’ 

107 

The Administration was quick to deploy National Health Service 

corps members to West Africa to treat the Ebola outbreak in 2014. 

But when the health crisis occurred in Indian Country, the tribes 

were told that there was just a national shortage of physicians, 

there’s nothing that could be done to get more medical staff to the 

reservations. 

While the issues in the Great Plains are certainly concerning to 

all of us, we have no reason to believe that they are isolated to this 

area, and they aren’t, believe me. The National Indian Health 

Board has received reports from other IHS service areas of patient 

misdiagnoses and subsequent death, lack of competent providers 

and IHS’ continued failure to provide safe and reliable health care 

for our people. 

One of our members recently went to the doctor and laid out the 

problems that they were having. The doctor asked them, after all 

that was said and done, well, what is it that you want? So in other 

words, he could have said, well, give me some Percoset. Give me 

some pills. Let me take care of it. 

That’s the kind of reaction that we get from some providers. Not 

all providers. This provider happened to be a contract doctor with 

no skin in the game, really. They get paid a high salary just to give 

you a Band-Aid. 

Alcohol and substance abuse are very prevalent, and this leads 

to many, many health care problems. We have the Bakken oil plate 

right next to us, and with that, they had 100,000 people come in 

from all over the United States and foreign countries to work. And 

with them they brought all the problems, from crime to drugs. We 

have a funnel of methamphetamine coming up through there right 

now that has affected our tribes greatly. Once beautiful people are 

walking around like zombies now because of this. And it’s happening all over Indian Country, not just where we’re at. 

A problem with lack of dentists is another huge issue. As we all 

know, dental care plays a big role in your health care. It can cause 

major health care problems if your teeth aren’t taken care of. We 

are so understaffed that we quit making appointments up at our 

reservation and have five slots a day for the doctor to see patients. 

We almost have fights outside the clinic because people are fighting 

to get in to see that, to get in one of those slots. That’s ridiculous. 

It wouldn’t happen anywhere else. At least open the door, let them 

stay warm. 

And again, I’m going to skip through all this, because it’s been 

said already. We have testimony from the Phoenix area, a report 

to that the National Indian Health Board that her mother was 

treated for a urinary tract infection by the White River IHS Hospital. When her condition did not improve, the patient’s family was 

reportedly told by IHS medical staff, ‘‘What do you want me to do 

with her? She’s an old woman.’’ 

After several more days, the patient was transferred to another 

facility in Gilbert, Arizona and found to have pneumonia, there was 

kidney stones in her gall bladder, two blood clots in her left arm 

and a serious blood infection from the previous urinary tract infection. The patient passed away just a few days later. 

Now, we could go on and on. What will it take for the U.S. Government to fulfill its promise of providing care to Indian Country 

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that is safe and reliable? In my home State of Montana, the State 

Government has created a Director of American Indian Health position. We applaud them for that. We work very well with our Governor and Senator Tester and Senator Daines. I wish they were 

here to hear this. 

But is emblematic of the Federal Government falling down on 

the job. While it is a good move for our State, why is the State 

doing it? Our treaties promise health care delivery from the Federal Government, but clearly it hasn’t been working. We understand the Federal budgets are tight, but the treaties that we signed 

are not discretionary and should not be held to unrelated political 

battles in Washington. 

Nation Indian Health Board tribes have asked for budgets each 

year that would bring IHS up to the same status as other American health facilities. Right now, this is $30 billion. To begin to 

phase in this amount over 12 years, we are requesting $6.2 billion 

for IHS in fiscal year 2017. But funding is another thing. All of the 

facilities are lacking medical doctors, nurses, everybody. We just 

are totally lacking. And we realize that recruitment, housing and 

all those things that have been spoken about impact all of that. 

But again, I go back to what Senator Tester said: fund it. The 

Federal Government needs to fund it adequately. 

Now, I don’t know where they all went, I know they have very 

busy jobs. But they could be talking about getting rid of Obamacare 

again, for example, or maybe how many bombs we will need for 

this next war we will be in. Well, we are in a war, and we have 

been in a war for years. In our community, for example, if you have 

a heart attack, it will cost $25,000 to $30,000 to get you to the closest critical care hospital, which is 300 miles away. Here in Washington, if somebody had a heart attack, not near that amount. All 

that eats into the budget that the local IHS is meting out to us for 

health care. And we have many heart attacks up there. 

This is why preventive medicine investments are so critical. We 

cannot be wasting our resources on treating symptoms, we need to 

invest in whole health systems. We consistently hear again that 

IHS mismanages and IHS is substandard. Accountability measures 

are enforced sporadically at best and often managers have little 

training. When issues do arise, it is unlikely that an employee 

would be let go. They just get moved somewhere else. And that’s 

been said. 

Unlike in the private sector, where the number of patients impacts the overall physician pay, IHS medical staff have a set salary 

and there is really on incentive to go above and beyond to meet the 

needs of the patient. In many ways, IHS is still operating a health 

system designed for the 1950s. Several of the reforms enacted by 

the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 2010 like demonstrations that tests no knowledge of health care delivery have not been 

implemented. This represents another broken promise to Indian 

Country. 

In Alaska, the tribes have a primary health system that works 

closely with the VA and focuses on a hub and spoke system to get 

better access for care to rural villages. Why can’t the IHS be a 

leader in innovative health care strategies as the tribes have been? 

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Two weeks ago the National Indian Health Board passed a motion that would call for our representation to investigate a situation 

at IHS facilities across Indian Country and embark on a path toward finding real, sustainable change at IHS. As part of this work, 

the National Indian Health Board conducted listening sessions 

with tribal leaders, patients and medical professionals to determine 

new policy steps that IHS should take. This effort will be targeted 

at finding ways to achieve sustainable, long term change across the 

Nation’s health system. 

In closing, I want to share a story about my health care. I hope 

no one takes it too seriously. It is a funny story, but it’s not funny. 

But I went to, four years ago I had an issue with my heart. I went 

in to see IHS two or three times before I was finally referred. I 

said, I’m short of breath, I need to be sent somewhere they can look 

at it. After two times, I was turned down, they finally sent me out 

to a cardiologist 300 miles away. So when they went in and did the 

tests on my, they found out I had 94 percent blockage in two arteries. So they immediately took me into the ER and put in two 

stents. 

I came home 100 percent better, could breathe a lot better. And 

I was scheduled to go down for my follow-up in one month. So as 

the health care process goes with IHS, you have to take that follow-up paper to your provider, your provider at IHS, and he takes 

it to the Committee, the PRC committee, and they either deny it 

or approve it. Well, I was denied my follow-up. 

So what I want to say is, what they were telling me is, forget 

about your engine, we’ll just fix your exhaust. Because they gave 

me a colostomy appointment just one week after that denial. So 

they said the hell with your engine, let’s just fix your exhaust. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. HEADDRESS. And I told that to Tester at one of our hearings 

in Montana. It’s funny in a way, but it’s not. And it happens all 

the time in Indian Country, not just to me or anybody else in our 

area. We have dealt with this for a long time. 

And I do want to give a shout-out to Indian Health Service. I’ve 

worked with some of these people, I was an employee of Indian 

Health Service for 30 years. I retired in 2004. And I worked with 

some of the people in this very room, Dorothy, Mr. McSwain, is he 

still here? And some of them are very dedicated people. 

But again, they do not have the money to do the things that they 

know they need to do. And we beat up on them all the time. Some 

of it deservedly, but a lot of them are very hard workers, especially 

the nurses, the people that are out in the trenches doing the work. 

We need to get rid of some of the administrators and make more 

doctors. That’s the bottom line. 

So thank you for your time. 

[Applause.] 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you, Mr. Headdress. 

Any other tribal organizations that want to address us? Please. 

STATEMENT OF ADRIANA SAUNSOCI, VICE CHAIR, OMAHA 

TRIBAL COUNCIL 

Ms. SAUNSOCI. Good evening. My name is Adriana Saunsoci, and 

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half of the Omaha tribal members and all the rest of our nations, 

our tribes, not just my own. I’m here for the mothers, the fathers, 

the brothers, the sisters and all the family for patients of facilities 

of Indian Health Services and the hospitals. 

I want to say thank you to all those tribal leaders and individuals that were up to share their stories to you. Again, it was said 

that a lot of us have a lot of very similar issues. And they are very, 

very similar. 

I want to say thank you to the Winnebago Tribal Treasurer, Tori 

Kitcheyan, for being up there and speaking on behalf of the hospital. I think she just kind of forget to mention Omaha Winnebago 

Hospital over a handful of times. But regardless, I’m here on behalf 

of all of us. 

I’m speaking, not reading anything. What I want to share with 

you is, some of you may know, on August 3, 2013, I myself had a 

child. I don’t know how many of you are parents in here. But I had 

a child. She was just a month away from being three years old. 

There was a horrible, tragic accident. We got my child to the ambulance. From the ambulance we went to what’s our life link on the 

Winnebago Reservation, it is the Omaha Winnebago Hospital. We 

went to our life link to try to save my child. 

We were unsuccessful. So I stand here before you as a grieving 

mother today and the vice chair, again, not just for my people, but 

for all tribes, to say that this cannot continue to happen. I pray for 

better things for our people. 

I blamed myself for a long time and held guilt for my child’s 

death because of the way that it happened, so tragically. And a 

year later, just a little over a year later, we get a new acting CEO 

at our facility. So when she came to report to us in Macy, Nebraska, the Omaha tribal reservation, about the issues at the hospital, she told us some very disturbing things. And with the things 

that she shared with me, one of the questions I asked her, I try 

not to mix my personal and my own life with my work, but at that 

very moment I couldn’t help it. 

I asked this individual, and her name was Dixie Dykowski, 

which by the way I think she did a very good job while she was 

there, but when I asked her, so you’re standing here and you’re 

telling me, you’re telling me that if you had a trained staff in that 

hospital, people that knew what they were doing, the crash carts 

were working or they knew how to use them, you’re telling me that 

my child could have been here? And she said yes. I’m so sorry, but, 

yes. So these are the things that are happening, not within just my 

own community, but within all tribal nations. 

A year later, I had to take my son back, and of course I suffer 

from post-traumatic stress disorder. I have to take my son back repeatedly because he had fevers, he had chills, he was convulsing. 

But they would get his fever down and they would send him home. 

It happened twice. 

I couldn’t take it, I couldn’t go back there anymore, so I took him 

to the city of Onawa, Iowa. And they kept my son a little over a 

week and gave him antibiotic treatments and said I was lucky that 

I got him there. 

Now, can you imagine, after the loss of one child, if I were to lose 

two? Now, again, I don’t know how many of you have children, but 

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that’s the worst fear of a mother, is to lose another child. Let alone 

lose one. 

So I come here today again to share my story, not just to get her 

story out, but to share that this happens all over Indian Country. 

So be our voice, I’m asking each and every one of you to be our 

voice and help us to improve the quality of life. It is not about the 

almighty dollar. It is about the life of our people. 

Thank you. 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you for sharing that story with us, very 

powerful. I think your words resonate with all of us here that are 

listening to you, that I think that’s our goal, to make sure that 

tragic events like that don’t happen anymore, to anyone, anywhere. 

So thank you. 

Is there anybody else? We’ve come to a point here where we’ve 

heard from tribal leaders and tribal organizations. So feel free, this 

is your time. If you want to address us. Sir, please. If you’d just 

introduce yourself. 

STATEMENT OF JAMES RED WILLOW, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

MEMBER, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE 

Mr. RED WILLOW. Thank you. My name is James Red Willow. I’m 

with the Executive Committee of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Our 

President Steele had given earlier testimony as well as our tribal 

council representative on the HHS committee, Sonia Little Hawk 

Weston. 

But there aren’t too many things I can say that haven’t already 

been said except treaty obligations, of course. McSwain was near 

our reservation but within our treaty territory of the Black Hills 

in a town called Spearfish, where he heard many of the stories that 

were told today concerning lack of health care. It wasn’t too long 

ago in our past history that the only health risks that many of us 

tribal nations faced were the bullets and sabers of our enemies. 

But because of our ancestors’ refusal to surrender, we entered into 

treaties. And our treaty, the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, Article 13, 

guarantees us health care, recognizable in international courts. 

Now, at this point in our lives, the things we have to worry about 

concerning our health are the stresses that we have to go through 

to guarantee that we will have proper health care. And that stress 

upon our individual members, especially our women that have the 

care in their hearts for the people, the children. There’s an old saying amongst our ancestors that if the women of our nation’s hearts 

are on the ground then we are no longer a nation, we will not survive. 

So the stress that is put upon our people compounds those health 

issues that our people face, diabetes, heart disease, a myriad of 

smaller ailments that aren’t treated properly or have the necessary 

physicians there to see you through your illnesses, physicians that 

leave because their obligations in the military are ending or they’re 

no longer wishing to be there. So patients have to rely on a new 

physician for health care, and they might not have the same treatment by the previous physician, given different medications, et 

cetera. This stress also relates down to our children. 

I gave testimony here when Senator Abourezk was the chairman 

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ple in this room that remember Senator Abourezk, but I was on a 

council, tribal council in a treaty organization back in 1976 when 

I gave testimony regarding health care, law and order, et cetera. 

And here I am today, 40 years later, still giving testimony. But I’ll 

continue to do so. I have exceeded the expectations of the statistics 

of the government in living past my 50 years as expected by the 

U.S. Government. The women of our nation are only a few years 

beyond the mid-50s that are expected to live. 

So I’m going to defer further testimony to give others, and submit written testimony. There is a lot of complaints that my office 

receives from the people of the reservation. I live 100 plus miles 

from Pine Ridge in the northeast corner of the Pine Ridge Reservation with the Eagle Nest District. Daily I travel to Pine Ridge. I 

pick up hitchhikers that are hitchhiking to the facility in Pine 

Ridge and have to wait for hours and hours, some tell up to 10 

hours in the emergency room, waiting. 

But there’s a shining example on our reservation of dedicated 

people within IHS as was mentioned by the gentleman previously. 

Some of those individuals work tirelessly in what is known as boots 

on the ground in some circles. Pine Ridge Indian Health Service 

has two satellite clinics in the Medicine Root District and the Eagle 

Nest District. We in those two outlying satellite health centers 

would like to be a standalone in case the hospital in Pine Ridge 

was ever to be shut down. That would not affect our two health 

centers, we would still be operational and not be shut down. 

But the health issues that confront our people, no doubt we will, 

in the future, our systems will develop to the point where we will 

be a healthy people again. Our diet in the past consisted of natural 

foods. And we didn’t have the myriad of diseases that affect us 

now. It’s with the diet also that our people are suffering. 

But with that, I would just like to say that with these testimonies that we all give, we are expecting some type of action that 

would give us better health care. And that is through the Indian 

Health Service. So may the Great Spirit help us all if IHS does not 

live up to the expectations that we have. 

Thank you. 

[Applause.] 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you for that. 

STATEMENT OF DONNA SALOMON, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBAL 

MEMBER 

Ms. SALOMON. Thank you. My name is Donna Salomon, and I’m 

a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. I traveled here from Pine 

Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. 

I had a number of issues to address, but I know from listening 

all day that all of it has been said as to what our tribes need. So 

I want to share a personal experience. I’m the eldest daughter of 

ten siblings. Three years ago, in July of 2013, my father was injured in a car accident on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was 

taken to the Pine Ridge Hospital and transferred on to Rapid City 

Regional Hospital. That happened on May 11th of 2013. 

On May 30th, he was transferred to the advanced care hospital 

in Billings, Montana, where he stayed until July 26th, 2013. For 

almost three months he was hospitalized, they had him on a trach 

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and a ventilator. He had a fractured neck and had a punctured 

lung. 

Repeatedly, he wanted to go home. I come from a family that believes in traditional healing. We have medicine people. We made 

repeated requests to Indian Health Service and they denied us 

every time to take him home. I felt confident had he gone home, 

our ceremonies, we have Yuwipi ceremonies that could have helped 

him to recover. But instead, our CEO of that hospital continued to 

deny our request. All we wanted was to take him home. And he 

would not provide a receiving physician to accept him home. He 

said Pine Ridge did not have respiratory care services, did not have 

certified nursing staff nor equipment. 

And finally, we just said, we don’t want him to go to the hospital, 

we want him to go home so we could have the ceremonies that he 

wanted to help him with his healing. 

On the last day, when we finally contacted tribal leadership to 

help us, I had guardianship of him. I wrote to Senator Tim Johnson, I contacted Tex Hall, from the Chairmen of the Great Plains 

tribal chairmen, I reached out all over. I had him courtesy copied 

to Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service, everywhere I could think of. I have my letters that I am going 

to attach to my written testimony. 

While he was in Billings, he contracted MRSA. And I know that 

it was there, because right across the hall from him there was another with MRSA. And that weakened his system so bad, the medicine, the ten days of those strong medicines took him down. My father was 84 years old, he hardly ever went to health centers. If he 

got sick, he went to the ceremonies. His first language was Lakota 

and he only went to sixth grade. So he couldn’t talk to the doctors, 

he couldn’t understand some of the services that they were giving 

him. 

He already had a weak kidney. He already had problems with 

his lungs. But they insisted that they continued to keep him on oxygen, continued keeping him on medicines to bring his kidney tests 

up. And when they did that, it knocked his liver tests down. So 

they were constantly going back and forth trying to get him stabilized. 

And he kept motioning to us, take me home. And we would reach 

out to Allen Davis and he would deny us. 

Finally, on the last day, on July 26th, he finally agreed. And so 

we got happy and we were going to go. And then he changed his 

mind and he said he couldn’t do it. So we called our leadership, we 

called President Brewer, we called all the tribal council to help us. 

So they called up there, and so he changed his mind, said, okay, 

we’re going to bring you home, or you bring him home. 

The attending doctor at Billings, Dr. Fenn, he must have felt 

sorry for us because of the struggles trying to get him home, that 

he finally said, when he heard Allen Davis say, I will send for air 

ambulance to bring him home, but you need to provide for the 

nurses to accompany him back, and he’s not going to come back to 

the hospital. He’s going to go straight to his home. And I’m going 

to receive him and that’s about it. 

So we had to have the tribe meet us at the airport with the tribal 

ambulance. They met us there. He had Dr. Mitchell meet us at the 

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airport and Jay Sambutans, who was a social service worker. They 

met us there in Rushville, Nebraska, which is only a 25 minute 

drive from Pine Ridge. And this is my dad. He was still conscious. 

When we left from Billings, he was happy. He indicated to me as 

happy. I reached around, I rode with him on the air ambulance, 

reached around, hugged him and said, Dad, we’re going home. Are 

you happy? And he nodded his head. 

And when we pulled into Rushville, he was still up. All my family was there and they greeted him. And Dr. Mitchell got in the 

ambulance with him and we went home. I don’t know what he did 

to him on that 25 minute ride, but when he got home, he was unconscious. He stayed that way until 3:00 o’clock, 3:27 the next 

morning, he passed away. 

The worst thing was, before we left, when he told us he would 

not give my dad any medicine, Dr. Fenn gave me a prescription because he was worried that my father needed comfort care, some 

type of medicine to keep him from being too agitated when that 

time came. So he gave me a prescription and I filled it. 

He told Dr. Mitchell about it, so when we got there, Dr. Mitchell 

asked me if I had it, and I said yes. He didn’t administer it. He 

told me he would let me know when I had to give him the medicine. 

About 12:30 that night, he was still there and he told me, I think 

you’d better give him some medicine. And I looked at my dad and 

he was still laying there unconscious. So I looked at the little bottle 

and I just gave my dad about one little drop that was not even a 

third of what was prescribed, because I didn’t think he needed it. 

About 2 o’clock in the morning, I was surprised because Dr. 

Mitchell came up to me and he told me he was leaving now. And 

when I looked at him, he had tears in his eyes, because throughout 

that time we were singing, and my brother was trying to do the 

ceremony, but he said my dad’s spirit had, something had happened, his spirit was weak. And Dr. Mitchell approached me in 

tears and red-eyes, and told me, had I known how important it was 

for your father to get here so you, your family could go through 

this, I would have told Mr. Davis to bring him home weeks ago. 

I could have slapped him but my father taught us not to disrespect people. My father passed away. The next morning the funeral home came after him. About a half hour later, or an hour 

later, we got a call from the funeral home and they said, you need 

to come up and do our arrangements now. We could not take your 

father’s body to the hospital, to the morgue because their refrigeration units broke down. We can’t keep him too long. 

I’m here today to tell the Committee, we need respiratory care 

services on our reservation. When my father wanted to come home, 

we were told, there are no respiratory care services close to home. 

We contacted Rapid City, there was nothing there. We contacted 

the VA, because he’s a veteran. Fort Meade doesn’t have it, Black 

Hills, veterans hospital doesn’t have it. No other tribes in the 

Great Plains area has respiratory care services. 

We’re in Pine Ridge. We’re 300, 400 miles away from the closest 

respiratory care. And that’s only if they’re available. What’s appalling is that IHS told us that during this time there were five other 

cases similar to my dad. They were in Denver and Omaha and BilVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00118 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
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lings and Minneapolis. For our family to stay in Billings for almost 

two months, it cost us almost $2,000 just to stay there. That was 

not counting the transportation or the food. Luckily, I have a job 

and I have a business, so I was able to keep the rest of my family 

so we could remain there. My father not being able to understand 

very much English, one of us always had to be there so we could 

translate. 

That’s what happens to our tribal elders. They don’t need to do 

that. IHS does not have enough money, they told us, to provide 

that type of service. I have a lot of people that came to me after 

they heard my story. It was in Lakota Country Times his story was 

printed. And they told me that their husbands, mothers, grandmothers all died outside. Chief Oliver Red Cloud was one. He was 

on respiratory care services and they sent him to Denver. He could 

never go home. He died in Denver. He was the Chairman of the 

Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council. His life, whole life, he 

fought for treaty, treaty rights, treaty obligations. His forefathers 

fought for treaty. And it’s a darned shame that there’s a grandson 

of Chief Red Cloud who could not go home because of lack of the 

type of specialized care that he needed. They wouldn’t even take 

him home, to go home to his home where he wanted to go. 

These elder men and women who tried to protect us, who tried 

to teach us, preserve our ceremonies, I just cannot help this. They 

failed our people. The episode of care for my dad started in Pine 

Ridge. They had that responsibility all the way to when he was 

brought back. There were no advocates that went there. There was 

no follow-up. They did not check to see how he was doing. 

I didn’t even realize that Medicare only paid for 45 days for that 

type of care. At the end of that 45 days, they were trying to make 

us turn his machines off, not because he had internal organs shutting down or nothing, just that there was a 45-day limit. 

How many of our people who do not understand Medicare limits 

are told to go make a decision to shut a machine off? How many? 

We almost did, at that 45-dya limit, we almost shut that machine 

off, because they told us we had to. We didn’t understand, we 

thought it was because it was of his health. But we found out it 

wasn’t. IHS informed us that our dad had Medicaid as well, so once 

advanced care hospital found out my dad was Medicaid eligible, 

they went in there and they started respiratory, physical therapy, 

everything. 

But by then, it was too late. It was too late. And I’m a living testament to what happened to my dad. And this is just one tribal 

member. And I know, Great Plains Tribes, you all have the same 

problem. Your people are sent out there and some of them, the majority of them never return. They come home in a box. 

My father wanted to come home and be connected to his homeland. And we made sure that he was brought back. Had he not 

been brought back, we had a van ready and we were going to, if 

we had to get an air tank and a vacuum, we were going to make 

sure, if he died on the way, just so he knew he was going home. 

That’s all we were worried about. But these are stories, you heard 

the lady earlier tell you about losing her baby. This is our dad. He 

has over 130 grandchildren who walked in a walk to the Pine 

116 

Ridge Tribal Headquarters asking to bring their grandpa home. 

And we had to fight and fight and fight. 

I thank you for listening. I thank Emily and Jackie for going to 

Pine Ridge. I thank Darren Benjamin for going to Pine Ridge to see 

how we actually live and what we actually go through. 

I thank you, and the Senators who sent their staffers, to Senator 

Thune for sending Jeannie down there all the time. I’d really like 

to thank all of you for listening. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF JERILYN CHURCH, CEO, GREAT PLAINS 

TRIBAL CHAIRMEN’S HEALTH BOARD 

Ms. CHURCH. My name is Jerilyn Church and I’m the CEO for 

the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board. 

I purposely waited to speak because I wanted to give our tribes 

an opportunity for their voices to be heard, because for far too long, 

they haven’t been heard. The stories that you’ve heard today are 

probably just the tip of the iceberg. We hear stories like that over 

and over again. 

So I won’t take too long, but I just wanted to share with you from 

the perspective of our organization. Our organization, the governing body consists of the 18 tribal chairmen of the Great Plains 

region. Our role really is to help be a collective voice, to be present 

when there are many tribes that are not here today, because they 

didn’t have the resources to get here or to be here, and to be of support for our tribes in their endeavors. 

I think our organization has also a really unique perspective in 

that we work very, very closely with the Indian Health Service regionally as well as nationally. And our organization consists of predominantly tribal members of the tribes that we represent and that 

we work for. We advocate for the priorities that the chairmen set 

as board of directors. 

I have to say that I’ve read the reports from Winnebago and 

Rosebud and Pine Ridge. My emotions vacillated between incredible sadness and just incredible anger. Our region asked for a hearing, but at the same time, my thoughts were, we had this hearing 

six years ago. And there isn’t anything that you heard today or 

anything more than you could hear that wouldn’t have already told 

you and you wouldn’t have already known from six years ago. 

So I also come with a little bit of skepticism. I’m also a little 

tired so I probably don’t have a very good filter right now, either. 

But when I look at our region and I look at Indian health in our 

region, Indian Health Service, they are also our community. What 

I don’t want to see happen as a result of this is that the challenges 

and the discrepancies are used in such a way that hurt us further. 

So I’m aware that there are some political leaders that would just 

as soon give out cards and do away with Indian Health Service, 

and contract it out maybe even further. 

But there are no other providers out there that are going to love 

our people as much as our own people do. And there are a lot of 

good people within the Indian Health Service that dedicate their 

lives. 

So what I hope will happen, and my suggestion, I want to be solution-oriented, I kept telling myself, okay, solution-oriented. So 

the solutions that I see as viable solutions, first and foremost, is 

117 

fund Indian Health Service at the level of need. We facilitate budget consultation, and this will be the fourth year of doing that. We 

don’t provide a needs-based budget. We provide a zero-based budget. So they come and ask us, if you had this percent, what would 

you do, if you had this percent, what would you do. And if you had 

a decrease, what would you do. Well, we just ignore the decrease. 

But that’s not budget consultation. That’s dictation. And that 

keeps us at a level that we will continue to hear and experience 

the kinds of things that our region has experienced if we don’t have 

that budget. 

And I’m not talking about throwing money at a broken system. 

I’m talking about funding systematic change from the top down. 

Congress is just as culpable as the person that was in the service 

unit that didn’t respond in a way that was appropriate. That responsibility starts from there all the way down. So fund the region 

so that we can have systematic change and that we can expect and 

have care at a level that our region deserves. 

I spoke with, I’m on the Coalition for Medicaid Expansion in the 

State of South Dakota. One of the conversations that I had recently 

was about the VA and how the providers in our region were complaining that they couldn’t compete with the VA, they couldn’t compete with their salaries and they couldn’t compete with the benefits 

packages that they offered. And we’re struggling to just pay even 

at a level that is appropriate and competitive. 

So I want us to have a system where providers wish they could 

provide as good a care as Indian Health Service, as IHS. I want 

a health system in our region that we can be proud of. Because our 

family members, many of our family members are working in that 

health system feeling very demoralized, feeling very helpless, and 

feeling as though they’re doing the best they can with what they 

have and it’s not good enough. They get beat up over and over and 

over again. 

I want people to be held accountable that need to be held accountable. I came into an organization four years ago that wasn’t 

functional. It took me six months to determine who needed to stay 

and who needed to go. And it took me three years to get that organization to a level where it’s functioning with ethics and financially 

viable. That can happen with Indian Health Service. 

But the investment, Congress needs to be willing to put that investment into it. And it is not asking too much. We make up 2 percent of the entire population of this Country. We are the genocide 

survivors. So it’s not a big ask for this Country to fund schools, 

health, our judicial systems at a level that allows us to live functional, healthy lives. 

These reservations were created by this government. Those treaties were made with this government in exchange for the wellbeing of our people, and it’s not happening. I’m singing to the choir 

for the most part, here. 

But I hope I’m proven wrong. Because throughout this process, 

from the time when Ms. Newman came out to South Dakota into 

our region, on one hand I was happy that they were there; on the 

other hand, I have no reason to believe that you’re going to do anything different than what you’ve done before. So I hope you prove 

me wrong. 

118 

Thank you. 

[Applause.] 

STATEMENT OF KATHLEEN WOODEN KNIFE, COUNCIL 

REPRESENTATIVE; VICE CHAIR OF HEALTH BOARD, 

ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE 

Ms. WOODEN KNIFE. Hello, thank you. My name is Kathleen 

Wooden Knife. I’m a Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council representative. 

And I’m also the vice chair of our health board. 

I have listened to everything today and it’s been quite emotional. 

I’m going to do my best not to get emotional, because I have a lot 

of compassion, every direction. And listening to my colleagues and 

listening to my other relatives speak today, I sat here in tears 

many times. I will try not to do that; if I do, please bear with me. 

I want to give a little bit of a balance here for myself. I left, I 

was two days short of my 15 years in the Federal Government 

when I was elected to my position as a tribal council leader. My 

goal was, one of the things I wanted to do was to see what I could 

bring from the government to the tribe and the tribe to the government. Because I lived it. We’ve heard a lot of testimony on the bad 

experiences we’ve had. I’ve had them. I’ve had family members that 

have died. We all have. My colleague has experienced quite a bit 

of sadness. And so it become very emotional when you have family 

members that die and you can’t do anything about it. 

I know from being an employee at Indian Health Service, I had 

five years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and ten years with the 

Indian Health Service. While employed there, I know that it is factual, it isn’t disgruntled employees that are saying we’re threatened, or, I have to be afraid for my job. When I first started working for the Federal Government, I walked into a department that 

had so much hostility. I did a ten-year history on the supervisor 

of that department. 

And as you hear people say that people are protected, okay, she 

had people as high up as HHS. And the experiences that we go 

through, in the department I was in, employees were becoming ill. 

One of the people I worked with was a relative, she almost lost her 

baby, she had complications. I was sent to a heart hospital thinking that I had heart problems. It was the stress level of the environment we worked in. 

That isn’t something that is made up by employees. That is factual. We have employees in our system now that want to talk, but 

they can’t. We have things going on as far up the echelon as you 

can reach, that are experiencing this fear of retaliation. 

There are a couple of situations, I’m going to just do a small comparison. You have a violation of sexual harassment at a high level. 

That person still works. He gets moved around and is still employed. You have the same complaint at a lower level. That person, 

the lower level echelon people, the blue collar workers, the people 

that have their feet on the ground, that do the laborers’ work. That 

person can just immediately, with a little bit of paperwork, be removed. 

I know for a fact, I worked in administration. And so, we talk 

about our health, our losses of our people. We chose [indiscernible] 

119 

health for our people. And all my relatives here have touched on 

that. 

But I’m going to touch on the other part of it. Because being the 

voice of the people, we have to speak for both sides, and we have 

to speak for the ones that are getting that bad health care, and we 

have to speak for the ones that are within our system. As somebody has said, we have good employees, we have bad employees. 

We have good administrators, we have bad administrators. 

One of the things that I experienced is, and I don’t know if it’s 

just overlooked or why we can’t come to a resolution with it, is that 

when you’re at a health service unit and we’re having issues, in administration, I was administrative assistant for our clinical director. I had at least 10 clinical directors in the time frame that I was 

there. 

One of them, his main priority was warm bodies. He didn’t care 

about the quality of health care we were bringing in with our physicians. Every time a contract position would come in, let me make 

you a deal here. I want to make you a deal here, because I’ve got 

to fill my quota of warm bodies. Because when I signed on here, 

that was my goal. 

This same physician, before he left our Rosebud Indian Health 

service, had a fist fight with one of our doctors on our inpatient 

ward. The same doctor who we knew had a history. And I’m going 

to bounce around a little bit, because I’ve worked in property and 

supply and I’ve worked in administration. I’ve seen stuff at both 

levels. In the department I worked in, I wore a lot of different hats. 

I worked with HR, I worked with backgrounds, I worked with the 

medical staff, I worked with contract, I worked in a lot of different 

areas, because our service unit doesn’t have that funding to have 

that number of employees there sometimes. 

So those of us that sat in that main office, we were the main people that caught everything. I’ve heard stories from our people in 

housekeeping, our security, our nurses, our doctors, our administrators. They come into administration and they need somewhere 

to vent. And because we’re the ones that are up front and center, 

we’re the ones that they vented to. 

So there’s a lot of things that I knew. I sat in medical staff meetings and I listened to the review of credentials. I finally refused to 

sit in there any more, hearing the dings that were on the physicians that were coming to our hospital to take care of our people. 

I told my boss, I’m not doing this anymore, I don’t want to sit in 

these meetings anymore, because I don’t know how you people 

sleep at night, knowing that we’re bringing physicians in that have 

issues or have these dings on their credentials. I would sit there 

and I’d go home and night and I’d think, how, you know, I don’t 

want my relatives having this doctor take care of them when wherever he was he lost his license for this reason. But yet we’re forced 

to accept whatever we’re given. That’s unacceptable. I mean, it was 

so sad I refused to do it anymore. 

Like I said, I come from being a patient, I come from being an 

employee. I left there because I wanted change. I wanted to see 

both sides of it. 

When you bring in these quick fixes, when I left the government 

and I became a tribal council leader, within months we had our 

120 

meeting with the area director. He refused to come to our reservation and meet with us. He wanted us to go to Pierre, 100 miles 

away from where our reservation is, to meet with him. And when 

I got there, I was pretty fired up, because when I walked in, I 

walked into a conversation that pretty much got me riled up. And 

my colleagues know that, sometimes I get excited and I talk really 

fast. And when I start going, things shoot out one after another. 

It was my opportunity to say, I am no longer a Federal employee 

and I finally get to say what I need to say because I don’t have 

to worry about losing my job. I don’t have to work about getting 

written up for this. And so I said what I needed to say because I 

was very upset. And I said to this person, more than one time, a 

lot of people have mentioned today they’re happy that this person 

is no longer with us, but I said, you know, you don’t know what 

it’s like. You, and I don’t mean to insult anyone, but I said to him, 

you are an urban Indian. You have no idea what we go through. 

I said, you need to come to our hospital and see our doctors and 

get our care for a month. 

The last time that he was at our council meeting I told him, no, 

not a month, I want you to come for a year. I want you to bring 

yourself and our family and see what it feels like here. Because you 

have no idea what we suffer from, what we go through. And he 

stood and he told us, and you know, I’ve heard other tribal members say this, lip service, it’s really amazing to hear how many of 

us know lip service very well. Because many times that’s what I 

say we get. As a tribe, we get lip service. We’re going to do this, 

we’re going to do that. 

I finally said, in here, in my [word in native tongue], I don’t believe you no more. Everything that you’ve told us, everything that 

you’ve committed to that we’re going to fix this with, the transparency isn’t there. Because everything that we’re told, you can 

take it with a grain of salt. Some of this will get done in due time. 

But you know, if you’re up here and we’re down here at the service 

unit level, at the IHS level and you’re getting this care, if you suddenly see it’s up here and you’ve never been there to have that 

care, if you’ve never been there to experience the deficiencies that 

we have, that lack of quality of care, that lack of continuity. 

I lived off the reservation a part of my life, so I know what it’s 

like to be on and off the reservation. It was nice living in the city, 

seeing the same doctor, knowing that I was having that good care. 

But like somebody else here mentioned, you go into our hospital, 

we see a different doctor, we give our whole history. You can never 

go back and see that same doctor. 

You know how frustrating it is to have to repeat your entire 

health history? Okay, now, what were you, oh, I see in your record, 

this is in here. And you get so frustrated you just say, well, this 

is what they told me the last time and this is what I have and I 

went on WebMD and these are the diagnoses that I found with myself, so if you could just give me the medication or refer me or do 

something else then I won’t have to repeat my whole history again. 

Because these are my symptoms. You know, it becomes very frustrating. 

The part on the administrative part that I wanted to mention, 

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121 

ting here, everything turns, my wheels turn and I kind of get carried away. But every time we have this Band-Aid, this quick fix, 

and that’s what I call it, you know, assessment after assessment, 

why are you going to keep assessing us? Why? Because you do 

these assessments that somebody else already did. Why aren’t the 

people in our own facility capable of assessing their own issues? A 

lot of it comes from up here. Senator Dorgan’s report is almost 

ebbed in the back of my brain because I’ve read it and I’ve read 

it and I’ve read it. And I get so frustrated because I say, this is 

everything that we’ve been going through. I printed it off and I 

gave it to all my colleagues at council. There’s 20 of us. I gave everyone a copy, I said, read this. Read this before IHS comes here 

so you guys will understand we’re right where we were before. 

But bringing people into our facility to temporarily fix us, you’re 

bringing people in that are going to come in, they’re going to have 

knowledge of where they were, what worked in their system. As I 

talked to some of the other tribal reps, I said, you could take this 

person, this person and this person and send them to our facility. 

And each time you do, coming from administration, we sit back, we 

know, okay, we have a new acting CEO coming in, we have a new 

deputy coming in. Which people are going to be there first so they 

get their way? So they can still get things how they want them? 

That does happen. 

The next thing is, now, I wonder what kind of a plan this one 

has for us? Because we just got adjusted to the last CEO, and this 

is how their management functioned. This is what worked at their 

facility. This is what worked at their tribe. Now they’re going to 

come to our facility and this is how we’re going to run. So everyone 

has to adapt to this person. 

Then something happens and they get sent out. And then the 

next one comes and it starts all over again. 

What this actually does is causes a great hardship on the facility 

employees. Yes, we have good employees. And we have bad. And 

we have these people that come in, yes, some of the ideas are good. 

But maybe they’re not fit for our facility, because we’re alike but 

we’re different. 

But every time this happens we all have to readjust. But what 

happens is it affects us in many ways. It affects the people in administration that are not administrators. It affects our entire support staff. Because everybody has to readjust. 

But after we do this for so many times, the morale drops. And 

everybody only wants to do what they have to do. But what hurts 

us the most is when this keeps happening, this effect, this merrygo-round that we’re on, is our people suffer. Because if our employees aren’t happy and they’re not functioning fully, because of the 

administrative changes, and giving up that, well, Aberdeen has got 

their favorites, Aberdeen has their family, now they’re going to 

send somebody else, now they’re going to start over. When people 

just kind of getting into it and they give, they kind of almost want 

to give up. 

But it hurts our patients, that’s what hurts. It hurts our people. 

Because as you climb that ladder, to the nurses, the MSAs, to the 

people in the offices, how they feel affects how I get my health care 

treatment. So it goes on and on. 

122 

So from coming from the inside, I know this stuff is true. I have 

experienced it. I’ve witnessed it. I have seen Douglas factors done, 

just like that, to get rid of an employee. But administratively, what 

I say and I say we all share that same thought is that, recycle, recycle and promote. Recycle. We did resolutions. We didn’t want this 

person here because they were resolutioned off another reservation. 

Here they come. Re-do how our system is. 

I walked out and I came back in and I thought about something. 

We try to figure out what’s broken, we know what’s broken. We 

tried something different, we said, okay, well, we keep getting people from within the system. And they’re just already conditioned to 

do things this way. You’re already like robotic in how you do it. I 

used to get so frustrated at Mr. Cornelius, because he seemed to 

be, and I said it to him and I won’t deny it, I said, you’re very well 

versed, you sit there very, with that Chessie-cat grin and you bob 

your head and you smile. And the thought behind that smile you 

don’t know. But because everyone comes in this way, after a while 

you start to wonder, is it the Federal Government? Is it the people 

that we’re bringing in? Still we tried it. We went with a CEO and 

a clinical director that weren’t Federal Government, that weren’t in 

IHS. And it was just this catastrophe, such a big catastrophe as 

what we already experienced. 

Right before all this stuff happened with Rosebud, they both left 

and went to the VA. Poor VA. Because as my friend and colleague 

here said, they told us we were good. I sat in on that one review 

with her. We sat across the room from each other and my mouth 

was like, because I was saying, they said we’re the best. They said 

we have this good review, our ER was great. 

When our last CMS review had come to Rosebud, we had so 

many dings, we had so much wrong. And then for five years later, 

or however many years later it was, for them to come to our ER 

and say how fantastic our ER was, I couldn’t believe it. I was in 

disbelief. I was angry and went out of there cussing and I don’t 

really cuss that much unless I’m really angry. 

But I could go on and on but I’m not going to, because everyone 

here has shared the exact same things. What goes on at your hospitals goes on at our hospitals and we suffer. With our diversion, 

people are being sent out. 

I sit on way too many committees at our tribe. And I sit on budget and finance committee. We have to find money. Last year, by 

February or March, our money was gone. Because when people get 

sent out, they come to us, we have to make up that difference, for 

families to travel, for their motel, for their gas, for their food. But 

also for the people they leave behind, because in our culture, 

there’s always that main person that goes and you also have that 

main person that takes care of the family at home. And it’s usually 

that person that’s going with the relative. So then he or she has 

to make sure that she’s taken or he’s taken care of, whoever’s left 

at home. 

I didn’t get to write down what I wanted to say, but I really have 

talked and talked. But one of the other things that I want to talk 

about before I sit down is the safety and health of our employees 

is also of a great concern. It’s not just the people that come to our 

hospital for care, it’s our people that work in our hospitals. 

123 

In our hospital, our former CEO, I went up to address an issue 

and he called me very unethical, because I didn’t, you know, we 

come here with our history of everyone nets out on our reservation, 

all the things that are going on. I went, and I’m going to touch on 

my personal at the moment. I went there, first as a tribal council 

rep, then as the vice chair of our health board. I went on behalf 

of three tribal members. One of them happened to be my husband. 

And I went there because I couldn’t get hold of one of my other colleagues to address it and it was something that needed to immediately be addressed. 

We don’t follow safety, health and safety standards like what we 

should. My colleagues standing behind, he and I and Evelyn 

Espinoza, we all come from IHS. Fresh from there to where we’re 

at. Evie left about a year before us. But my colleague back here 

was a safety officer, so he knows a lot about what I’m going to 

mention. But the houses there are so old on the lower compound, 

you have a lower compound and you have a new compound. The 

ones at the lower compound are very unsafe, they’re very 

unhealthy. They have asbestos in them. 

There was a fire and there was an old building with both asbestos and black mold. These three employees had to go down there 

without any safety gear. I asked the CEO to do a webcident. I 

asked him to do an air quality check. Neither one was ever done. 

My person that was very special to me has been subjected to one 

house where, when they got done, they brought them the safety 

gear and said, oh, this house tested positive for methane, you need 

to put this on, they were already done with the house. He tore out 

the entire living room and a kitchen area, the tile had asbestos in 

it, the glue. 

Okay and then comes the thing with the black mold. I went in 

there, I’m asthmatic. I barely got into the building, I couldn’t 

breathe, I had such a severe asthma attack. Well, he no longer 

works there, because I’d rather have him in my life than have that 

second income. 

But my point in this is that you take these concerns to them and 

they don’t listen to you. There’s other things there that go on, and 

we’re not heard. I could go on and on, I could write a whole book 

on all of the bad issues that our people have suffered from, because 

I hear them and I’ve experienced them and what goes on with the 

employees. Our employees also need to be heard. 

When people come out to talk to us, it’s just like someone else 

mentioned, I was an employee there, I know, you can’t. You’re 

afraid to go to the tribe because you don’t want to get fired. We 

had a contract person that came to the tribe and the next day, he 

was fired. So we know, those that work there at the IHS tribal 

level within our reservations and at the area office level. I don’t 

know about the HHS level, but as far as our area office level, there 

are employees that know things, there are employees that are 

going through hostile work environments, there are people that are 

mistreated. There are cliques, there are favorites. There are unfair 

hiring practices. 

I have been getting information along the way, and I know for 

a fact that this happens. So when you go out and talk to people, 

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ficult to do because there’s that barrier, there’s that protective 

arena that you can’t get beyond. You’re going to be told, oh, no, we 

have transparency, we work with you, we do this and that. It isn’t 

there. 

So when the times comes and you do another hearing or you take 

testimony, I ask that you go and afford the employees at the service unit level and at the area level the opportunity to talk to you 

and protect them so they don’t have to worry about being fired. Because you know, they’re going to tell you things that, sometimes 

when you’re in an administrative position you’re going to believe 

the person that’s at the next level below you because you have that 

confidence in them. But it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes you’re believing things that you are being misled, information being misconstrued. 

I have more to say but I’m going to quit because I could probably 

stand here all night. Ten years of history in the IHS is a long time. 

And working in property, going to administration, being the clinical 

director’s assistant, there are some nightmare stories that I could 

tell you about things that went on at our hospital. 

I have information that I protect because I was background coordinator. There’s things that I know that are done not according to 

policy. So I wanted to share that, because I know that it’s mentioned and a lot of people are giving their testimony on their actual 

heartbreaking family losses. But I wanted to give the other side of 

it, being an employee there, being a Federal employee for Indian 

Health Service. I know. 

And so I’m speaking on behalf of my former friends and colleagues at IHS and family and members on our reservation and 

others. Thank you. 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF C.J. CLIFFORD, REPRESENTATIVE, WOUNDED 

KNEE DISTRICT, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE 

Mr. CLIFFORD. My name is C.J. Clifford and I’m from the Oglala 

Sioux Tribe. I’m a representative out of the Wounded Knee District. 

I will try to be brief and directly to the point. First I would just 

like to share with you, I would like to see some immediate action 

taken. Most recently here, as of Sunday, we lost a 23 year old 

young man that paid a visit to the hospital, was given some meds, 

went home. A few hours later, he told his mother he was having 

a hard time breathing. They loaded him up in a vehicle and he 

passed away in the vehicle before it could leave the yard. That just 

happened Sunday. They’re making funeral arrangements and I understand, speaking with his mother, they are doing an autopsy. But 

that’s something that’s very alarming, that came out of the Pine 

Ridge Agency. 

Also another medical one is a young 40 year old male went to 

the dentist for toothache, was given five shots on the side of his 

mouth and now he’s got a permanent droop on the whole left side 

of his face. Indian Health Service out of Pine Ridge, their dental 

unit. 

Also I want to talk briefly about the consultation process that Indian Health Service and other agencies use, Federal agencies use 

125 

to address issues. It’s not a true consultation, nor do they follow 

their consultation policy. It’s more of a dictation, that this is what 

we’re going to do, and we just come to have you sign in and we 

say it’s a consultation. There’s no notice going out. I believe that 

there should be a uniform consultation policy for all extensions of 

the government that deal with Indian affairs. They should all follow one base, because they’re all different. 

I want to talk about the employees’ rights and their job. A person’s life in the Indian Health Service, it’s more important for them 

to take care of one another, rather than the people that they’re 

there to serve. 

I want to talk about the drug testing part of our lives with Indian Health Service. You people don’t have to drug test. And I have 

a problem with that, because we have people out there that are in 

actual need of pain medications, and they enforce what they call 

a pain management contract. They enforce that on each and every 

Native person that goes to the hospital, to sign a pain management 

contract prior to getting medication. And then from that point on, 

they are drug tested each time they go in to get a refill. 

Now, tell me how that’s supposed to work with the fact that we 

have rampant drug use amongst our employees at these areas? 

And they’re not mandated to drug test. But yet you can enforce it 

on a person that’s in actual need of a narcotic to help them live 

through their life through the day and they’re forced to do a drug 

test constantly. There’s many problems with Indian Health Service 

today. And it needs to change. There’s new and better ideas out 

there people have that I think they should be listening to. 

I want to thank you guys, because I do know you are the ears 

and eyes and hands of the Congressional people. Thank you. And 

I guess not to keep you guys very long, I too would like to have 

you guys relay a message to your bosses that we thank you for listening to us from the Oglala Sioux Tribe. 

Mr. WALTERS. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF BRIAN DILLON, REPRESENTATIVE, PARMALEE 

COMMUNITY, ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE 

Mr. DILLON. My name is Brian Dillon. I’m a representative of the 

Rosebud Sioux Tribe out of the Parmalee community. I also am a 

member of our health board. 

I’m going to be as quick as I can here. I want to start off by saying, we are all valued on our contribution to others in our life. Our 

family and relatives and our tribe rely on our contributions, our 

productivity as an individual. For us to be at or near our potential 

as productive tribal members and citizens of the United States, we 

must be healthy in our body, mind and spirit. 

Currently, our productive and contributions in life are severely 

impacted by inadequate health care. It reduces our educational, economical and parental viability. 

Just to give you a couple quick examples that are personal to me, 

my daughter, second oldest daughter, just gave birth to my first 

grandson, four and a half days ago. And the reason why it’s kind 

of a big deal is currently at our hospital, we don’t have, well, we 

might today, have an OB doctor. I’m not too sure. It’s kind of a two 

weeks on, two weeks off type rotation. Prior to that, they didn’t 

126 

have an OB doc, so we had to change her health care provider from 

IHS to a local facility, which happened to be 53 miles from my 

house. 

Luckily, it didn’t provide us with any major complications. She 

was able to deliver a healthy baby and it wasn’t a big deal. But 

if it had been, that may have impacted not just her, but my 

grandson’s productivity in life. It could have ended or it could have 

been impacted to where the child or the mother could be less productive as a parent, eventually, economically for their family and 

for their tribe, their community, been a viable aspiration for the 

local education system or what have you, all of those things. 

I have another daughter, my youngest daughter, who’s 13 now. 

When she was a first grader, she was diagnosed with discoid meniscus, which required surgery to correct, or hers did. The IHS, Indian Health Service, decided that they were going to pay for, she 

had to have it done on both knees. They decided they were going 

to pay for her to have it done on one knee first, go through a little 

bit of the healing process, rehab and then do the other side. 

Well, we went through the process on the first knee, and when 

it came time for the second one, her referral is not approved. So 

she’s only had surgery that she should have had on both knees on 

one knee. And the reason why I’m bring up the productivity is, it’s 

causing her, she’s a very adamant athlete. She runs cross country 

with a great, severe amount of pain. She plays basketball, jumping, 

with a great, severe amount of pain. She likes to lift weights, 

volleyball, you name it. 

And it has impacted her negatively. She struggles through it, but 

again, as a father, it makes me wonder, if it’s impacting her to 

where she’s not going to realize her full potential as a child growing and doing those things, and how that might affect her as an 

adult. Because she’s starting to exhibit things that are in her decision-making process that are negative right now because of that 

limitation. And I’m done with that. 

On that note, I ask the following questions of the Indian Health 

Service. Question one would be, can the Indian Health Service determine the loss of productivity of tribal member patients that die 

due to inadequate care? Differentiating from if they just die of natural causes or what have you. 

Now, the second question would be, with that in mind, can it be 

determined, the loss of productivity for those with a debilitating illness as it progresses from a category four to a category one? One 

being loss of life, potential loss of life or limb, and that’s when our 

purchased referred care dollars kick in. That’s what I’m getting at 

with the example of my daughter. She’s at probably a four or a 

three. The reason why she had the surgery on the first knee was 

because at that time I had insurance through my employment provider, which was the Indian Health Service, at the time. When it 

came time for the second surgery to be done, I had dropped my insurance and I was no longer an employee there. 

So the referral process probably went so far as, no longer somebody else to pay for a majority of it, or IHS pays the co-pay, the 

instituted the payer of last resort. And I can’t afford the surgery 

on my own. And being a tribal member and now employed by the 

tribe, indirectly I guess, I have a choice whether I want to have 

127 

health care or not through the Affordable Health Care Act or if I 

want to ask for the waiver and all that kind of stuff. Those are just 

two questions that I’d like to have answered. 

I know within Indian Health Service also they have, in their Office of Environmental Health, they have the sanitarian to do similar type studies on loss of productivity due to motor vehicle accidents or things of that nature. So I know it probably can be done. 

Thank you. 

Mr. WALTERS. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF ISAAC SMITH, WINNEBAGO TRIBE OF 

NEBRASKA COUNCIL MEMBER 

Mr. SMITH. First of all, I want to greet each and every one of you. 

Good evening and thank you for your time. I’ll keep this short, just 

like everybody else said. 

The second thing is, I’m from the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. 

I’m a tribal council member. Currently, right now, I serve on there 

and I also am the fire chief for the volunteer fire department back 

home. 

A lot of the stories and a lot of the things that were shared here 

this evening really pull at your heart. And if they don’t, that’s 

when you really got to stop and think, what did I sign up for this 

job for. 

The other thing is, I was on a call, several calls, but I’ll share 

just two with you real quick, and I’m going to speed up my talking 

a little bit. I do better that way. I know everybody’s probably hungry, because I am. One of the things is, we got a call on this veteran who was at home. So we ran the ambulance out there with 

the EMTs. We got out there and they were doing CPR. We walked 

in there, we carried our stuff in there and we started doing what 

we had to do. His family was standing around. And we knew that 

if we can get this gentleman to the hospital, he has a good chance, 

more of a chance than what we could provide right now. 

So we kept CPR in progress, we loaded him in the ambulance, 

we even stopped a train midway and made them back up so we 

could get the ambulance through. We drove him into the hospital 

there in Winnebago. And some of you are familiar with crash carts, 

what crash carts are. So I got to see it from my own eyes and to 

this day it still carries a certain place in my heart for this family 

and for this gentleman. 

One of the things was, we unloaded him out of the ambulance 

there and we turned around and we were taking him into the ER. 

And the doctor came in, we called ahead, they knew we were coming, we told them we were three minutes out, we’re going to be at 

your front door pretty quick. So we turn around and we brought 

him in there. And the nurses in the ER didn’t know how to even 

operate the crash cart. 

So that’s one of the things that’s crazy about this whole situation. And one of the other things is that, when you go into health 

care, ultimately you are there to help people. You are there to help 

all the people that may have an issue with their physical being. 

So the wires on this crash cart were all tangled up. Now, I don’t 

know what kind of degree you got to have to untangle some wires 

128 

to some life-saving equipment. That’s one of the things that really 

was frustrating. 

The other part of that was this crash cart wasn’t even charged, 

wasn’t even plugged into the wall. So I’m still trying to find a way 

to find out how you get these guys with a degree to plug in these 

carts. 

So the other thing is, I went through that, I got to see that and 

we did CPR on this gentleman for 45 minutes. On top of that, we 

had another shift come in and they started in. We worked on him 

for an hour and a half before they called it on him. We had a faint 

pulse come up, and so they turned around and they tried to bring 

him back. Because that crash cart wasn’t taken care of properly, 

we had to pull the stuff off the ambulance. And the stuff off the 

ambulance only lets you go to a certain limit. So the stuff at the 

crash cart would have helped if it was there. Little simple things 

like that. 

Another time was another gentleman, he lived in town. So the 

transport was a little bit quicker, a little bit faster. We got him in 

there and we were doing CPR on this guy. And he already had a 

leg that was cut off from diabetes. We brought him in there and 

we were doing CPR on him. And it’s the same issue. These are two 

weeks, about two weeks apart. Same issue. The crash cart was tangled up, wasn’t charged. 

So then this time, there was two crash carts there. All right, we 

might get somewhere now, they’re pulling out a second crash cart. 

But the thing was, neither one of them was charged. But the second one was untangled, all the wires were untangled. So they did 

try to make an attempt somehow there. 

But there’s a lot of different things like that that go on in this 

hospital there in Winnebago, Nebraska. Yesterday, we got word 

that there was a vehicle accident in Macy, Nebraska, these representatives of the tribal council that was here earlier. There was 

a police officer, his vehicle flipped. So at the time, they pronounced 

him at the scene from what I know. But they didn’t let the hospital 

know that they were going to bring these people in that were involved in this wreck. So what they did was they turned around and 

they started diverting everybody up to Sioux City, 20 miles away. 

And these are some of the stuff that goes on. Some of the stuff 

isn’t going to take the swipe of a pen. Some of the stuff is just 

going to take common sense. But these are the people that we pay 

high bucks for to come in there and be able to push that crash cart 

from point A to point B. Plug it in and start it, everything. It’s common sense, some of these problems. 

So if there’s anybody that’s out there that get hold of a common 

sense, let me know, because I’ll try to get some for everybody. That 

will take us a lot farther. 

But I just wanted to say that much, and to the tribal members 

and the different representatives that are here, I want to say thank 

you for sharing all the stories, all the thoughts and feelings with 

us. Because these are the kinds of things, if we work together, and 

be good to one another and help one another, we can make this 

happen in a good way for all of us. 

Then when we are able to do that and we reach a certain point, 

there’s going to be something that we’re going to take home with 

129 

us. It’s not going to be a paycheck. It’s not going to be money. It’s 

going to be a good feeling in your heart, knowing that you helped 

people, clear over on different sides of the Country. 

And if you have a hard time at work one day, some day, somehow, stop and close your eyes and imagine one of your closest loved 

ones laying there in a hospital bed with all kinds of things going 

wrong and not being able to get taken care of. 

So I just wanted to leave you guys with that thought. I really appreciate all your time. Everybody that does something here, I want 

to say thank you to you, from the bottom of my heart and from 

where I come from. There’s a lot of people back home that are really grateful that you guys made time for us to come over here and 

to hear what we had to say. 

So thank you, God bless you. 

Mr. ANDREWS. All right. I think we’ve hit that hour of night, it’s 

been a long night. Let me first and foremost say thank you to you 

all. Part of a listening session is exactly this; we’re in listening 

mode so we can then act on your behalf. I know the hour is late 

for staff, and obviously I want to thank them for staying with us 

and listening collectively on this side of the aisle, on this side. We 

will take what you have to say and we will work for the betterment 

of your communities, especially the health care, which we’ve heard 

all day today. 

For those who didn’t get an opportunity to speak, obviously you 

can submit your statement. The record will be open for a couple 

more weeks. But even then, we will continue to have the dialogue 

so we can improve the process. 

I want to thank everybody for their time. Obviously the heartfelt 

stories will stay with us. I really appreciated that. 

Tony, any last words? 

Mr. WALTERS. I just want to thank everyone for coming out and 

sharing their stories and concerns and suggestions and ideas for 

how to improve IHS in every aspect of health in the communities. 

I know a lot of you traveled from pretty far away, so it’s good that 

you were able to come in and share these stories with us, good for 

us to hear. I know they are difficult stories to hear and difficult 

stories to tell. But they do need to be told, they need to be heard. 

They do drive action, they drive agencies to do better, they drive 

staff here to advocate harder for these issues. So we certainly appreciate everyone’s time and commitment to improving these issues 

in your communities. Hopefully they will drive some solutions here 

from D.C. that can help communities out in Indian Country. Thank 

you. 

Mr. ANDREWS. Thank you, folks. That concludes the listening session, but it doesn’t conclude the work that we’re going to do. 

Thanks again. Safe travels back. 

[Whereupon, at 8:25 p.m., the listening session was concluded.] 

(131) 

A P P E N D I X 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SUNNY COLOMBE, MBA, ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBAL MEMBER

Good Afternoon Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and Members of the 

Committee. My name is Sunny Colombe. I am an enrolled member of the Rosebud 

Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Although I was not born or raised on the reservation, 

I remain close to the community through my family and friends. My family is dedicated to the welfare of our people, and my mother has been with IHS for over 40 

years. 

Growing up hearing about the health disparities our people face, I believed I 

needed to take what I had learned and put it to use in the healthcare field. After 

receiving my master’s degree in business administration from National American 

University, I applied for a position with the Rosebud IHS Hospital. In 2006, I moved 

to Rosebud, SD after accepting a position as a supervisor for Contract Health Services at the Rosebud IHS Hospital. After five years of service, I resigned in 2011. 

I left IHS because I wanted to improve the overall health of my community. As 

the contract health supervisor, the people coming into my office were often afflicted 

with terminal illnesses. The only patients approved for contract health funds during 

my employment were priority one. Priority one care includes or emergent or acutely 

urgent services that are necessary to prevent the immediate death or serious impairment of the health of the individual. 

I now work for Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board, a non-profit organization which promotes preventative healthcare for the tribes in South Dakota, 

North Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. 

My views today reflect my personal experiences with the Indian Health Service 

(IHS), and not that of my organization, nor the tribal nations in our service area. 

During my time at IHS, I witnessed multiple obstacles that directly impacted patient care including antiquated technology systems, cumbersome policies and numerous employment vacancies and employee retention issues. This is not to say that 

IHS lacks passionate employees who advocate for their patients and the best possible healthcare, because I also witnessed those employees in action. ‘‘Do more with 

less,’’ was repeated frequently, but at the end of the day, only so much can be done 

with less before the population it serves suffers the consequences. 

While living in Rosebud, I was fortunate enough to give birth to one of my daughters (Addison) in the Rosebud IHS Hospital. I am thankful that I was able to receive 

obstetric care from the same medical provider during my whole pregnancy and delivery. I was also lucky enough that at that time there were ultrasound services 

available to complete and complement my prenatal services. The care I received was 

wonderful. The nurses and doctors were compassionate and capable. 

The problem is that my positive experience with Addison is unique. In most IHS 

facilities, especially those in extremely rural areas, expecting mothers do not have 

access to continuous, competent and compassionate care. Other patients seeking 

care at Rosebud IHS Hospital, the facility where I delivered, also do not have access 

to basic prenatal services. 

I was recently visiting a fellow member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who expressed 

his frustration with the lack of obstetric care available to his daughter. She is a 

first-time mother and there was not a provider on staff for her general prenatal 

care. She was told that an obstetrician-gynecologist had been contracted and would 

be available ‘‘soon’’, but gave her no more indication of how long they would be 

available to provide care. This young lady has become so frustrated with the situation that she no longer wants to seek care. Her experience at IHS has resulted in 

being skeptical of need for prenatal services. 

In my experience as a former employee, contracted physicians come and go frequently, or alternate week to week or month to month, at best. Contracting providers is a great alternative when a vacant position cannot be filled; however, when 

this tool is over-utilized it undermines quality and continuity of care. There is often 

no relationship developed between the provider and the patient. When capable and 

132 

accountable providers are not consistently available, patients suffer the consequences. 

Within the first few years of my daughter Addison’s life, we utilized the Rosebud 

IHS Hospital emergency room and clinic frequently. Since she was born, she has 

had digestive and respiratory issues and extreme eczema. Every day she experienced severe vomiting; so much so that she slept in her infant swing to prevent 

choking in her sleep. She had open eczema sores that bled on her arms and chest. 

Despite our many visits to the Rosebud IHS Hospital, we received little more than 

recommendations to take Benadryl and to provide albuterol treatments. 

When no solutions were forthcoming from providers in Rosebud, I traveled 180 

miles to the Rapid City IHS Hospital, the closest IHS facility with a pediatrician 

at that time. The pediatrician there had been a long-time IHS provider, and always 

ensured that my daughter received the best care IHS had to offer. The doctor mentioned numerous times that my daughter’s symptoms could be allergy-related. However, an allergy test from a specialist does not, nor would ever, meet the criteria 

for an approved PRC referral, as most facilities in South Dakota are only able to 

refer priority one cases, where life or limb are in jeopardy. At the time, I could not 

afford insurance, nor was I eligible for Medicaid. So my daughter continued to suffer 

for two years while waiting for basic diagnostic testing. 

In 2010 my daughter’s symptoms ultimately became so severe that she was transferred by air ambulance from Rosebud to Sioux Falls, SD for care. The expense of 

her continued emergency care far exceeded the cost of an allergy test. The cost of 

emergency air transportation is about $20,000 and a consultation and allergy test 

is about $500. After my daughter turned two, about six months after her emergency 

transfer, she was finally able to have an allergy test in Rapid City, SD with a specialist. It was confirmed that she was extremely allergic to foods containing peanuts, 

milk protein, and eggs—all things she frequently ate. Once the results were shared 

with the pediatrician at the Rapid City IHS Hospital, she was able to provide education, diet and medication to address my daughter’s needs. The results were almost 

instantaneous. My daughter was able to eat, her asthma was controlled and her eczema cleared up. 

Addison is a healthy, active seven year old now. She knows her limits, and is capable of monitoring her own diet and asthma based on the support and continued 

education we received. 

Recently, I was saddened to hear that the pediatrician who helped us at Rapid 

City IHS quit. She told me she just couldn’t do it anymore. Unfortunately, she’s not 

alone. I repeatedly hear of the recruitment and retention issues within IHS. This 

was a wonderful dedicated physician who was with the facility for a long time. I 

wonder if an exit interview was completed to identify what it was she couldn’t do 

any longer. What made her service there difficult? Could a solution have been found 

to retain her services? 

I also have a three year old daughter, Jordan. She was born at Rapid City Regional Hospital in 2012, as the Rapid City IHS Hospital does not do deliveries at 

their facility. Having been an employee, specifically a contract health supervisor, I 

knew the conditions under which her birth would be covered by Purchased/Referred 

Care (PRC). There are various denial reasons for PRC, include residing outside of 

a Contract Health Service Delivery Area, not qualifying as a medical priority, having alternate financial resources available, not providing notification within 72 

hours of receiving care, and IHS available to provide care. To ensure I met the notification requirement, I called the Rapid City IHS Hospital within 24 hours of admission. 

Typically a patient is contacted by mail or phone about the status of their referral. 

As I was never contacted, about a month after Jordan’s birth, I called to check on 

my claim. I was waiting for verification that they had all they needed to process 

the claim for payment, or at the very least, a denial of payment. 

They could have denied the call-in for alternate resources available as many pregnant woman and children are required to provide proof that they are not Medicaid 

eligible. No other denial reasons should have affected the coverage of that medical 

event. I was required to apply for Medicaid and provide documentation of my ineligibility while receiving care in Rosebud with my eldest daughter. It was just another hoop to jump through, even though I knew I exceeded the income level before 

applying. 

I called and spoke to a Purchase and Referred Care staff member at Sioux San 

IHS, who told me there was no referral in the system regarding my PRC claim for 

Jordan’s birth. He offered to begin the referral process and stated he would be 

happy to take the information. Shortly after this conversation, I received a denial 

letter in the mail for failing to notify within 72 hours. 

133 

In my experience, it is impossible to appeal an unmet notification requirement. 

So even with my knowledge of the PRC regulations and taking specific steps to follow the process, I was responsible for payment of the care I received. 

At the time, I was fortunate to have private insurance and resources to cover the 

expense. The average IHS consumer without private insurance or Medicaid would 

most likely find him or herself responsible for the total cost of care and be sent to 

collections. 

After resigning from IHS, I accepted my current position as the Chief Administrative Officer at Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board. Our organization provides technical assistance and health education to our member tribes in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. We have a variety of programs which provide preventative health education, including increased access to healthy, traditional foods, cancer prevention, tobacco cessation, maternal and child health, behavioral health, and epidemiologic support. Our focus on preventative health techniques 

gives me hope that the health of our people will and can improve. 

With insurance through my employer, I am no longer limited in my personal 

healthcare choices. I choose to utilize the Rapid City IHS and I am glad that they 

are able to receive reimbursement for my care through third party collections. I 

know many of the permanent providers in the clinic and have absolute faith in them 

regarding the healthcare needs of myself and my children. However, based on the 

services available, I pick and choose which care I receive there. 

Services at Rapid City, Rosebud, and many other IHS hospitals are limited, and 

there are some services that my family and I do not utilize. For example, my family 

and I do not utilize the IHS dental services because only very limited emergency 

services are available on an unpredictable basis, and when treatment is available, 

it often is not what a patient needs. 

The Rapid City IHS does not have enough providers available to make an appointment for routine dental care. Based on which providers are available and the treatments they offer, a given patient may or may not receive care. The typical patient 

is expected to sign in at 7:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-serve, basis. 

I have tried multiple times to receive preventive and routine dental services at 

IHS, and have been repeatedly told that they were not taking appointments. They 

take emergency walk-ins on a daily basis, but whether it is because of the lack of 

resources or provider knowledge, the universal IHS treatment for an injured tooth 

is to extract it. 

Also, a year ago, I went to the Rapid City IHS Dental Clinic and was told that 

one of my teeth needed a root canal. While the clinic could not provide this service 

as they only provided emergency care, they did offer to pull it out. I chose to save 

the tooth and go elsewhere. Unfortunately, not all patients have these resources or 

options. Many are stuck with whatever services IHS chooses to provide. 

My experiences as an IHS employee and my current position with the health 

board have provided me a distinct opportunity to see the big picture of Indian 

health care. While I understand that there are inefficiencies within the IHS system, 

I firmly believe that multiple opportunities for improvement exist in the Great 

Plains area, but the issues I have highlighted today, in conjunction with inadequate 

funding, makes improvements impossible and continues to punish the people we are 

all here to serve. IHS is funded at about 50 percent of the current need. Increasing 

one line item here or there when the entire system is under resourced won’t solve 

the issues we face. 

To say the least, it is disheartening to hear the personal stories of the communities the tribal leaders represent and the dire need for increased preventative care. 

The medical conditions may change, the communities may differ, the gender and age 

may vary, but their stories of inadequate healthcare remain the same year after 

year. While the need for preventative healthcare is universal, budgetary allotments 

coupled with poor management and inadequate oversight are never enough to support implementing adequate prevention services, even though they can often be 

more cost effective. 

If my daughter Addison had been able to receive a simple allergy test at IHS, or 

been referred out for care earlier, tens of thousands of dollars, and more importantly 

her immediate well-being, would have been saved. 

Again, thank you Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester, and Members of the 

Committee for inviting me to testify before you today. It is my ultimate hope that 

the Indian Health Service, Tribes, and Congress can work together to find lasting 

solutions today to ensure and promote the health of American Indians well into the 

future. 

134 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. HAROLD C. FRAZIER, CHAIRMAN, CHEYENNE RIVER

SIOUX TRIBE

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is pleased to present these comments on the 

quality of Indian Health Care in the Great Plains. Throughout the past century the 

United States has repeatedly acknowledged its obligation to provide health care for 

enrolled members of federally recognized Tribes. This obligation was established 

through Treaties grounded in the U.S. Constitution, through Supreme Court cases 

which defined and clarified the federal trust responsibility to Indian nations and 

people, and through federal statutes, most recently the Affordable Care Act, which 

strengthened and made permanent the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. And 

yet, despite the law, despite well-intentioned providers and administrators in our 

health systems, and despite the repeated efforts of this Committee, our Tribal members continue to suffer from levels of disease and mortality not only disproportionate 

to other United States citizens, but also to Tribal members in other regions of the 

United States. Thank you for once again reviewing the inadequate standards of care 

provided by the Indian Health Service in the Great Plains; it is my greatest hope 

that this hearing may lead to actual, positive change in the Great Plains Region. 

In that spirit, I submit the following specific comments on ways in which the 

Committee can improve health outcomes for Tribal members both at Cheyenne 

River and throughout the Great Plains. 

1. Adequate Funding 

Despite historic increases in the Indian Health Service’s (IHS) budget since 2009, 

IHS continues to be underfunded at approximately 59 percent of need. The Tribal 

Budget Formulation Workgroup for IHS estimates fully funding IHS’s budget on a 

true needs basis would result in an annual appropriation of $28.6 billion. Were IHS 

funded at this level, Tribes would be able to partner with IHS to achieve health care 

on a par with the rest of the United States. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe urges 

the Committee to accept the recommendation of the National Congress of American 

Indians by enacting advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service and by 

increasing IHS’s appropriation by 2 billion a year for 12 years, which would result 

in fully funding IHS on a true needs basis by 2028. 

2. Immediate Needs: Mental Health and Substance Abuse 

Two of the most immediate needs at Cheyenne River are mental health and substance abuse. In particular, youth suicide and methamphetamine use are at record 

levels on our Reservation. It is established that conventional, western treatment 

methods have little success treating methamphetamine addiction, because of the 

particular effects of methamphetamine on the user’s brain and body. Successful 

treatment of methamphetamine addiction in Native Americans has been achieved 

in treatment centers which provide long-term, specialized treatment designed 

around Lakota principles and values. But there is only one such 16-bed treatment 

center in the Great Plains region, located on the Rosebud Reservation. To successfully combat the epidemic of methamphetamine addition we need a robust network 

of culturally-appropriate treatment options. 

Likewise, our mental health program, which the Tribe operates through a self-determination contract with IHS, is severely underfunded. We do not have the resources needed to respond to the high numbers of children with thoughts of suicide, 

and who attempt suicide or who copycat other suicides at Cheyenne River. In 2015, 

our number of completed suicides was triple that of 2014. We rely on outside facilities to provide higher levels of care for our youth who need treatment for thoughts 

of suicide and self-harm. With adequate mental health resources, proportionate to 

those provided to non-Indians, we could develop an in-patient mental health treatment center at Cheyenne River, which could potentially lower our rate of youth suicide. 

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe urges the Committee to appropriate emergency 

supplemental funding for mental health and substance abuse in the Great Plains. 

In particular, we support continued funding of the treatment center at the Rosebud 

Reservation and funding of a new regional treatment center at the IHS Sioux San 

Hospital in Rapid City. 

3. Long-term Elder Care 

In the Affordable Care Act, Congress authorized expenditures of IHS funds for 

Long Term Services & Supports (LTSS). However, Congress has not to date appropriated funds to IHS for LTSS. Developing an effective, culturally-appropriate LTSS 

system is a priority of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. We demonstrated this priority by constructing the Medicine Wheel Village, intended to be a 45-bed nursing 

home and assisted living center in the heart of our Reservation. But without actual 

135 

funding to LTSS through IHS, we have only been able to open the assisted living 

portion of the center, and currently serve only 27 residents. Elders who need higher 

levels of care must still relocate to off-Reservation nursing facilities. The Cheyenne 

River Sioux Tribe urges the Committee to fund at a meaningful level the long term 

care services that were authorized in the Affordable Care Act. 

4. IHS Staffing Issues 

At Cheyenne River we have a new hospital facility and modern staffing quarters. 

Despite these advantages, our service unit has a 27 percent vacancy rate, with 70 

of the 262 positions vacant. While the majority of vacancies are clinical positions, 

IHS cannot recruit and retain not only providers, but also administrators and key 

staff. Key positions have remained unfilled for over a year. This situation can also 

be traced to funding. Because of limited funding, IHS providers are paid according 

to limited pay tables. Providers entering the IHS system, therefore, can expect to 

be paid well below their private hospital counterparts, and therefore do not choose 

to work for Indian Health. Because of this problem, the Eagle Butte service unit 

depends heavily on temporary contract providers, which cost three times more than 

a permanent employee. This not only depletes our local budget without improving 

services, it decreases patient trust in the hospital. Our patients know they will most 

likely be seen by a stranger whom they will never see again, which discourages patients from using the IHS system at all. Patients only seek care as a last resort, 

exacerbating the health problems we seek to improve. 

The Great Plains Area Office responded to this problem by hiring two recruiters 

based in the Area Office in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The recruiters were tasked 

with recruitment and retention responsibilities for service units throughout the 

Great Plains Area. However, neither recruiter has been to our hospital, nor have 

they been successful in filling any of our open IHS positions. Instead, as other Great 

Plains Tribes have testified, IHS recycles bad employees from service unit to service 

unit. It is alarming that many of the doctors and administrators that performed 

poorly at Cheyenne River were promoted to Area office jobs or shifted to another 

Tribe. This is a great disservice to Tribal members. 

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe asks the Committee to adopt and recommend to 

Congress the IHS budget increases under paragraph 1, to instruct IHS to waive its 

pay tables in areas such as the Great Plains where there are persistent problems 

with recruitment and retention, and to disallow IHS from recycling underperforming 

employees from Tribe to Tribe. 

5. Patient Relations 

In 2012, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council passed a resolution detailing 

problems in customer service and patient relations at the IHS hospital in Eagle 

Butte. The problems included a rigid and unreasonable appointment system, poor 

communication with patients regarding prescriptions and refills, and an institutional culture within IHS that did not engage patients in their treatment, did not 

respect their time, did not build trust with patients, and generally was neither compassionate nor respected the dignity of Cheyenne River patients. The Tribal Council 

demanded that the Service Unit Director create a written plan of action to improve 

patient experience in the Eagle Butte Hospital, to include a visible and accessible 

method of collecting patient feedback and a long-term patient experience strategy 

using: 

• A cultural assessment by a competent consultant group in the area of customer 

service improvement for healthcare organizations; 

• Adoption of a patient bill of rights; 

• Development of standards of service excellence; 

• Employee training on these standards; and 

• Ongoing protocols for continuing self-assessment and improvement. 

The Tribal Council asked for a written response to these demands, but IHS gave 

no response, and none of these changes were made. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 

renews its 2012 resolution through this statement, and asks this Committee to refer 

the issue of patient experience to IHS for their immediate response. 

6. IHS Priority System 

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe must again state our displeasure with the IHS 

priority system. You have heard many reasons, from many Tribes, over many years, 

over the problems the five level priority system causes with our patients. IHS’s justification for the priority system is simple: Congress does not give us adequate funding to meet all of the health needs of our population. Because we cannot pay for 

all needed health services, we must prioritize which health services we will pay for 

136 

and which health services we will not. It is unconscionable to not provide health 

care to patients needing emergency or acute care, we will pay for those services as 

a first priority. If care can be delayed, we will delay it until patients need emergency care. While this may make sense to accountants, it is completely backwards 

to medical caregivers. If care was not delayed, then emergency care would not be 

needed, and the cost of care overall would decrease. Tribes have challenged the priority system in federal court, but the courts have upheld IHS’s agency-level discretion to choose to fund some individuals’ care while denying others’, given that Congress has never funded IHS at its true level of need. But the priority system has 

a deeper effect on our patients than being denied for a particular procedure. It 

erodes trust in the system, and creates fear of rejection in our patients, which 

pushes them to avoid care, often until preventative care is too late. 

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe asks this Committee to support the funding request in paragraph 1, and in the short-term, to order the Indian Health Service to 

enter negotiated rule-making with Tribes to revise and reform the priority system. 

7. CMS State Plan Amendments 

Because of chronic underfunding, IHS and Tribal health programs have turned to 

other funding sources to supplement our budgets. Third-party billing, particularly 

to Medicaid, has been one of the largest sources of outside money. However, Tribes 

are limited in our application of Medicaid dollars in our program under the Social 

Security Act only states can design, implement and administer Medicaid programs. 

Tribal government are treated as local governments with respect to CMS, and must 

go through state Medicaid certification to access Medicaid dollars. The problem with 

this model, other than that it does not reflect the government-to-government model 

of federal-tribal relations, is that it limits the Tribe’s control in including culturally 

relevant health services, such as peer counseling, in the Medicaid state plan amendments. 

CMS does require states to consults with tribes regarding state plan amendments. 

In 2013, CMS created a best practices booklet to guide states in establishing meaningful consultation with tribes. However, the consultation process is essentially passive. States attempt to educate Tribes on how to maximize reimbursement of services provided by IHS and Tribal health programs, and to educate Tribes on proposed 

changes to the state plan and their impact on Tribes. However, under this model 

Tribes do not propose changes to state Medicaid plans. Cheyenne River would like 

this model to change from a teacher-student model to a health partnership model. 

If Tribal health programs are to increasingly depend on CMS dollars, then our governments need expanded control over the scope of the programs which are reimbursed. If Congress does not wish to amend the Social Security Act to allow Tribes 

to directly enter into agreements and plans to administer CMS programs, then we 

need a greater voice in the state agreements and plans. 

Therefore, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe asks the Committee to require CMS 

to change its consultation policy requirements for states to a requirement for negotiation or joint-decisionmaking between Tribes and States with regard to Medicaid 

state plan amendments. 

Conclusion 

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is honored to have this opportunity to share our 

experience and knowledge on this issue. Thank you for considering our comments 

on Indian health care in the Great Plains. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF YVONNE KAY CLOWN, CHEYENNE RIVER SIOUX TRIBAL

MEMBER

Thank you for having this hearing and testimonies. 

We need drastic changes in the following issues: 

Prevention healthcare, we need to be seen by specialists sooner than reach the 

priority one status. Prevention could have prevented my mom from dying of congestive heart failure; she was seen by IHS 3 times in same week and diagnosed as flu 

symptoms, while her autopsy reported CHF. SHE SUFFERED as huge needles were 

inserted into her lungs n heart areas to pull out the fluid by Dr. Virginia Updegraff, 

with 3 white nurses holding her in position as she moaned in pain. When mom saw 

me, she cried out my name and reached for me. The nurses were Jean Schupick, 

Pat Lane, and Lorraine Kintz. They ordered me out of her room. Then, they transferred her towards Mobridge, SD, in her ICU condition after our family was told 

she may not make it to morning. MaryC and I rode with her in the ambulance. Mom 

died 5 miles out of Eagle Butte, SD. She could have been sent out sooner than ICU 

status. 

137 

Eligibility for Contract health services aka Preferred Care: American Indian blood 

is defined as 1⁄4 Indian blood to be eligible for services. Eagle Butte Indian health 

service has always paid for all enrolled tribal members. If this is allowed, funding 

has to be increased for all 21,000∂ tribal members, scattered throughout the united 

states. 

We need steady, long term, real certified Drs., not family nurse practitioners or 

physician assistants. I’ve been misdiagnosed several times. Number 1, my right eye 

needed an ophthalmologist asap. We have only an optometrist, who takes leave as 

he pleases. Its hard to get in to see him, even if the medical officer in charge referred me to him. His secretary said although he was present it was after 4 p.m., 

and he would see me next day. I suffered with severe eye pain with a hx of iritis. 

I returned to ER another day with similar symptoms, I was told I had only makeup 

in my eye. I was given meds that were of no help. 3 days later, I was admitted to 

the Rapid City Regional hospital for irretractable eye migraines, and spent 4 days 

for eye care. We need an ophthalmologist on site. Dr. Clarkson, optometry on board 

is very rude, unprofessional, scare, and appts are made at his direction. He needs 

to be replaced. 

Number 2, I slipped off my sons porch in July 2015 after a small rain shower, 

and fell onto the sidewalk face first. I broke my nose, skinned my face, injured both 

my knees badly. The left one was swelling awfully. My right shoulder arm was very 

painful. The ER doctor said the arm was not or bruised, and was not worried about 

it. After treated and sent home, the next week the shoulder was very painful. I went 

returned to Er. I saw. Dr. Mclane, med officer in charge. He ordered an xray, said 

there was no tears or fractures. When I was referred to Black hills orthopedics and 

ENT, the specialist saw that I favored my arm upon physical exam of my knees and 

arm. He ordered an MRI. That week, his staff said the rotor cuff was turn, fell out 

of the shoulder. I was setup for surgery in January 2016. Dr. Mclane could have 

ordered an arm scan as I was told there is a scan machine in the hospital. He is 

a Locum. We can save $$$$$$$$$$ of dollars by recruiting regular physicians, who 

are willing to live and work in Eagle Butte. We need to get rid of locums. 

CEO, Charles Festes Fischer, has no MEDICAL BACKGROUND, only a cop background. He is incapable of running our EBIHS. He does not know medical terminology, or can’t recommend patients for preferred care referrals, and has to rely on 

other staff to do that. He denies me, and others, 3rd party billing dollars. I have 

Medicare and Medicaid. He sends me denial letters first on this issue, so when I 

see a specialist, his staff tell me IHS has already told them, they will not pay 3rd 

party billing. Or, I get a letter from the CEO, before I go to my first visit stating 

that too. This is wrong. I believe this CEO had no clue what our Treaty with the 

U.S. government states on quality healthcare for all full-blood Indians. The CEO 

and IHS has failed me, and all other enrolled tribal members, by sub substandard 

health care. The wait in between injuries and getting referred to a specialist is way 

too long. Specialists from Rapid City and Pierre SD have told me, the IHS physicians send us out too late, and under medicate severe cases of pain in many instances, where I and my relatives have been referred out. Or, they’ve misdiagnosed 

us. We need regular, stable doctors who live in town, on site, not family nurse practitioners or physician assistants. The current CEO, Charles Festes Fischer, has to 

be fired, as he is incompetent and unqualified to run our IHS: And count his unqualified relatives and friends who he has hired currently. 

Nepotism, tribal council representatives have played politics and the health committee members, related to the CEO, have allowed AAO to hire Charles Fischer over 

the objection, and Motion by Resolution from the tribe, to reject his application and 

readvertise that position has been ignored by the health committee and AAO. 

The CEO has allowed our laboratory department to hire and train anyone without 

a certification instead phlebotomists. One employee told me all she had was a degree from black hills state university; she is working on job learning how to draw 

blood. She poked me 5 times and drew about 1cm because she couldn’t get anymore. 

She said she maybe able to work with it? She left bruises that took a week to heal. 

This is risking my life, I’m glad she didnt create an air bubble with my system. 

Incident in ER, an EMT was sent to draw my blood. She said I was her 7th person she was learning to draw blood, OJT, this is unacceptable. She couldn’t draw 

me and hurt me. Finally, she went to get help. Robin lebeau, RN, came in and 

quickly drew my blood. I was scared and glad Robin helped. 

PRIVACY HIPPA: When new staff mainly doctors arrive they are told this family 

is addicted to pills, etoh, etc.—this causes and presets these new doctors to become 

biased against patients. My niece called me up to hospital because they wouldn’t 

give her any pain relief. I witnessed the staff forcing her to sign a pain contract 

to get a toradol shot just to get her out of the hospital. When Dr brant, med officer 

in charge, came into room, he said to me I know you’re not addicted to meds. This 

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1The National Health Board (NIHB) is a 501(c) 3 not for profit, charitable organization providing health care advocacy services, facilitating Tribal budget consultation and providing timely 

information and other services to all Tribal Governments. Whether Tribes operate their own 

health care delivery systems through contracting and compacting or receive health care directly 

from the Indian Health Services (IHS), NIHB is their advocate. Because the NIHB serves all 

federally-recognized Tribes, it is important that the work of the NIHB reflect the unity and diversity of Tribal values and opinions in an accurate, fair, and culturally-sensitive manner. The 

NIHB is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of representatives elected by the Tribes 

in each of the twelve IHS Areas. Each Area Health Board elects a representative and an alternate to sit on the NIHB Board of Directors. 

was after I asked to see him. I said a physicians assistant told my niece that ‘‘all 

Clowns’’ (our traditional ladt name) were drug addicts. He never disciplined Commander Fish, PA, who made the statement. This is an example of staff/nursed telling new staff breaking the HIPPA laws as written, violating patients to be treated 

without prejudice. 

TORT CLAIMS: IHS needs to offer their employees due process. My daughter in 

law was not offered due process when she filed a complaint against her supervisor 

for sexual harassment. Her supervisor’s boss was present when he disciplined her 

after she filed her complaint. That is not due process. I filed a complaint against 

CEO, their timely responses from the local IHS TO AAO WERE disregarded, and 

Edwin chasing hawk, AAO, said they were backlogged in dealing with complaints 

but he would pull mine, and respond. This is sooo wrong. 

PAIN CONTRACTS: I was referred to the ACLU website. I read on that page the 

current pain contracts forced by staff to have patients sign them before they give 

them pain relief were illegal. I told our local tribal health committee. They assigned 

peg bad warrior, attorney, to check into the legality, as our relatives and member 

ate forced to sign them. I’m still waiting for their response 

Physical therapy: This department do not answer their phone calls or return calls. 

They work with one patient at as time. No in else can be in that room full of equipment and can comfortably hold 6–10 patients pet hr. There are lots of equipment 

and space. They’re not earning their salary, kind of like bankers wages and hours. 

I had rotor cuff surgery on January 20, 2016, my first appt. Is Feb. 19, 2016, the 

specialist is spercless at how IHS has deals with patient. Therapy is important to 

regain full use of my arm. My sister had similar surgery, due to no local therapy 

spots. Asap, she lost 30 percent use of her arm. Please get us more pt time, change 

it for the better. 

Employees, we need more Indians who can speak our language. Were out the unqualified and those who are not 1⁄4 Indian blood but claim Indian preference. We 

need to use our tribal preference with the mandatory lakota language required. 

FETUS REMAINS: Ensure that all aborted fetuses are given a chart, and wait 

until moms are not drugged up before signing their fetuses sway to be burned up 

at Bismark.ND. It happened to my niece who still has nightmares and is seeing a 

psychiatrist for them and on meds. 

We need you to put a moratorium on all IHS hirings here so no more nepotisms’ 

will continue. 

Why was Cheyenne River never investigated when Charlene In the woods aka 

Red.Thunder was the Area doctors for AAO, in 2010, along with all other 17 tribe 

back in 2010? We had these problems then, they’re worse now. Thank you, 

Thank you for your time. Please review my testimony and help us get quality 

healthcare. Please get rid of Charles Festes Fischer, unqualified and incompetent. 

Give us more funding to recruit better doctors and a CEO who is qualified. Please 

get rid of unqualified Tribal health CEO, whose degree is in bugs, animals, prairie 

dogs as in biology; she has no experience in the medical field to run our tribal 

health department.she is filling position with unqualified tribal council’s children or 

relatives. Her name is Julia Thorstenson. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL INDIAN HEALTH BOARD (NIHB) 

Introduction 

Chairman Barrasso, Vice Chairman Tester and Members of the Committee, thank 

you for holding this important hearing on ‘‘Re-examining the Substandard Quality 

of Indian Health Care in the Great Plains.’’ On behalf of the National Indian Health 

Board (NIHB) 1 and the 567 federally recognized Tribes we serve, I submit this testimony for the record. 

The federal promise to provide for the health and welfare of Indian people was 

made long ago. Since the earliest days of the Republic, all branches of the federal 

government have acknowledged the nation’s obligations to the Tribes and the speVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00142 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
139 

2 25 U.S.C. § 1602. 

cial trust relationship between the United States and Tribes that was created 

through treaties, executive orders, statutes, and Supreme Court case law. The 

United States assumed this responsibility through a series of treaties with Tribes, 

exchanging compensation and benefits for Tribal land and peace. The Snyder Act 

of 1921 (25 U.S.C. § 13) legislatively affirmed this trust responsibility. To facilitate 

upholding its responsibility, the federal government created the Indian Health Service (IHS) and tasked the agency with providing health services to American Indians 

and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs). Since its creation in 1955, IHS has worked to fulfill 

the federal promise to provide health care to Native people, but has been routinely 

plagued by underfunding and mismanagement. 

In passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (P.L. 111–148), Congress also reauthorized and made permanent the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA). As 

part of the IHCIA, Congress reaffirmed the duty of the federal government to AI/ 

ANs, declaring that ‘‘it is the policy of this Nation, in fulfillment of its special trust 

responsibilities and legal obligations to Indians—to ensure the highest possible 

health status for Indians and urban Indians and to provide all resources necessary 

to effect that policy.’’ 2

But the promise made by the federal government and renewed by Congress over 

five years ago has not been kept. The issues identified by recent reports from the 

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicate as much. In the last 

year, several hospitals serving Tribes in the Great Plains region of IHS have lost, 

(or received threats of revocation) their ability to bill CMS. This not only severely 

hampers the critical 3rd Party Revenue on which these facilities depend, but it also 

raises serious questions about the quality of health care in the Great Plains Region. 

These recent developments in the Great Plains region have exposed a systemic lack 

of quality care being provided in at least two hospitals being run by the Indian 

Health Service. At the Winnebago Indian Hospital, Pine Ridge Indian Hospital and 

the Rosebud Indian Hospital the deficiencies in question are deplorable, and simply 

unacceptable. The incidents exposed by these investigations are evidence of a complete failure by the IHS to provide safe and reliable health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and in turn, an abrogation of the government’s 

trust responsibility toward the Tribes. 

‘‘For decades and generations, IHS has had a notorious reputation in Indian 

Country, but it is all we have. It is all we have to count on. We don’t go there 

because they have superior health care. We go there because it is our treaty 

right. And we go there because many of us lack the resources to go elsewhere. 

We’re literally are at the mercy of IHS.’’ 

-Victoria Kitcheyan, Treasurer, Winnebago Tribe, February 3, 2016 

But the issues identified by these reports are not limited to the Great Plains Region. NIHB hears similar stories from almost all regions where there are IHS-operated facilities. NIHB has received reports from other IHS Service Areas of patient 

misdiagnosis and subsequent death, lack of competent providers, and continued failure to provide safe and reliable healthcare for our people. This must change. 

As you are well aware, in 2010, this committee commissioned a report titled: ‘‘In 

Critical Condition: The Urgent Need to Reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area.’’ This report discussed the substandard health care services and widespread mismanagement in the region. Five years later here we are again. The hearing on February 3, 2016 felt like de ́ja` vu, from the hearing held in 2010. The issues 

in the so-called ‘‘Dorgan Report’’ included: 

• IHS using transfers and reassignments to deal the employees with a record of 

misconduct or poor performance; 

• Substantial diversions and reduced health care services; 

• Mismanagement of the purchased/referred care dollars; hospitals at risk of losing their CMS accreditation; 

• IHS providers treating patients with expired state licenses or other certifications; and the use of contract health providers (locum tenens). 

It is clear from the February 3rd hearing and testimony that these exact same 

issues are still very present in the IHS system six years later. The time for reports 

and additional research has passed. It is time to change the system; we must do 

better to provide health services to the First Peoples of this nation. 

In the next several weeks, NIHB will be convening a special task force to come 

up with solutions and policy recommendations with the goal of reforming the systemic challenges of the IHS. This includes policy recommendations for long-term, 

140 

3 ‘‘The State of the State’s Health: A Report on the Health of Montanans.’’ Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. 2013. p. 11. 4 ‘‘2014 South Dakota Vital Statistics Report: A State and County Comparison of Leading 

Health Indicators.’’ South Dakota Department of Health. 2014. P. 62. 5Trends in Indian Health 2014 Edition.’’ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service, Office of Public Health Support, Division of Program Statistics. 2014. p 63. 6 Ibid, p 5. 7 Ibid, p 5. 8 Indian Health Service FY 2016 Budget Request to Congress, p. 78. 

sustainable reform of IHS. However, we also are eager to work with the Committee, 

building on the findings in this hearing, to enact interim solutions for IHS to ensure 

that the care our people receive is the care that they are entitled to and deserve. 

This hearing should mark a watershed moment for Tribal health; a time when Congress decided to say ‘‘enough’’ to the inadequate health care in Indian Country. That 

is when real change happens. 

Health Statistics for American Indians and Alaska Natives 

The findings in the CMS reports described in this hearing should not come as a 

surprise when considering the state of health for AI/ANs. Devastating impacts from 

historical trauma, poverty, and a lack of adequate treatment resources continue to 

plague Tribal communities. American Indians and Alaska Natives continue to suffer 

from a variety of health disparities when compared with the rest of the U.S. Population. While some statistics have improved for American Indians and Alaska Natives over the years, they are still alarming and not improving fast enough or on 

a regular basis. In 2003, it was reported that AI/ANs have a lower life expectancy 

of almost 6 years less than any other racial/ethnic group. While the group still has 

a lower life expectancy than any other group, it is now 4.8 years less. In some areas, 

it is even lower. For instance, ‘‘white men in Montana lived 19 years longer than 

American Indian men, and white women lived 20 years longer than American Indian women.’’ 3 In South Dakota, in 2014, ‘‘for white residents the median age was 

81, compared to 58 for American Indians.’’ 4 Twenty-five percent of AI/AN deaths 

were for those with ages under 45. This compared with fifteen percent of black decedents and seven percent of white decedents in 2008 who were under 45 years of 

age. 5

Across almost all diseases, AI/ANs are at greater risk than other Americans. For 

example, AI/ANs are 520 percent more likely to suffer from alcohol-related deaths; 

450 percent more likely to die from tuberculosis; 368 percent more likely to die from 

chronic liver disease and cirrhosis; 207 percent greater to die in motor vehicle crashes; and 177 percent more likely to die from complications due to diabetes. 6 Infant 

mortality rates for AI/ANs is 8.3 per 1,000 live births, a decrease of 67 percent since 

1974. However, AI/ANs still have a higher rate compared to the U.S. all rate of 6.6. 

Most statistics have shown no improvement over the last decade to the detriment 

of American Indian and Alaska Native people. In 2003, AI/ANs were 204 percent 

more likely to suffer accidental death than other groups, and it has now risen to 

240 percent. Our youth continue to be 2.5 times more likely to die from suicide than 

other Americans. 7 Suicide rates are nearly 50 percent higher compared to non-Hispanic whites, and are more frequent among males and people under the age of 25. 

These staggering suicide statistics remain disturbingly unchanged from the 2003 report. 

According to CDC data, 45.4 percent of Native women experience intimate partner 

violence, the highest rate of any ethnic group in the United States. AI/AN children 

have an average of six decayed teeth, when other US children have only one. 8 There 

must be a comprehensive change to prevent another decade from going by and 

countless American Indians and Alaska Natives becoming victims to a broken, 

under resourced health system. 

Mismanagement/Accountability at the IHS 

Of grave and immediate concern is the quality of care being provided to Tribes 

in the Great Plains and other IHS-operated facilities. The rampant disregard for 

human life that has occurred at these hospitals amounts to, as Chairman Barrasso 

stated at the hearing, ‘‘malpractice’’ and is nothing short of criminal. Victoria 

Kitchyean, the Treasurer for the Winnebago Tribe, poignantly noted at the hearing: 

‘‘It’s been said in my community that the Winnebago Hospital is the only place you 

can legally kill an Indian. It is 2016 and our people are still suffering at the hands 

of the federal government. Kill the Indian, save the IHS sounds appropriate.’’ 

America is too great a nation to live with this status quo any longer. NIHB has 

heard reports of patients giving birth on hospital’s bathroom floor; patients with a 

highly contagious disease not being isolated; patient death as a direct result of medVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00144 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
141 

ical staff not knowing how to respond to medical crisis; and frequent misdiagnoses 

(or lack of any diagnosis at all) of critical illnesses. NIHB spoke with one person 

living on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation who told of a patient who presented with 

typical stroke symptoms and was told to go home with just an aspirin. It was 12 

hours before the patient was actually treated in Sioux Falls (4 hours away) because 

the Rosebud Indian Hospital’s Emergency Room (ER) was place on ‘‘diversion status’’ in December 4, 2015 due to the unsafe nature of the hospital. 

Since the ‘‘diversion’’ of the ER, the situation has gotten even worse. Patients with 

emergency needs are being sent to other area hospitals 40 to 50 minutes away. 

These hospitals cannot handle the patient load and the individuals are often turned 

away. Others are forced to drive to Rapid City (3 hours) or Sioux Falls (4 hours) 

for care. And if they are fortunate enough to receive care, they do not have the 

means of returning home because they were brought by ambulance. Individuals at 

risk of suicide also have nowhere to go. Off-reservation service providers do not have 

the cultural training necessary to treat patients from Rosebud. 

One individual from the Phoenix Area reported to NIHB that her mother was 

treated for a urinary tract infection by the Whiteriver IHS Hospital. When her condition did not improve, the patient’s family was reportedly told by IHS medical staff: 

‘‘What do you want me to do with her, she is an old woman?’’ After several more 

days, the patient was transferred to another facility in Gilbert, Arizona, and found 

to have pneumonia, numerous kidney stones in her gallbladder, two blood clots in 

her left arm, and a serious blood infection from the previous urinary tract infection. 

The patient passed away just a few days later. 

Over the summer, NIHB heard from two young people on the Navajo Nation, that 

their grandmother went to the local IHS who sent her home several times telling 

her she had migraines. Yet, when she went to another hospital off the reservation, 

she was diagnosed with brain cancer. But again, it was too late to save her life. We 

see this theme again and again. One patient from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 

told NIHB that, ‘‘Medical providers do not listen to their patients and do not include 

patients’ information at times when making a diagnosis.’’ 

The response to these claims by the IHS and HHS leadership has also been frustrating for Indian Country. Tribal leaders have consistently complained about a lack 

communication between CMS, IHS and the Tribes. Little has been done to correct 

the problems. This is likely no surprise given the outward attitude of IHS leadership. As Chairman Barrasso called out at the hearing, one senior IHS official recently remarked: ‘‘If you’ve only had two babies hit the floor in eight years, that’s 

pretty good.’’ 

Accountability measures are enforced sporadically at best, and often managers 

have little training or are filling several positions at once. When issues do arise, it 

is unlikely that an employee would be let go. They just get transferred somewhere 

else. Unlike in the private sector, where the number of patient visits impact the 

overall physician pay, IHS medical staff just make a salary and there is no incentive 

to go above and beyond to meet the needs of patients. In the 2010 Dorgan report, 

it was discussed that IHS routinely transfers or reallocates employees at all levels 

with a history of misconduct and we still hear about this today. It is unclear what 

actions IHS has taken to terminate problem employees from the three service units 

who have been threatened with the loss or have already lost CMS accreditation. 

How many more people have to die before AI/ANs can access quality health care? 

What will it take for the U.S. government to fulfill its promise of providing safe and 

reliable health care to Indian Country? 

Lack of Communication between Tribal Leadership and the IHS 

Inconsistent communication between IHS officials and local leadership continues 

to be major a challenge for the Tribes when it comes to management of hospitals 

on their land. For the Tribes who have been involved in the CMS certification 

issues, Tribal leadership has requested that they be informed on a weekly basis 

about progress from IHS. But, according to local Tribal staff, the Tribal government 

has not received adequate updates from IHS. It is our understanding that CMS also 

has regular discussions with the IHS on the issue, but has not involved the Tribal 

government in any of these conversations. 

However, all the Tribal leaders present in the hearing discussed a lack of consultation by IHS on issues at certain service units. One Tribal leader present at the 

listening session noted that his Tribe found out about the loss of CMS accreditation 

at their hospital on the local news. Mr. William Bear Shield with the Rosebud Sioux 

Tribal Council noted, ‘‘There’s still continuing to be practices. . .that doesn’t give 

us any hope that things are being taken seriously [by IHS]. There needs to be more 

direction. . .they need to be more actively involved in helping us get our ER services back open.’’ 

142 

One suggestion offered by several of the Tribal leaders present at the hearing was 

that Tribal leadership should have voting positions on hospital governing boards. It 

was reported during the hearing, that Tribal leaders only serve as ex officio members and the voting members typically consist of IHS area staff. Tribal leaders also 

reported that they found out about deficiencies or key decisions affecting hospitals 

on their reservations after decisions had already been made. 

These claims should not be taken lightly. Even though IHS operates a facility, it 

is by no means an excuse to exclude Tribal leadership from hospital decisions. The 

elected Tribal leadership has a duty to ensure the health and well-being of their 

people, and without substantive engagement from IHS and other federal agencies, 

it is impossible for these leaders to do that. Someone must be there looking out for 

the people in each of these communities, and it is imperative that Tribal leadership 

be given an active and formal role in the hospital governance. 

Budget Disparities for American Indian Alaska Native Health 

The quality of health care provided is underscored by the low quality budget that 

IHS receives each year. NIHB understands that federal discretionary budgets are 

tight, but there are many things that just cannot be achieved with the amount of 

funds available. The treaties that Tribes signed are not discretionary and should not 

be held hostage to unrelated political battles in Washington. It is shameful and dishonorable that the United States refuses to live up to its treaty and trust responsibilities. Congress must make funding of the Tribal health system a priority. NIHB 

and Tribes have consistently asked for budgets each year that would bring IHS up 

to the same status as other American health facilities. Right now, this is $30 billion. 

To begin a phase in of this amount over 12 years, we are requesting $6.2 billion 

for IHS in FY 2017. 

It is true that IHS budgets have increased over the last several years. However, 

most of these increases have gone to provide for full funding of Contract Support 

Costs after the decision by U.S. Supreme Court in Salazar v. Ramah Navajo Chapter (2012), requiring that these costs be paid in full (CSC is currently $717 million, 

an increase of 62 percent since FY 2004). Other important increases have been 

made to Purchased/Referred Care Services (currently $914 million, an increase of 

48 percent since FY 2004). But it is important to note that inflation and population 

growth have played a big part in the diminished purchasing power of the IHS. For 

example, putting FY 2004 funding in 2015 dollars, the overall increase to the IHS 

budget would only be about 4 percent, yet the IHS patient population has grown 

by about 27 percent. 

Per capita spending for AI/ANs also continues to lag far behind other Americans. 

In 2014, the IHS per capita expenditures for patient health services were just 

$3,107, compared to $8,097 per person for health care spending nationally. Compared to IHS calculations of expected cost of Federal Employee Health Benefits, average IHS per user spending in 2014 was only 59 percent of calculated full costs. 

It is also important to note that the IHS spending per capita on actual healthcare 

services was only about $1,940 in FY 2014. The actual percentage varies widely between IHS areas, with some funded at much less than 59 percent of need. 


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New health care insurance opportunities beginning in 2014 and expanded Medicaid in some states may expand health care resources available to American Indians and Alaska Natives. However, these new resource opportunities come with a 

cost for billing, collections and compliance, and are no substitute for the fulfillment 

of the federal trust responsibility. With the funding gap already reaching upwards 

of $25 billion, even if 100 percent of these were recouped and put into services, the 

huge budget gap and associated health disparities will remain. 

Indian Health Care Improvement Act 

In 2010, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHICA) was permanently enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act. This landmark legislation was hailed as 

a great victory for Tribes, as renewal efforts were over 10 years in the making. Specifically, the renewed IHCIA: 

• Updates and modernizes health delivery services, such as cancer screenings, 

home and community based services and long-term care for the elderly and disabled. 

• Establishes a continuum of care through integrated behavioral health programs 

(both prevention and treatment) to address alcohol/substance abuse problems 

and the social service and mental health needs of Indian people. 

This historic law has meant many great new opportunities for the Indian health 

system, but not all provisions have been equally implemented or at all. With the 

passage of the ACA, the American health care delivery system has been revolutionized while the Indian health care system continues to wait for the full implementation of the IHCIA. For example, mainstream American health care increased focus 

on prevention as a priority and coordinated mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child abuse services into comprehensive behavioral health programs. This is now a standard practice as a result of the ACA but not for Indian 

Country. Tribes fought for over a decade to renew IHCIA and it is critical for Congress and the Administration to ensure that the full intentions of the law are realized. 

To provide context for how much of the law has not been implemented, the following provides several categories of programs that have not been implemented and 

funded: 

1) Health and Manpower—67 percent of provisions not yet fully implemented. 

• Includes: establishment of national Community Health Aide Program; demonstration programs for chronic health professions shortages. 

2) Health Services—47 percent of provisions not yet fully implemented 

• Includes: authorization of dialysis programs; authorization of hospice care, 

long term care, and home/community based care; new grants for prevention, 

control and elimination of communicable and infectious diseases; and establishment of an office of men’s health. 

3) Health Facilities—43 percent of provisions not yet fully implemented 

• Includes: demonstration program with at least 3 mobile health station 

projects; demonstration projects to test new models/means of health care delivery. 


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4) Access to Health Services—11 percent of provisions not yet fully implemented 

• Includes: Grants to provide assistance for Tribes to encourage enrollment in 

the Social Security Act or other health benefit programs. 

5) Urban Indians—67 percent of provisions not yet fully implemented 

• Includes: funds for construction or expansion of urban facilities; authorization 

of programs for urban Indian organizations regarding communicable disease 

and behavioral health. 

6) Behavioral Health—57 percent of provisions not yet fully implemented 

• Authorization of programs to create a comprehensive continuum of care; establishment of mental health technician program; grants to for innovative community-based behavioral health programs; demonstration projects to develop 

tele-mental health approaches to youth suicide; grants to research Indian behavioral health issues, including causes of youth suicides. 

7) Miscellaneous—9 percent of provisions not yet fully implemented 

• Includes: Provision that North and South Dakota shall be designed as a contract health service delivery area. 

Clearly, more must be done to ensure that the promises made by this law are actually implemented. Otherwise, Indian Country will continue to operate with a 

health system designed for the 20th Century, not a modern health delivery system. 

The passage of this seminal law, and then subsequent failure to appropriate funds 

to carry it out represents just another broken promise to Indian Country. 

Recruitment and Retention at IHS 

At Rosebud, the IHS Area Director claimed that the hospital had a need for 22 

doctors but only had funding for 11. YET, there were only 2 full time physicians 

at the hospital. NIHB’s Board Member for the Billings Area, Charles Headdress, 

Vice Chairman for the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation, 

reported he had to wait three years to get a dental appointment. NIHB has heard 

countless reports of patients showing up at the beginning of the day for just a handful of emergency appointments—even if this means waiting outside in the cold. To 

make matters worse, the use of contract physicians makes it impossible for patients 

to form a trusting relationship with their medical providers, further exacerbating 

distrust in the system. 

While we understand that it can be challenging to recruit medical professionals 

to remote areas, it is critical that IHS and HHS employ all tools at their disposal 

to do so. For example, increasing the ability of IHS to use Title 38 salary authority 

would help. We also must expand the ability of IHS to offer student loan repayment 

with already appropriated funds by passing S. 536—The Indian Health Service 

Health Professions Tax Fairness Act. In addition, Congress must make investments 

in reservation housing so that people working in IHS facilities have a place to live. 

It is also critical to provide support for schools so that the families of medical providers will have access to adequate educational opportunities. 

But most importantly, we must make IHS a desirable place to work. Time and 

again, NIHB hears from physicians who leave IHS and cite the obstacles to working 

at these poorly-operated facilities on a daily basis. One of the most common reasons 

physicians leave is because they can’t practice medicine with the resources available. Too many of them have had their hands tied by budget constraints and other 

bureaucratic obstacles. 

Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 

‘‘Congress needs to be willing to put that investment into [IHS]. It is not asking 

too much. We make up 2 percent of the entire population of this country. We 

are the genocide survivors. It is not a big ask for this country to fund schools, 

health, our judicial systems at a level that allows us to live functional healthy 

lives.’’ 

-Jerilyn Church, Executive Director, Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health 

Board, February 3, 2016 

Thank you for holding this important hearing on the substandard quality of 

healthcare provided by the IHS. It is clear that the federal government is not living 

up to its trust responsibility. From underfunding to employee accountability, to recruitment and retention, NIHB calls on this Committee to enact solutions that will 

change the course for Indian health services. 

Sadly, we knew about many of these issues six years ago when the Dorgan Report 

was released, but are still dealing with the same issues. We call upon this committee to be the leaders in making this change. 

145 

As noted above, NIHB will be working in the coming months to coordinate a task 

force that will develop recommendations on how to improve the IHS. However, 

NIHB makes the following interim policy recommendations that will help improve 

the quality of care at the Indian Health Service: 

• Fully fund the IHS at $30 billion. In FY 2016 Tribes are recommending $6.2 

billion for IHS in order to start a 12-year phase in of this $30 billion 

• Enact Advance Appropriations for the Indian Health Service which will enable 

IHS to operate budgets that are more predictable and sustainable 

• Enact legislation that would require all Medicare-participating providers to also 

accept Medicare Like Rates for referrals from the IHS 

• Require Tribal leadership on IHS-operated hospital governing boards, and provide training for those Tribal leaders. It is critical that Tribally elected officials 

are a part of key hospital decisions 

• Support the use of Dental Health Aide Therapists in Tribal communities by repealing Section 119 of IHCIA which will bring oral health access to Tribal communities. 

• Enact the Indian Health Service Health Professions Tax Fairness Act (S. 536) 

which would allow IHS to fund more student loan repayment within existing 

funds 

Please see the attached NIHB 2016 Legislative and Policy Agenda which also contains additional policy recommendations to improve Indian health. We look forward 

to working with you on these and other proposals as we work towards our joint goal 

of improving the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives. 

2016 LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY AGENDA—JANUARY 21, 2016 

Founded by the Tribes in 1972, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) is dedicated to advocating for the improvement in the delivery of health care and public 

health services and programs to American Indians and Alaska Natives. To advance 

the organization’s mission, the NIHB Board of Directors sets forth the following priorities that the NIHB will pursue through its legislative and policy work in 2016. 

Phase in Full Funding for Indian Health Services and Programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the Indian Health Service (IHS) and 

Beyond 

Each year the National Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup to the IHS works 

diligently to synthesize the priorities identified by Tribes in each of the health care 

delivery Service Areas of the IHS into a cohesive message outlining Tribal funding 

priorities nationally. These priorities are the foundation and roadmap for the work 

that NIHB does on behalf of Tribes in pursuit of much needed funding for health 

care services and programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs). In 

addition to advocating for these national Tribal priorities, NIHB will call on Congress and the Administration to: 

****NOTE: Specific Recommendations to be updated with the Tribal Budget 

Formulation Workgroup’s recommendation after the national meeting on Feb 

11–12.***** 

• Phase in Full Funding of IHS—Total Tribal Needs Budget of $29.7 Billion Over 

12 Years 

• Present a 22 percent increase in the overall IHS budget from the FY 2016 

President’s Budget request planning base for a total of $6.2 billion 

• Advocate that Tribes and Tribal programs be permanently exempted from sequestration 

• Provide an additional $300 million to implement the provisions authorized in 

the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) 

Enact Mandatory Appropriations for the Indian Health Service 

In addition to fully funding the Indian Health Service, NIHB and Tribes are committed to seeing IHS treated as ‘mandatory’ spending. The federal trust responsibility toward the Tribes is not an optional line item, and it should not be treated 

this way during the annual budgeting process. To reaffirm its commitment to the 

Tribes, IHS funding should be treated as mandatory spending so that fulfillment of 

the U.S. government’s treaty responsibilities is not a victim of unrelated political 

battles. 

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Seek Long-Term Renewal for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians at 

$200 Million 

NIHB is asking Congress to pass legislation by this year to renew funding for this 

vital program for at least 5 years at $200 million per year. The Special Diabetes 

Program for Indians (SDPI) has not received an increase in funding since 2002; the 

program has effectively lost 23 percent in programmatic value over the last 12 years 

due to the lack of funding increases corresponding to inflation. Few programs are 

as successful as SDPI at addressing chronic illness and risk factors related to diabetes, obesity, and physical activity. SDPI has proven itself effective, especially in declining incidence of diabetes-related kidney disease. The incidence of end-stage renal 

disease (ESRD) due to diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives has fallen 

by 29%—a greater decline than for any other racial or ethnic group. Treatment of 

ESRD costs almost $90,000 per patient, per year, so this reduction in new cases of 

ESRD translates into significant cost savings for Medicare, the Indian Health Service, and third party payers. 

Secure Advanced Appropriations for the Indian Health Service 

NIHB is asking Congress to enact advanced appropriations for IHS. If IHS had 

received advance appropriations, it would not have been subject to the government 

shutdown or automatic sequestration cuts as its FY 2014 funding would already 

have been in place. Adopting advance appropriations for IHS results in the ability 

for health administrators to continue treating patients without wondering if—or 

when—they have the necessary funding. Additionally, IHS administrators would not 

waste valuable resources, time and energy re-allocating their budget each time Congress passed a continuing resolution. Indian health providers would know in advance how many physicians and nurses they could hire without wondering if funding would be available when the results of Congressional decisions funnel down to 

the local level. 

Seek a Legislative Fix of the Definition of Indian in Affordable Care Act 

NIHB is asking for a legislative fix of the ‘‘Definition of Indian’’ in the Patient 

Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ‘‘Definition of Indian’’ in the ACA 

are not consistent with the definitions already in place and actively used by the Indian Health Service (IHS), Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Plan 

(CHIP) for services provided to AI/ANs. The ACA definitions, which currently require that a person is a member of a federally recognized Tribe or an Alaska Native 

Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) corporation, are narrower than those used by IHS, 

Medicaid and CHIP, thereby leaving out a sizeable population of AI/ANs that the 

ACA was intended to benefit and protect. Congress should: 

• Enact legislation that would clarify the definitions in the ACA to align with 

other definitions used by federal providers 

Promote Better Public Health Outcomes for AI/ANs through Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the nation’s public 

health agency responsible for the public health of all populations, however, their actions on American Indian and Alaska Native health have not demonstrated a firm 

commitment to fulfilling the trust responsibility that the federal government has to 

maintain the health and well-being of Tribal citizens. The CDC’s past efforts, although lauded and appreciated, have been indicative of a both a ‘helicopter’ and 

‘band-aid’ mentality—serving often to micromanage Tribal health programs and 

only seeking to solve symptomatic issues, rather than improving whole health systems. Efforts, more specifically funding streams, have been temporary and have only 

served to draw fleeting attention to bigger and broader issues. The funding creates 

fruitful and effective programs within the Tribal communities (i.e. traditional foods, 

motor vehicle safety, HIV capacity building), however these programs are woefully 

dismantled upon the termination of the funding. This only reinforces a lack of longterm and sustainable commitment to American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The funding is not sufficient enough to create systemic change, embed a community consciousness aligned with public health goals, re-align programming and 

governance to longer-term public health strategies, and address tribal priorities. 

There needs to be a significant increase to the CDC’s bottom line budget, and then 

that increase used to: 

• Create an American Indian and Alaska Native public health block grant administered through the Tribal Support Unit within the Office of State, Tribal, Local 

and Territorial Support. 

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• Create flagship funding for Tribal health departments for key public health 

issues in Indian Country. State health departments receive multi-year funding 

from the CDC for such issues as HIV, hepatitis C, diabetes, cancer, and sexually 

transmitted diseases. These funds are used to establish the state’s own programming and presence around these issues. Tribes should be permitted the 

same opportunities through their own flagship awards. 

• Each institute, office or center operating significant programmatic outreach at 

the community level should create standing funding streams dedicated only to 

federally recognized American Indian or Alaska Native Tribes. 

• The CDC should work directly with the CDC Tribal Advisory Committee meeting 

to establish subcommittee that will actively seek out Tribal input during the internal budget negotiations and formulation. It is important that Tribal input is 

reflected in the budget that CDC prepares for the White House’s initial proposal 

and all subsequent revisions. 

Achieve Medicare-like Rates for the IHS 

NIHB is requesting Congress to extend the Medicare-like rate cap on Purchased 

and Referred Care (PRC) (formerly Contract Health Services) referrals to all Medicare participating providers and suppliers. The IHS-operated PRC program alone 

would have saved an estimated $31.7 million annually if Medicare-like Rates applied to non-hospital services. These savings would result in IHS being able to provide approximately 253,000 additional physician services annually. On December 5, 

2014, IHS released a proposed rule that would amend the IHS PRC regulations to 

apply Medicare payment methodologies to all physician and other health care professional services and non-hospital based services that are either authorized under 

such regulations or purchased by urban Indian organizations. The National Indian 

Health Board, along with multiple Tribes and other Tribal organizations submitted 

comments supporting the Proposed Rule as long as any regulation is flexible enough 

to allow Tribes to opt out of the regulations requirements if they so choose. While 

NIHB is generally supportive of the proposed rule, it recognizes that the proposed 

rule has no enforcement capability. As a result, NIHB is still calling on Congress 

to pass legislation to extend the Medicare-like rate cap on PRC. 

Seek an Exemption for American Indians and Alaska Natives from the Employer Mandate Requirement 

The Employer Shared Responsibility Rule, otherwise known as the Employer 

Mandate, states that all employers with 50 or more employees must offer health insurance to their employees or pay a penalty. Tribal governments are currently 

counted as large employers for application of this rule even though they are not specifically listed in the language of the statue. Yet, AI/ANs are exempt from the Individual Mandate to purchase health insurance. Requiring Tribal employers to provide AI/ANs with such coverage anyway, and penalizing them if they do not, functionally invalidates the AI/AN exemption from the individual mandate by shifting 

the penalty from the individual to the Tribe itself. NIHB has reached out to members of Congress to educate them on this important issue and it has garnered some 

interest and support. However, given the political climate, NIHB believes that a regulatory fix would be more likely to succeed than a congressional one. However, 

NIHB continues to advance both strategies in 2015. 

• The Administration should exempt AI/AN employees from the Employer Mandate through a regulatory fix 

• If the Administration can’t exempt AI/AN employees from the Employer Mandate altogether, Tribal consultation needs to occur on how to mitigate the impact 

that the Employer Mandate has on Tribes 

• Congress should explicitly exempt AI/AN employees from the Employer Mandate 

to purchase health insurance under the ACA 

Improve Recruitment and Retention of Medical and Health Professionals at 

the Indian Health Service 

Like most rural health providers, IHS has difficulty recruiting and retaining medical staff at many of its sites. As a result, patients experience very long wait times, 

and serious illness is often left untreated. Congress and the Administration must 

do more to ensure that providers are seeking out the IHS as a desirable place to 

work. Recommendations include: 

• Securing tax exempt status for IHS student loans 

• Engaging in formal Tribal consultation on how to better recruit and retain medical staff 

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* U.S. Department of Justice. (2014) ‘‘Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence: Ending Violence so Children can Thrive,’’ 

p. 7. 

• Shortening hiring times for medical professionals 

• Increasing funding to build staff housing on reservations 

• Create specialized residency programs within IHS to attract a service provider 

corps with more diversified professional expertise 

• Increase professional development opportunities for existing staff 

Enact Special Suicide Prevention Program for AI/ANs 

AI/AN communities grapple with complex behavioral health issues at higher rates 

than any other population. Destructive federal Indian policies and unresponsive or 

harmful human service systems have left AI/AN communities with unresolved historical and generational trauma. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental 

Health Services Administration, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death—2.5 times 

the national rate—for AI/AN youth in the 15 to 24 age group. Tribes have noted 

that federal support seems to increase whenever there is an acute crisis, but then 

dwindles over time, preventing long-term, sustainable improvement in mental and 

behavioral health systems. The Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on AI/AN 

Children Exposed to Violence, describes the foundation that must be put in place 

to treat and heal AI/AN children who have experienced trauma: ‘‘We must transform the broken systems that re-traumatize children into systems where [AI/AN] 

tribes are empowered with authority and resources to prevent exposure to violence 

and to respond to and promote healing of their children who have been exposed.’’ * 

NIHB recommends that: 

• Congress should enact a program to target suicide prevention program for Indian Country that would be modeled off of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians 

• Create an American Indian and Alaska Native mental health block grant to be 

Administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 

• Congress and the Administration should require that states engage in meaningful Tribal Consultation with Tribes within their borders in order to receive any 

funds under the Mental Health Services Block Grant 

• Increase appropriations across the federal government for Tribal behavioral 

health programs and empower Tribes to operate those programs through Tribal 

Self-Governance contracts 

• Congress pass statutory language supporting traditional and cultural healing 

practices in any national mental health reform legislation 

Repeal Language in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Limiting the 

Use of Dental Therapists in Tribal Communities 

Tribal communities suffer from some of the worst oral health disparities in the 

United States. AI/AN children have an average of 6 decayed teeth, while the same 

age group in the U.S. population overall has only one. For over a decade, Tribes in 

Alaska have successfully employed Dental Health Aide Therapists (DHATs), who 

have expanded oral health services to over 40,000 Alaska Natives. These safe and 

effective mid-level oral health providers deliver basic and routine services (i.e. 

cleanings, fillings, simple extractions, oral health education, sealants, etc.) to communities who do not have access to a regular dentist. However, when Congress 

passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act in 2010, language was included 

that would limit the use of DHATs outside of Alaska within the Community Health 

Aide Program unless a state legislature approves. NIHB believes that this is a direct violation of the principle of Tribal sovereignty, and that Tribal governments, 

not state legislatures, should dictate who is able to deliver care in their community. 

Therefore, we recommend that: 

• Congress should repeal Section 119 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act 

which bans the expansion of Dental Health Aide Therapists (DHATs) to Tribes 

in the lower 48 within the Community Health Aide Program at the Indian 

Health Service unless approved by a state legislature 

• Congress should pass legislation that would express support for the use of 

DHATs in Tribal communities outside of Alaska 

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Expand Tribal Self Governance at the Department of Health and Human 

Services 

For over a decade, Tribes have been advocating for expanding self-governance authority to programs in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Selfgovernance represents efficiency, accountability and best practices in managing and 

operating Tribal programs and administering Federal funds at the local level. In the 

108th Congress, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell introduced S. 1696—Department 

of Health and Human Services Tribal Self-Governance Amendments Act—that 

would have allowed demonstration projects to expand self-governance to other 

DHHS agencies. This proposal was deemed feasible by a Tribal/federal DHHS 

workgroup in 2011. Therefore, in 2016, NIHB recommends that Congress: 

• Expand statutory authority for Tribes to enter into self-governance compacts 

with HHS agencies outside of the IHS. 

Improve Enrollment through the Federal and State-based Insurance Marketplaces 

NIHB is committed to working with CMS to set goals for enrollment and measure 

progress towards those goals. It has been estimated that about 460,000 AI/AN are 

eligible for tax credits or premium assistance yet only about 24,000 AI/AN have enrolled. There are a number of ways to increase enrollment of AI/ANs. 

• Funding for enrollment assistance for the I/T/U. Navigator grants have been 

limited to only a few regions in the country; and the rules associated with Navigator grants make them unattractive to some Tribes and Tribal organizations, 

which are in the best position to do outreach, education, and enrollment assistance. NIHB needs to work with CMS to consider alternatives for funding for 

enrollment assistance that is specifically designated to reach the I/T/U. 

• Change the rule for AI/AN in family plans. A regulatory decision was made in 

the first year that everyone on a family plan would get the least generous cost 

sharing reduction that anyone qualified to receive. NIHB will recommend that 

a family plan includes one person who is eligible for Indian-specific cost sharing 

reductions, then others who are in the tax-filing unit who are eligible for the 

Indian Health Service will get the same cost-sharing reduction as the person 

with Indian Status. 

• Access to analytics to manage enrollment for AI/AN. To manage the problem of 

increasing enrollment requires a system of reporting and analyzing enrollment 

data in a regular and consistent way that allows us to better understand the 

impediments and the approaches that are successful. NIHB and TTAG have 

made recommendations about the most useful types of information and how 

they can be retrieved from existing data files and we intend to follow up with 

CMS until we receive access to the data that we need. 

AI/AN-Specific Call Centers 

NIHB has reported to CMS numerous times that AI/ANs continue to experience 

poor assistance when contacting the marketplace call center for help. Issues range 

from technicians having no knowledge of the Indian-specific protections like exemptions and tax credits, to technicians being rude and having no patience to walk elderly consumers through the troubleshooting process. 

Because AI/AN consumers continue to receive such poor customer service we have 

suggested before and continue to suggest that the Center for Consumer Information 

and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), in CMS, establish an AI/AN-specific call center 

to respond to questions and provide technical assistance to AI/ANs, as well as enrollment assisters such as navigators and certified application counselors. We also believe that an AI/AN-specific help desk would be better equipped and more sensitive 

to the needs of AI/AN consumers. 

Support Increased Oversight of QHPs 

CMS put into regulations the provisions in the 2015 Issuer Letter requiring 

Qualified Health Plan (QHP) Issuers to offer contracts to all Indian health care providers that operate in the QHP’s service area and to do so by including the QHP 

Indian addendum with ‘‘good faith’’ payment provisions. However, not all QHP 

Issuers are complying with the requirement. Depending upon the region of the country, some QHP issuers are offering contracts, but in other regions, QHP issuers do 

not appear to be offering contracts to Indian health care providers. NIHB is advocating and working with CCIIO to provide better oversight in federally facilitated 

marketplaces (FFM) states and that the contract requirement be extended to statebased Marketplaces to ensure Indian Health Care Providers are included in plan 

networks in those states. 

150 

For a variety of reasons, an I/T/U may be unable to join the network of plan providers or chose not to do so. In any case, if the I/T/U is an out-of-network provider, 

AI/AN will continue to seek the I/T/U for many of their health services. CMS should 

ensure that: 

• Marketplace plans make accurate and timely payments to the I/T/U for services 

to people enrolled in the Marketplace plans, and that the cost sharing reductions 

for AI/AN are handled properly at the time of service. 

Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records 

Meaningful Use (MU) of electronic health records (EHR) requires both changes in 

technology and changes in business practices. For a variety of reasons, this has been 

difficult to accomplish in many places within the I/T/U. Now Indian health providers 

are threatened with reduced revenues for lack of progress on MU. In addition, many 

I/T/U facilities are small and located in extremely rural areas where it is difficult 

or impossible to attract and retain the kind of personnel who can understand, implement and manage the new requirements for reporting that result in Medicare payments being reduced. NIHB will advocate for exemption to these requirements. 

Support Medicaid Expansion and 100 percent FMAP Policy 

Medicaid Expansion is a shared partnership between states and the federal government. Under Medicaid, AI/ANs are eligible for a 100 percent federal match (also 

known as 100 percent FMAP), meaning that the money spent by a state Medicaid 

program is fully reimbursed by the federal government. Medicaid reimbursement is 

a significant source of third party revenue that is essential to supplementing the 

limited resources of the Indian health system. In states that have expanded Medicaid, like Washington, as much as $2 billion has been added to the Indian Health 

System. A recent White House report estimates that 5,200 deaths could be avoided 

annually if those 16 remaining states that have stated that they are not expanding 

Medicaid continue to do so. NIHB must continue to advocate and provide technical 

assistance for those states that wish to expand Medicaid. 

In addition, CMS recently proposed updating its policy concerning the circumstances under which a 100 percent federal match can be applied. CMS proposes 

expanding the match to include services furnished outside an IHS or Tribal health 

facility. This would have substantial benefits to Indian Country and the revenue 

generated from expanding the federal match could be used to expand Medicaid in 

the state, as South Dakota has proposed. NIHB will continue to advocate for this 

expansion and provide all necessary technical support. 

Public Health Infrastructure Workforce Development 

AI/AN communities have some of the largest public health disparities in this 

country, with disproportionately higher rates of depression, suicide, HIV, motor vehicle accidents, other accidental deaths, sexually transmitted diseases, viral hepatitis, substance use, tobacco use, and cancer when compared to other reported races 

and ethnicities. Indian Country does not have the established public health infrastructure that exists within state governments or even local or country systems. 

This lack of infrastructure and accompanying workforce will only continue to perpetuate the disparities, and quite possibly compound them. The recent movement to 

accredit the public health operations of health departments has proven quite successful but uptake has been slower in Tribal communities, primarily because the 

lack of public health infrastructure makes public health accreditation seem 

unachievable. An effective public health system, especially the practices of disease 

surveillance and prevention, can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in health 

care costs to Indian Health Service, Veteran’s Administration, Medicaid, and third 

party payers. In order to bolster the public health infrastructure and workforce of 

Tribes, NIHB recommends: 

• IHS create targeted capacity building to Indian Health Service medical providers on the integration of public health and behavioral health services into 

clinical settings. 

• Congress re-instate the CDC’s National Public Health Improvement Initiative 

(NPHII) which was discontinued in 2015, as this funding was solely for the purpose of strengthening gaps in public health services or systems, as identified by 

the funding recipient. However, the re-instatement of this program should include a Tribal set-aside, as data clearly indicates that not only are health disparities greater, but the infrastructure is weaker within Tribal communities 

than their non-Tribal counterparts. 

• Indian Health Service create a health education certification program for Tribal 

and IHS employees. 

151 

1 USET member Tribes include: Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas (TX), Aroostook Band of 

Micmac Indians (ME), Catawba Indian Nation (SC), Cayuga Nation (NY), Chitimacha Tribe of 

Louisiana (LA), Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana (LA), Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (NC), 

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (ME), Jena Band of Choctaw Indians (LA), Mashantucket 

Pequot Indian Tribe (CT), Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (MA), Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of 

Florida (FL), Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MS), Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut (CT), Narragansett Indian Tribe (RI), Oneida Indian Nation (NY), Passamaquoddy 

Tribe at Indian Township (ME), Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point (ME), Penobscot Indian 

Nation (ME), Poarch Band of Creek Indians (AL), Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe (NY), Seminole 

Tribe of Florida (FL), Seneca Nation of Indians (NY), Shinnecock Indian Nation (NY), TunicaBiloxi Tribe of Louisiana (LA), and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) (MA). 2Tribal Nations face disproportionately high rates of mortality from diabetes, major heart disease, chronic liver disease and injuries, when compared with all other races in the United States 

(U.S.). 3 Indian Health Service ‘‘Year 2015 Profile’’ December, 2015. 

• That Congress require the Indian Health Service and the CDC to report to Congress every two years how it supports the creation and effective implementation 

of the ten essential services of public health within AI/AN communities. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE UNITED SOUTH AND EASTERN TRIBES, INC. 

The United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET SPF) 

is pleased to provide the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs with the following testimony in pursuit of solutions to the systemic challenges facing the Indian Health 

Service (IHS) and Tribally-Operated facilities. Following the unacceptable and devastating failures of the Indian Health System in the Great Plains, that is in part 

responsible for the unfortunate loss of lives, it was vital that the Committee investigate the state of Indian health care regionally and beyond. USET SPF thanks the 

Committee for hosting the hearing on the quality of health care within the IHS 

Great Plains Area and the subsequent listening session on ‘‘Putting Patients First: 

Addressing Indian Country’s Critical Concerns Regarding Indian Health Service.’’ 

USET SPF is a non-profit, inter-tribal organization representing 26 federally recognized Tribal Nations from Texas across to Florida and up to Maine. 1 Both individually, as well as collectively through USET SPF, our member Tribal Nations work 

to improve health care services for American Indians. Our member Tribal Nations 

operate in the Nashville Area of the IHS, which contains 36 IHS and Tribal health 

care facilities. Our citizens receive health care services both directly at IHS facilities, as well as in Tribally-Operated facilities operated under contracts with IHS 

pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA), 

P.L. 93–638. 

We echo the comments of many Members of the Committee, as well as witnesses, 

highlighting the financial obstacles facing the Indian Health Service and Tribal Nations, as they seek to provide quality health care to American Indians and Alaska 

Natives (AI/AN). While the issues surrounding the deplorable conditions in the 

Great Plains are multi-faceted, much of the problem can be attributed to the persistent underfunding of IHS. With this in mind, USET SPF is hopeful that Congress 

will take necessary actions to fulfill its Federal Trust responsibility and obligation 

to provide quality health care to Tribal Nations, including providing adequate funding to the IHS. In addition, we urge this Congress to introduce and approve no-cost 

legislation that will stabilize and extend the limited resources of the IHS. 

Uphold the Federal Trust Responsibility and Obligations to Tribal Nations 

As this Committee is well aware, many of the systemic inequities in the Indian 

Health System and strikingly high health disparities 2 in Indian Country result 

from the chronic underfunding of the IHS budget. The IHS is the primary agency 

tasked with ensuring the federal government fulfills its promise to provide health 

care to AI/AN. However, the IHS is consistently underfunded, meeting just around 

59 percent of the demonstrated financial need to deliver care to AI/AN patients. As 

a result, IHS health expenditure per capita for patients is just $3,099, which is approximately 61.7 percent less than health spending for the total U.S population at 

$8,097 per capita. 3 Although Congress has appropriated additional funding for IHS 

in recent years, the costs of health care continue to increase. Current levels of funding are barely able to meet non-medical inflation rates and is completely unable to 

meet the medical inflation rate. As a result, major barriers to accessing care exist 

due to the lack of resources in the Indian health system. These barriers lead to poor 

health outcomes and severe health disparities. 

Through the permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement 

Act, ‘‘Congress declare[d] that it is the policy of this Nation, in fulfillment of its speVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00155 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
152 

4 25 U.S. Code § 1602 5For a breakdown of IHS Medical Priority Levels see: http://www.ihs.gov/chs/ 

index.cfm?module=chslrequirementslprioritiesloflcare. 

cial trust responsibilities and legal obligations to Indians to ensure the highest possible health status for Indians and urban Indians and to provide all resources necessary to effect that policy. 4’’ As long as the IHS is so dramatically underfunded, 

Congress is not living up to its own stated policy and responsibilities. USET SPF 

urges this Committee to consider carefully the level of funding for IHS it will support as it makes requests of appropriators for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 and beyond. 

Fulfillment of the Federal Trust responsibility, both from a fiduciary and moral perspective, means fully funding the Indian Health Service. 

Extend PRC Resources by Passing Legislation to Extend Medicare-LikeRates Payment Methodologies to Non-Hospital Services 

One of the most severely underfunded line items within the IHS budget is the 

Purchased/Referred Care (PRC) account (formerly known as Contract Health Services). PRC resources allow Indian Health programs to purchase care that is furnished by outside, non-Indian health care providers (non-IHCPs) in the private sector. PRC funding is essential for AI/AN patients to access primary care, specialty 

care, and other services not readily available at their Indian Health Facility. At current funding levels, many IHS and Tribally operated programs are only able to 

cover Priority I 5 services to preserve life and limb and are often unable to fully 

meet patients’ needs at even this restrictive PRC service category. In FY 2015, IHS 

estimates that it denied 132,000 necessary services to AI/AN patients due to lack 

of funds. 

Compounding and contributing to this challenge are the rates PRC programs pay 

to non-IHCPs. Non-IHCPs routinely charge, and expect to be paid, full-billed 

charges to PRC programs. According to an April 2013 Government Accountability 

Office (GAO) report, federal PRC programs paid non-contracted physicians two and 

a half times more than what it estimates Medicare would have paid for the same 

services. The PRC program may be the only program in the federal government that 

pays rates above the Medicare rate. Neither the VA nor the DOD pay full billed 

charges for health services furnished by outside providers. Nor do insurance companies, including those with whom the federal government has negotiated favorable 

rates through the Federal Employee Health Benefits program. IHS and Tribally-Operated Health Programs’ regular payment of full billed charges is both a major barrier to accessing necessary care for AI/AN patients, and an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars. 

The 2013 GAO report concluded that paying a Medicare-like Rate (MLR) for services purchased by PRC programs would allow the IHS to provide approximately 

253,000 additional physician services annually. Payment under this rate would have 

resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in new federal health care resources 

being made available to AI/ANs in 2010 alone. Furthermore, the implementation of 

this payment mechanism would be achieved at no cost to the federal government. 

Over the past year, IHS has been working to implement a regulation that would 

provide Tribal Nations with the option to apply MLR to their PRC programs. The 

rule, however, does not include an enforcement mechanism, namely, conditioning 

participation in the Medicare program on the acceptance of MLR. A lack of enforcement could lead non-IHCP to refuse to AI/AN patients due to the decrease in payments. Particularly for USET Tribal Nations that reside in areas with few specialty 

care providers, this rule could create additional barriers to accessing health services. 

This is why legislation is necessary. The Administration, in its FY 2017 Budget Request, recognized the need for legislation over regulation, stating in its Congressional Justification, ‘‘unlike the legislative proposal, the regulation cannot require 

that providers participating in Medicare accept the capitated PRC rate from IHS.’’ 

USET SPF urges this Committee to support and work toward the passage of legislation extending MLR to non-hospital services that includes an enforcement mechanism to ensure AI/AN patients’ continued access to care. Doing so would be a more 

efficient use of taxpayer dollars, dramatically improve AI/AN patient access needed 

care, and be an important step toward improving the health inequities between AI/ 

AN and the U.S. population. 

Provide Advance Appropriations for the Indian Health Service 

In addition to the more efficient spending of IHS dollars, Congress should work 

to ensure funding is received on time by approving legislation that would authorize 

advance appropriations for IHS. Advance appropriations is funding that becomes 

153 

available one year or more after the appropriations act in which it is contained, allowing for increased certainty and continuity in the provision of services. 

On top of chronic underfunding and drains on precious dollars, IHS and Tribes 

face the problem of discretionary funding that is almost always delayed. In fact, 

since FY 1998, there has only been one year (FY 2006) in which appropriated funds 

for the IHS were released prior to the beginning of the new fiscal year. The FY 2016 

Omnibus bill was not enacted until 79 days into the Fiscal Year, on December 18, 

2015. 

Late funding has severely hindered IHS and Tribal health care providers’ ability 

to administer the care to which AI/AN are legally entitled. Budgeting, recruitment, 

retention, the provision of services, facility maintenance, and construction efforts all 

depend on annual appropriated funds. Many of our USET SPF member Tribal Nations reside in areas with high Health Professional Shortage Areas and delays in 

funding only amplify the challenges with salary and hiring of qualified professionals 

which are systemic across the IHS System. IHS and Tribal facilities must continue 

to operate while Congress engages in philosophical debates about federal spending. 

However, they are forced to do so at a severely reduced capacity. In a world where 

it is not unusual to exhaust funding before the end of the Fiscal Year, surgeries are 

delayed, services are reduced, and employment is in jeopardy. 

Congress has recognized the difficulties inherent in the provision of direct health 

care that relies on the appropriations process and traditional funding cycle. When 

it became clear that our nation’s veterans were not able to receive the quality health 

care earned in the protection of this country due to funding delays, advance appropriations were enacted for the Veterans Administration (VA) medical care accounts. 

Advance appropriations serve to mitigate the effect of delayed and, at times, inadequate funding for the VA. As the only other federal provider of direct health care 

and a consistently underfunded agency, IHS should be afforded this same consideration and certainty. USET SPF urges this Committee to support legislation that 

would extend advance appropriations to the IHS. 

Conclusion 

As the February 3rd hearing revealed, the chronic underfunding of the IHS has 

life or death consequences for many of the AI/AN patients from our USET SPF 

member Tribal Nations. Any loss of life resulting from failure to fulfill trust responsibilities and obligations is unacceptable. The rationing of care through the PRC 

program, and major obstacles with the recruitment and retention of providers are 

examples of the direct result of Congress’ failure to meet its Trust responsibilities 

and obligations to adequately fund the IHS. In recognition of the political climate 

that enables the underfunding for Indian Health Care, we offer the preceding solutions to extend and stabilize IHS resources. We hope that Members of the Senate 

Committee on Indian Affairs will join us, and others in Indian Country, in advocating for the introduction and passage of these two common-sense proposals, in addition to increased funding for IHS. 

We thank the Committee for holding both the hearing and the listening session 

to examine the quality of care delivered through IHS. USET SPF is a willing partner in your efforts to address systemic problems at IHS and improve the health outcomes of AI/AN patients. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JAY HOULE, SISSETON-WAHPETON OYATE TRIBAL MEMBER

Dear Senate Committee, 

I normally do not speak out about much, but this issue is getting out of hand. 

Healthcare in the Native American world is sliding downhill out of control. Referrals 

to private providers that were paid for 5 years ago are now being denied. I know 

not all referrals will be paid for, but many are serious heath issues than are at minimum uncomfortable, not to say extremely painful and/or life threatening. At the 

personal level, my wife has a hernia and a bone spur on her spine, both of which 

have had the referral denied, so she must try to handle the pain with medication 

and lifestyle adjustment because physical therapy is not recommended. 

This nation can spend HOW MUCH money on other countries and their citizens 

but cannot spend that much for the first people of this continent. I do not claim to 

understand the complexities of Washing, D.C. and the leaders of our nation. I do 

know that not many Native Americans are willing to raise a voice and comment. 

I pray that you will find a solution to this issue soon. Thank you. 

154 

* The information referred to has been retained in the Committee files. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DOMNIC L BROWN, OSAGE TRIBAL MEMBER

I was employed at the Rosebud Indian Health Service and what I had seen is the 

patients would have appointments for specialist, but they would end up with the 

medical bill. The Rosebud Tribe Members, don’t have insurance, because they don’t 

have jobs, they should not be punished by not being sent to Specialist or having to 

be responsible for the Medical bill, that they can’t pay. The Indian Health Service 

should pay all these bills and whether they have medical insurance or not. 

I have sat in on the meetings when they go through the referrals and it was yes 

or no who would get sent out and that isn’t fair, what happens the person that 

doesn’t get sent out for medical attention and they die, oh well? It is sad. 

They open clinic up on Sundays. because of the patient load we were seeing during the week, so they have Sunday Clinic and then only see 10 patients, the could 

see more than 10 patients with 2 physicians. Then the patient is prescribed medicine, but they can’t pick it up because the pharmacy will not open up on weekends. 

Then why have clinic if patients can’t receive there medicine? 

I had slipped on the ice March 31, 2014 and I had bruised my ribs really bad 

and my ankle was hurt as well. I worked for the Hospital and my ankle was always 

swelling up so bad that I couldn’t walk and was missing work, due to I could barely 

make it to my bathroom at my home, I was continuously seeing the doctor and they 

told me that it was just fractured, never offered me to be sent to a specialist, so 

I took myself to Rapid City Black Hills Orthopedic and had an MRI, within a week, 

I was in surgery, my inner ligaments were torn apart and had to have my whole 

ankle reconstructed on August 8, 2014, this is how long I had to deal with the pain 

and suffering and was out of work for 90 days, and was denied advance leave, was 

told that I should have saved my leave for something like this, will I used my leave 

to stay home and see the doctors, because of my ankle. I was punished and was 

off work without pay. This is how they treat there employees and that is why they 

have a large turnover. The management do not care about the employees or patients, they just make sure that they look good and not get any blame for things 

that are wrong doing. 

I hope this gives you some light on what goes on at Rosebud Indian Health Service, and hope to hear from you on your opinions on what I have discussed todayI 

don’t expect much to happen, I just needed to speak my mind today. I am a Desert 

Storm Veteran, and from the Osage Tribe. I enjoyed helping the Rosebud Tribe 

Members while I was there and want to go back and work for the Indian Health 

Service, at least I showed some compassion, other workers don’t, they don’t care. 

Thank you. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JACQUELINE ARCHAMBAULT, CHEYENNE RIVER SIOUX

TRIBAL MEMBER

Hello, My name is Jacqueline Archambault, I live on the Cheyenne River Sioux 

Tribe, Eagle Butte, SD. I am submitting a statement in behalf of my daughter and 

grandson. I hope you are able to view the attachments. * 

She is unable to submit her statement on her own as her work place won’t allow 

her to use the computer for personal use. So, I as her parent and grandmother to 

her son, I am submitting from my email. 

I hope you can help us, as my grandson got the poorest health service from the 

IHS in Eagle Butte, SD. 

He had to go without a cast on his right leg for 10 days, because the IHS said, 

his right leg showed no facture, but he still would not walk on it. My daughter kept 

taking him back to IHS and they kept saying it was not broke. So, I kept telling 

her to take him back. On Friday, March 4th, 2016 they finally saw the facture, but 

the soonest they can refer him out was in five days, which was March 9th. He went 

to Black Hills Orthopedic and Spine Center, Rapid City, SD Then they place a cast 

to his right leg and he had a compound facture. 

I am so disguised with IHS that they could not help my grandson, who had to 

suffer for 10 days w/out a services and be in pain. 

I told my daughter to file a law suit on IHS but that is probably not an opinion. 

But I think the IHS needs to get qualified x-ray technicians and physicians to 

make the right diagnosis on the patients. This way to much for us people to suffer. 

My daughter, LaToya F. LaPointe always has the x-rays on disk. 

I hope you help her and her son. He didn’t have to suffer this long. 

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PREPARED STATEMENT OF ALEXIS JONES, REGISTERED NURSE, BSN 

To Whom It May Concern; 

I started at the Fort Thompson Indian Health in September of 2014. Upon continuation of working here, there have been many issues that have progressed or 

have happened during my employment. 

One incident that occurred was with the schedule change due to an employee 

leaving and closing at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. After reviewing the schedule I noticed there was an employee (Abby Bacon) who did not have any late shifts. I was 

switched to take her late shifts and was shifted to another charge nurse day. After 

noticing the changes I went to the Acting DON, Robert Douville and asked him why 

this was. He said Abby was going to the school to do immunizations and that she 

runs reports for the CEO. I asked him why nobody else was trained or asked to do 

those reports. He said he that it was set up before he got there and he was going 

to ask the CEO. 

He asked me if I would be willing to do the reports and I said I would be away 

from Mcfee and that would take me away from patient care. I really enjoy seeing 

my patient’s and doing my job that is why I am here. Running any kind of reports 

takes away from patient care. We are the busiest area in the facility. Providing immunizations is a busy job as well and should be prioritized over running reports. 

Running reports or doing any other task will be helpful in providing growth for 

the individual and for the facility to provide better care. Growth to expand one’s 

knowledge in the facility should be offered to everyone. During my employment here 

I asked my supervisor (Abby Bacon) at the time and CEO (Bernie Long) if I could 

attend a Health Care conference. After discussing with CEO, he said that they 

would be able to pay for the registration fee and I would have to pay for the rest. 

I would have been responsible for my hotel and travel. Due to lack of funding I was 

unable to go. 

A few months ago a co-worker of mine who is now gone, attended a wound care 

workshop in Texas. All of hers was paid for and she also earned comp time. I 

thought this was really unfair and why was hers prioritized more than mine. Especially being a Native American, as a facility on reservation you would want your 

employees to grow and to be more educated. 

My reasoning behind going was I provide complex care to a wide variety of patients. I felt as though my reasoning was just as important if not more important. 

I felt as though there was no justification behind their decision. Decisions that are 

being made affect everyone including our patient’s. 

Another issue that affects this facility is the amount of Commissioned Corp officers. The management of this facility has been mostly Commissioned Corp officers. 

Earlier in the year if you were to review the chain of command for the nursing staff 

it was all completely Commissioned Corp officers. During the last year that I have 

been here, we have had 4–5 acting DON’s. We did have one permanent supervisor 

when I first started who was Native American and she left only after a few months. 

A co-worker and I are both Native American and she has over 5 years of experience 

and I have been a nurse for 3 years and have not been offered an opportunity to 

be acting DON. Every acting DON has been a Commissioned Corp officer. I don’t 

think I deserved the opportunity due to lack of experience, but my co-worker did 

and she has Indian preference. Indian preference is a law that the facility must 

abide by. This facility or any other facility should promote the natives and encourage them to stay and provided opportunities for advancement or education. 

Also with the amount of commissioned corp officers one would think that extended 

hours would be provided and that they would be able to provide that. They are on 

call 24/7. Some of the officers do the same amount of work we do and get paid 2– 

3x as much as we do. 

The same co-worker also applied for another position in the facility. This position 

is a nurse who helps out in behavioral health. The nurse who worked there was actually detailed from public health and was of Caucasian descent. She has been there 

for an extended amount of time. An unusual event occurred where they actually advertised for the position. My co-worker applied for it amongst others, come to find 

out she didn’t get the position. She again is Indian preference and the lady of Caucasian descent was offered the position. This goes to show that favoritism and preselection occurred during this event. 

My co-worker and I were fed up one day with the amount of nepotism that occurs 

in this facility and how being a Native American in this clinic works against us. 

We addressed the tribal council during our lunch period. We were a few minutes 

late coming back from lunch. After administration found out where we were at they 

started an investigation against my co-worker, and not I. I felt this was an act of 

retaliation against her. I even went to the compliance officer and asked him why 

156 

she was being investigated. He said he thought I was being addressed as well. After 

that I left it alone. 

During a personal conversation with Bernie, I had mentioned I thought about 

leaving and he told me I should. I said there was no opportunity and that as a 

young nurse I wouldn’t gain that here. I guess at that moment I realized I would 

forever be at a dead end road here in Fort Thompson. 

Bernie, along with other administration staff have a great deal of 

unprofessionalism. I must say with the gentleman from Spirit Lake was sent from 

Aberdeen to collect statements from the employees regarding Bernie Long, there 

was an overhead page for the providers to report to the conference room. That is 

where the provider’s were asked to write statements on Bernie’s behalf. This is the 

most crooked move I have ever heard of. No CEO should even have to beg for any 

kind of statement. That is something you earn along the way. 

Lastly, I would like to mention the uncomfortable environment and the amount 

of stress the nepotism has created. A few months ago our supervisor had a hired 

a friend of the one of the nurses at as a new clinical nurse. Only after a few weeks 

of being there she put in her notice and quit due to a hostile environment and was 

effective immediately. The working conditions are unfavorable due to most because 

there is so much favoritism and gossip. We should not have new nurses coming on 

board and quitting due to a hostile environment. Any signs of hostility should be 

addressed immediately by our supervisor. 

The everyday decisions of this facility have made me explore other options outside 

the reservation. I feel there are no opportunities for me to grow here. As a graduate 

from the Retention for Native American Nurses at UND, I always wanted to come 

home and help the people. This is not what I pictured coming home. It has been 

so hard coming to work every day. As a young nurse in IHS, this has been the most 

unprofessional and complex facility I have ever worked at. This affects the people 

we care for and ourselves as providers. 

Thank you. 

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PREPARED STATEMENT OF DONNA M. (WATERS) SALOMON, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBAL

MEMBER


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PREPARED STATEMENT OF STEPHANIE L. WATERS, OGLALA SIOUX TRIBAL MEMBER


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PREPARED STATEMENT OF TAMMY RAE GOODWIN, SISSETON WAHPETON OYATE

TRIBAL MEMBER

I am an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and I receive services 

at the local IHS clinic. Woodrow Wilson Memorial Healthcare Center located in 

Sisseton, South Dakota. I believe this facility is another example of the governments 

genocide of native peoples. Abundance of misdiagnosis, accusations of being a drug 


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seeker, no confidentiality, drug use of employees, etc. I do not have medical insurance so I’m stuck with what care I receive at IHS. 

I am not a person whom I consider doctor runners, I only go when absolutely necessary for my basic medication. I have arthritis, diabetes, COPD, avascular necrosis 

in my hands, PTSD, anxiety, along with other mental health issues and have recently applied for SSI Disability. 

On December 17, 2014 I went to Acting Director Gail Williams to voice a complaint of employees not following confidentiality guidelines and she listened to my 

concerns involving specific individuals and said someone from the HIPPA office 

would be contacting me. No one ever did and she was removed from office or resigned due to other issues going on in administration. 

The receptionist involved with intake and making appointments would report to 

the Director of a domestic violence shelter I worked at, of which this IHS employee 

was the on the Board of Directors for the shelter, would report to the director under 

her, employees of the shelter when they would go to see the doctor and what it was 

for. Example, an employee went to IHS for a physical necessary for treatment she 

was going to attend for codependency issues. One day the Director of the shelter 

asked me if I knew this employee was going to go to treatment. She said, ‘‘I didn’t 

know she was drinking again.’’ I knew she was going to treatment but how did the 

Director know about this when I know this employee did not speak to her about 

it. It wasn’t hard to figure out where the information derived from. This employee 

still works at IHS. 

In April of 2015 I went to see the doctor for other issues and while he was typing 

on the computer, I showed him my left hand with a swollen, red knuckle and mentioned how much it hurts. He looked up from his typing and said ‘‘yeah, you irritated something.’’ and then resumed typing and didn’t try to look at it again. In 

frustration, I left. In June of 2015, I returned to clinic to see about getting some 

relief from the pain in my left hand and was told by a nurse, ‘‘You can’t just come 

in here and ask for a pain pill.’’ Again nothing was done. There was no exray or 

examination made of the left hand and now I’m accused of drug seeking because 

of addictions in my past. I have been sober now for five years. 

In September of 2015, again I returned because the PA that I was seeing in the 

past, returned to the facility. She immediately sent me to exray and had images 

taken of my hand. This is when I received the diagnosis of Avascular Necrosis, 

which I’d like to add is normally found in the hips and knees, hence the total joint 

replacement. I have it in my left hand with one knuckle totally collapsed and now 

it’s also affecting my right hand with other knuckles dying off. Within two days, my 

referral was approved and I was sent to an orthopedic surgeon. When I asked about 

my knuckle, he stated there wasn’t anything he could do about that but he was 

going to do the carpal tunnel surgery. He stated I needed to see a doctor that specializes in hand surgery because I needed a total knuckle replacement surgery and 

he didn’t do that. On December 9, 2015 I had the carpel tunnel surgery and I guess 

it was a success, but it didn’t change the pain in my hands one iota. By then the 

PA I was seeing, transferred to another facility and another new doctor took her 

place. I asked for pain meds to be refilled and was told no, the surgery was a success and there was no more pain in my hand. Without looking at my hand, or the 

doctor looking at my file, she was able to make this decision. Again, accused of drug 

seeking. During December, we got a doctor from the east coast who likes to come 

help out the natives during his vacation. When I visited with him, he was actually 

kind of excited and he logged onto the New England Journal of Medicine and even 

there, there is no mention of this affecting the hands. Well now it’s in both my 

hands. The major cause of this is alcohol usage and steroid use. I was an alcoholic 

for many years and due to asthma, and now COPD, I have been inhaling steroids 

for approx. 30 years. Who knew? Now this doctor has returned to his normal practice and I’m stuck with the ignorance left at IHS with a diagnosis that many are 

not familiar with and have absolutely no experience with. In layman’s terms—I’m 

fucked. Please excuse me for saying that but there are no other words to express 

my sadness and fear of the unknown of what’s going to happen now. Where can I 

turn to get relief from the pain now, without getting accused of drug seeking. I’m 

sure just looking at me, I look fine. 

This is only ONE example of what I’ve gone through, and continue to go through. 

I have been going to IHS since around 1965. 

The being accused of drug seeking is really what irritates me the most. I only 

wanted a pain pill to take when the pain is incredibly bad, I am very active and 

live on a farm so there is always things to do. Even though I’m in pain daily, there 

are critters here that depend on me and land to work. I seek relief from the pain 

occasionally. Just a break. If I was drug seeking, I would go out to our housing 

project and pick up what I think I need, not go to IHS. THEY are the one’s that 

168 

lead people back to their addictions. Since I no longer choose to go that route, YOU 

tell me what I can do. 

This leads me to my last statement. The first question the nurse asks is: On a 

scale of 1 to 10, what is your level of pain today? Now I just say a random number 

in their scale because my level of pain is off their chart, and nothing will be done 

anyway. It’s an insult for them to ask me that question. One thing that sort of tickled me was when I told the PA I didn’t consider myself an doctor runner, she looked 

at me with big eyes and said ‘‘ I would never accuse you of that, with your diagnosis 

other people would be in here everyday screaming for a pain pill.’’ That’s kind of 

when it was determined my high pain level is different than other people. 

I appreciate having an outlet to voice the things I have stated because no one else 

listens. I only pray the disability is approved soon and medicaid kicks in so I will 

be able to see real doctors in a real hospital/clinic. IHS genocide is working. 

I have been unemployed for a year now, I’m 57 years old and homeless as described by peoples opinion. I live in an abandoned camper on a Caucasian friends 

farm in a machine shed. I am grateful to have a roof over my head and able to keep 

my animals. I have no problem living this lifestyle because I know how to live without electricity and running water quite comfortably. I am resourceful, I am a woman 

and I am Dakota. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF EVELYN ESPINOZA, RN, BSN, ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE

HEALTH ADMINISTRATOR

Dear Honorable members of the Committee, 

My name is Evelyn Espinoza. I am an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux 

Tribe and a registered nurse. Currently I serve as the Health Administrator for my 

Tribe. I am also a consumer of our Indian Health Services as is my family. I would 

like to take this opportunity to share with you my experience with the Indian 

Health Services in my current role. 

I began working for the Tribe on Sept. 30, 2014 as the Tribal Health Administrator. I entered this position after taking a year off from work and with just under 

10 years of experience working for the Indian Health Services. The second week into 

this role, I went to Washington, DC where I had the opportunity to meet facetoface 

with the then Director of IHS, Dr. Roubideaux. I provided her and her staff in detail 

our concerns. I shared with her real life examples of substandard care being delivered at our facility. I spoke very directly that practices needed to change or lives 

were going to be lost, our certification with CMS would be lost, and we would lose 

services. I provided the agency with our expectations and what we wanted to see 

in the future. At the top of our list, next to safe, quality care, we asked to be involved. I asked to help, to be included in the decisionmaking for our facility and to 

have our input respected and acted on. I stressed the importance and critical need 

for the IHS and the tribe to work together, to create a healthy and trusting working 

relationship where we are both moving in the same direction accomplishing our 

common goals. She agreed with me, committed to actionable steps, but unfortunately, the follow thru did not occur. 

During the same visit we had the opportunity to meet in person with our SD Senators Thune and Rounds and Representative Noem. We met as a group and our tribal delegation met individually with each. We informed these officials of our same 

concerns. We shared real life examples. We asked for their support and we asked 

for the same from them as we did IHS. We asked to be involved, for our feedback 

to be considered and acted on. We voiced frustration with the ‘‘tribal consultation’’ 

practices and felt like it was not meaningful, rather felt like a dictatorship. We 

voiced frustrations about the lack of response and communication from IHS. Actually we all had this in common. IHS did not only disregard the tribe but also their 

leadership. To this day, I do not understand this. 

This visit I write about was the first of many held over the past year and a half. 

Our tribe has met regularly with local, regional and national IHS leadership. We 

have met with HHS leadership and CMS. The OIG came recently for a visit. Despite 

all these meetings and telling our story over and over, reliving the traumatic events 

repeatedly, demanding to be involved, to help, nothing changed and we continue to 

not have a voice. Infact, for our facility, we have steadily been declining and the 

decisions continue to be made for us not in collaboration with us. 

It is a very stressful situation for me, for my tribe, for my relatives. I have the 

responsibility to advocate for and protect our tribal people. It is asif I am being held 

down against my will and forced to endure abuse after abuse and no matter what 

I do, how hard I fight back, what approach I take, I cannot get out of this choke 

hold. We are forced to watch our relatives around us suffer, die prematurely, or take 

169 

their own lives to escape this hopeless environment. What is going on in our community, with our healthcare delivery system is inhumane, its criminal and cannot 

be allowed to go on any further. How many people have to lose their lives to change 

how medicine is being delivered by the IHS? 

While there is an obvious need for additional funding, there is absolutely no reason other than poor leadership and mismanagement to account for our current situation we are living through today. A brief timeline of the last 6 months includes 

multiple false reassurances provided by IHS leadership. We have been told over and 

over ‘‘things are under control.’’ In fact, 2 weeks after the Winnebago Hospital lost 

their Medicare Provider agreement on July 23, 2015, I asked the Acting CEO of our 

hospital what they were doing to prepare for our CMS survey and how I could help. 

He told us they were prepared, they didn’t need any help, things were on track. On 

Nov. 4, 2015 an accrediting body know as DNV hired under contract with IHS, came 

and surveyed our facility and noted we had the best survey we had in the past 8 

years. They found very minimal concerns. A week later on Nov. 8, 2015 the OIG 

visited and the CEO of our hospital sent an email out saying ‘‘congratulations staff, 

we impressed the OIG, we impressed DNV, CMS bring it on!’’ On Nov. 16, 2015 

CMS arrives. On Nov. 18, 2015, CMS placed our emergency services in immediate 

jeopardy, stating they found situations in our ER that posed an immediate and serious threat to any individual seeking care there. On Dec. 6, 2015 our Emergency 

Services were diverted and continue to be. 

This diversion is not only affecting tribal members, it is negatively affecting ALL 

our community members regardless of race who are in need of emergency care. Furthermore, it is negatively affecting our surrounding communities and those small 

hospitals picking up the added patient load. They do not have the manpower and 

resources to keep up and as a result are starting to make mistakes that puts their 

accreditation at risk. This has a ripple effect on so many. 

As a young woman growing up, I did not have the privilege of knowing where I 

came from and who I was as a young Lakota woman. Those teachings left when my 

mother left this world. I was taught otherwise by good intended people deciding for 

me what they thought was in my best interest. It was not until later in life I 

learned about my ancestors. How amazing of a people we are, what amazing gifts 

we have and what an amazing way of life I work toward everyday to get closer to. 

Many events that have taken place over the past 200 years created this ‘‘perfect 

storm’’ we live in today. The most important thing I have realized is only I can 

change what I do and only you can change what you do. So I ask you all to self 

reflect, be honest and sincerely hear and feel what I am saying. We have all had 

different experiences in our lives that mold the way we think and react. But I have 

searched and searched and I can not find anything that supports the lack of courtesy and respect that exists in our leadership today at all levels. We either can 

choose to continue with the same status quo and same practices or we can choose 

to change how we lead, how we treat one another, how we protect one another. I 

am respectfully asking each of you to put politics aside and look at our situation 

from your human side. I want for each of you the same as I want for my relatives. 

I do not expect anything less than you expect for your loved ones. For any of this 

to change in a meaningful way and sustain the changes, we have to all change what 

we are doing. We have to respect one another and move forward together with this 

in a good way. I thank you from the center of my heart for your advocacy, support, 

time and energy. I eagerly look forward to working together and using each other’s 

strengths to strengthen each other’s weaknesses. 

Lila Wopila Tanka (Thank you very much), 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DARLENE M. WILCOX, PH.D., LP, LICENSED CLINICAL

PSYCHOLOGIST

Hello, 

I have been working with IHS for almost 10 years as a Mental Health professional. I am writing this as a Oglala Lakota/Sioux tribal member. I started out 

working at the Pine Ridge IHS service unit as a Mental Health Specialist in 2006. 

When I started there, I worked in an hostile environment. Behavioral Health staff 

did not get along. My supervisor treated me terribly, even though I was a tribal 

member and had worked really hard to be a psychologist. (I graduated from UND, 

Grand Forks, ND in 1999. I was a member of the Indians Into Medicine program 

and Indians into Psychology Doctoral Ed. (INPSYDE) program.) I tried to go 

through the union about my poor treatment by my supervisor but I was discouraged 

from going through with this process by a union representative. 

170 

While at Pine Ridge I.H.S., I worked long hours, did walk ins and was on call 

at least 10 times per month. Many times, I would get called in to ER, 2 or 3 times 

per night. I was then expected to report to work at 8am and do a regular shift. I 

worked hard and studied long hours to become a licensed psychologist. 

I transferred to the Fort Defiance, AZ, Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. It was the 

only Adolescent Psychiatric Unit within IHS. While there, it was a wonderful experience, to work with a whole team of mental health professionals; 2 psychiatrists, 

2 clinical psychologists, 3 Social Workers, 2 Teachers, 2 Psychiatric nurse practitioners, Art Therapist, 3 traditional, Navajo medicine people, social service aides, 

one Behavioral Health Chief, as well as working with outpatient, mental health 

staff. We worked with 12 youth per 6 week cycle, in between cycles, we had program 

development type of activities, trainings and healing ceremonies for staff to prevent 

burn out and also protection ceremonies were done for staff. 

While there at Fort Defiance, AZ we were invited to go to my reservation, the Oglala Sioux Tribe at Pine Ridge, SD, to present on the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. 

I traveled to Pine Ridge and Rapid City, SD and we met with many OST tribal organizations, I.H.S at Pine Ridge, the Oglala Sioux Tribe. They were very interested 

in starting a Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at the Pine Ridge IHS service unit. We 

were also invited to attend a local, Sundance ceremony. We attended and we were 

very much honored and blessed for being there. 

As follow up to these invitations, the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital invited the 

Oglala Lakota Nation to go to Fort Defiance, AZ to view the Adolescent Psychiatric 

Unit. A few of the tribal members, Pine Ridge high school counselors and Dr. Garcia, psychiatrist at Pine Ridge IHS did go to Fort Defiance Indian Hospital to visit 

and view the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. They were taken into ceremony immediately and the Navajo Nation representative, the Fort Defiance CEO and board 

members and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit met with the SD visitors. The Oglala 

Lakota delegation were treated like royalty. The SD group talked about the problems they faced on a daily basis on the Pine Ridge reservation. A special ceremony 

was held for the SD staff that went to AZ. 

As the result of these initial meetings, the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital, sent 

their business and billing staff to Rapid City, SD to provide the tribal and IHS service unit, valuable information on how to start their own Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. 

Fort Defiance Indian Hospital at that time, was making almost 9 million a year 

from federal, pass through monies and third party reimbursements for the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. It cost 3 million to pay for the staff, so actually they made 

a profit of $6 million per year. The Fort Defiance Indian Hospital benefited tremendously from the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. 

What stopped this endeavor from happening was the Behavioral Health leadership in 2010–2011, at the Aberdeen Area office. My Navajo supervisor, the Behavioral Health Chief (2011) heard from the Behavioral Health Director at IHS Headquarters: ‘‘She said Aberdeen Area, was very upset with Fort Defiance, Adolescent 

Psychiatric Unit, for going to Pine Ridge to present on the adolescent psychiatric 

unit—because Aberdeen Area office had plans of their own, to build a psychiatric 

unit at Rapid City.’’ I said ‘‘As an Oglala Lakota tribal member and Clinical psychologist, my tribe, the Oglala Lakota and Pine Ridge IHS and our Lakota traditional 

and spiritual healers and elders invited us. We didn’t go there on our own, or because I am an Oglala Lakota/Sioux tribal member, they invited us and they want 

information to help the youth there.’’ 

I have worked at other IHS service units in the Great Plains Area, I have had 

positive and negative experiences. I have always have had a good relationship with 

my patients and tribes I have served. 

We do have educated, tribal people who are health professionals. We also have 

a lot of non-Indian, health professionals, who want to do things their way. I was 

informed by the tribal attorney that he has almost enough tribal people from the 

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe to file a class action, law suit again Fort Thompson Health 

Center, administration for discrimination against tribal employees. 

At Fort Thompson, they went through 7 or 8 Behavioral Health Directors within 

5 years, about 7 acting before I started working there. I was met with a lot of resistance. There was a psychiatric nurse, who was acting before I started and she refused to attend my meetings, she was very non-compliant. I asked the CEO for help 

with this matter. He ignored me and let the psychiatric nurse get away with her 

unprofessional behavior. I left and heard later, the psychiatric nurse was again, acting, BH director. She had gotten into trouble for writing a prescription for her sister 

(non-native), her sister stole her prescription pad and wrote her self prescriptions. 

The SD Attorney General prosecuted the psychiatric nurse, she received a misdemeanor and was not disciplined by IHS and she is still the acting BH director. 

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At Sisseton, SD, I witnessed and heard about a Clinical Director (2012–15), who 

chased away, most of the American Indian, medical doctors. She wrote them up for 

reasons that did not pertain to their practice. I applied there for a clinical psychologist position, she cancelled the position and it was reported to me later that she 

mentioned my name in a medical staff meeting that she did not want to hire me 

because I was using Indian Preference. She did that to another, American Indian 

woman psychologist who also applied at a different time. 

I worked at the Kyle Health Center, from 2013–2015, during the suicide epidemic. 

What IHS HQs, did to address the issue, was to detail, mental health staff who 

were not able to work with the more complex cases. (CPS issues, developmental 

issues), they also detailed psychiatrists to administer medication via tele-psychiatry. 

I was the only psychologist working on the Pine Ridge, SD reservation for 2 years 

and 2 months. There was no housing there for me at Kyle Health Center. I had to 

commute 87 miles one way, each day to get to work. I also worked four, 10 hour 

days; I left my home at 6am each morning, I did not return home until 7:30 p.m. 

or 8 p.m. each night, depending on the weather. When I left there I was wore out, 

I was so tired from the long commute each day. 

In the short time I was there, I was able to complete over 100 psychological evaluations, I referred them to a psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner for their 

medication if they needed to be on medication. When IHS detailed all the psychiatrists via tele-behavioral health, less than 10 percent needed to be seen by the telepsychiatrists. Some of my patients did not want to be started on psychotropic medications, they wanted to get help via natural remedies; exercise, diet, traditional and 

cultural ceremonies, talk therapy. 

What the communities wanted was more mental health professionals who were 

able to go out to the cultural and spiritual camps, schools, district buildings, to do 

talking circles, grief groups, make home visits. They wanted activities for the youth 

such as jobs, educational opportunities, sport activities, safe houses for youth and 

elders. 

I do not see the Behavioral Health consultants meeting with the elders, community people to obtain their ideas for the youth on the reservations. The consultants 

tried to push their philosophies and ideas on to the Indian people. Their ideas did 

not apply to a rural area. 

My reasons and rewards for working long hours and traveling long distances; is 

that I love my people. I committed myself to my people at a very young age, to get 

educated, to help my people in every way that I can. This is why I am here. You 

need to offer more incentives to the tribal, medical and mental health I.H.S. workers 

to help them buy their own houses so that they can stay and work on their own 

reservations. For those medical staff that have to commute, you need to develop a 

transit system so that they can ride it to work. 

You need to do the reservation wide, community needs assessments, you need to 

listen to the tribal voices. You need to have the respect and compassion necessary 

to hear those voices. Honor the people who do a good job. Hire the traditional and 

cultural healers at the Great Plains Area IHS service units, so that they can provide 

ceremony to the patients and staff like the Navajo Nation does. They provide healing services and they are able to do business so well, they are making a profit, so 

that they can continue to improve and expand their services. 

Thank you for your time and attention. 

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PREPARED STATEMENT OF BRENT R. PHILLIPS, PRESIDENT/CEO, REGIONAL HEALTH, 

INC. 


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PREPARED STATEMENT OF JANE DILLDINE, SUPERVISORY GENERAL SUPPLY

SPECIALIST, PINE RIDGE IHS HOSPITAL

Good morning, 

I am a 291⁄2 year employee with Exceptional Service at the Great Plains Area, 

currently serving as the Supervisory General supply Specialist at the Pine Ridge 

Service Unit. Prior to transferring to the Pine ridge Service Area, I serve as the 

Supply Management Specialist at the Area Office. 

Since transferred to Pine Ridge in 2003, I have been discriminated against, retaliated against, I have been placed on extended Administrative Leave, Transferred to 

the Wanblee Health Center, given letters or reprimand, directives, suspensions and 

currently one step away from being removed from service. Yet, during all the years 

that I have work for IHS including the years at Pine Ridge, the lowest PMAP rating 

I received was ‘‘Achieved More Than Expected Results. 

In January 2014, on the day I returned from the first suspension, I was in a meeting with one of my staff that was requested by my supervisor Duane Ross. The emVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00178 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK

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ployee had also filed an EEO complaint against Mr. Ross. During the meeting Mr. 

Ross confronted us for comments made to a EEO Manager. Mr. Ross stated ‘‘You 

need to know that what you state to EEO is not confidential’’ and ‘‘Why did you 

say that I said ‘employee’ could be fired’’. The only statement I made during this 

meeting was that I stood by any statement I made to EEO. I was then suspended 

again because Mr. Ross reported that I called him a liar. 

This suspension was upheld by the Deputy Area Director, even though Mr. Ross 

admitted the he asked us these questions and both my statement and the employees 

statement which was provided stated the no one called him a liar. In my response 

I stated my belief that the suspension was in retaliation for my EEO Activity. The 

Deputy Area Director did not conduct a investigation into my allegations. 

In 2014 I received the ‘‘Achieved More than Expected’’ Results and in 2015 I received the Achieved Outstanding Results. If this is how the Great Plains Area treats 

their Outstanding employees, how do they treat their ‘‘average’’ employees. Is it any 

wonder that the Area cannot recruit or retain highly trained and qualified staff. 

And why there are so many vacancies in Critical Positions throughout the Area. 

I am, in my own humble way, asking you to read my story (see attached) and consider it during your investigation and hearing on the Great Plains Area Office. 

I authorize the Senate Committee access to my personnel record and any documents that would be needed to verify any statements I made in the attachment. 

Thank you in advance for your consideration. 

Attachments 

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PREPARED STATEMENT OF VERNON MILLER, CHAIRMAN, OMAHA TRIBE OF NEBRASKA


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1The Self-Governance Communication and Education Tribal Consortium consist of Tribal 

Leadership whose mission is to ensure that the implementation of the Tribal Self-Governance 

legislation and authorities in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Indian Health Service 

Continued 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. MARILYNN MALERBA, CHIEF, MOHEGAN TRIBE; 

BOARD MEMBER OF SELF-GOVERNANCE COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION TRIBAL

CONSORTIUM; CHAIRWOMAN, IHS TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNANCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

(TSGAC) 

Introduction 

On behalf of the Self-Governance Communication & Education Tribal Consortium 

(SGCETC), 1 I am pleased to formally submit this written testimony to support the 


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(IHS) are in compliance with the Tribal Self-Governance Program policies, regulations and 

guidelines. 2 National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center. (2013). Geographic & demographic profile of Indian country. 3 Native Care Act, H.R. 4843, 113th Congress (2013–2014) (2014). 

ongoing efforts of the Indian Health Service (IHS). This testimony will highlight policy, legislative, budget, and administrative changes that would work to improve 

health care delivery for those that depend on medical and public health services 

from IHS, to raise their health status to the highest level possible and to ensure 

the success of the Indian Health Care System. I commend the Committee for 

hosting this opportunity to gather input from Tribal Leaders and Administrative officials to address critical concerns regarding the IHS. 

Self-Governance is a Tribally-driven, Congressional legislative option that recognizes the inherent right of Tribes, as sovereign nations, to negotiate annual appropriated funding and assume management and control of programs, services, functions and activities that were previously managed by the Federal government. It allows Tribes to determine their governmental priorities, redesign and create new programs and services and reallocate financial resources to more effectively and efficiently fit the needs of their Tribal citizens and communities. The growth and success of Self-Governance, within the IHS is best documented by the 351 Tribes currently participating in Self-Governance compared to the 14 Tribes who initially 

signed agreements in 1992. Together Self-Governance and Title I Contracting Tribes 

represent 62 percent of Tribal governments who operate $1.8 billion in healthcare 

programs each year. 

Over the last two decades, Self-Governance Tribes have markedly improved the 

nation-to-nation relationship between the United States and Tribes. However, this 

success has required active engagement, cooperation and the collaboration of administrative officials across the Federal government, Congress, and Tribal Leadership. 

Improving patient care throughout the entire Indian Health Care System requires 

a similar approach. First, Congress must uphold its commitment to Tribal Nations 

by fully funding IHS. Without adequate funding the system cannot be expected to 

provide quality care to patients or to attract qualified, long-term providers and administrators. Second, the entire Federal system must work collaboratively to improve the conditions at Indian Health Service, Tribal and Urban (ITU) facilities 

within the Indian Health Care System. Lastly, Tribal Leaders must have a leading 

voice in decisions made regarding the health delivered in their communities. 

SGCETC proposes Congress focus its work in three areas: (1) stabilize and increase funding to IHS; (2) encourage administrative flexibility and collaboration; 

and, (3) adopt effective communication and partnership with Tribal Nations. 

I. Stabilize and Increase Funding to the Indian Health Service 

Despite trust and treaty obligations to provide for the health care of the American 

Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations, Congress continues to severely 

underfund IHS without regard to meeting basic health care service needs for AI/AN 

and fulfilling requirements such as providing adequate health care facilities. Underfunding healthcare directly contributes to the poor health status and life expectancy 

of AI/AN. Within this overall context, SGCETC has identified the following top 

budget and related issues that would improve patient care by increasing appropriations and leveraging current opportunities: 

Protect the IHS budget from sequestration. Despite the unprecedented increase of 

29 percent in the past 4 years, funding levels for AI/AN healthcare remain dangerously low. 2 Tribal governments experienced severe budgetary cuts after the 2012 

sequester—which resulted in a decrease to the IHS budget of $220 million. 3 These 

cuts had a devastating impact on direct services provided to AI/AN patients, with 

an estimated elimination of 804,000 outpatient visits and 3,000 inpatient visits. As 

Congressional members debate the FY 2017 appropriations, Self-Governance Tribes 

first, urge Congress to restore Tribal funding cuts and, second, to uphold the Tribal 

trust responsibility and amend the Budget Control Act of 2011 to exempt Tribal 

funding from future sequesters, budgetary reductions and/or rescissions. 

Support Advance Appropriations for IHS in the FY 2017 Budget Request. Since 

FY 1998, there has been only one year (FY 2006) when the Interior, Environment 

and Related Agencies budget, which contains the funding for IHS, has been enacted 

by the beginning of the fiscal year. Late funding creates significant challenges to 

Tribes and IHS provider budgeting, planning, recruitment, retention, provision of 

services, facility maintenance and construction efforts. Providing sufficient, timely, 

and predictable funding is needed to ensure the Federal government meets its obligation to provide health care for AI/AN people. Enacting advanced appropriations 

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4Moss, Margaret. P Ed. and Malerba, Marilynn. American Indian Health and Nursing. 

Springer Publishing NY, NY pp. 323–336. 5White, J. (1998). Entitlement budgeting vs. bureau budgeting. Public Administration Review, 

58 (6), 510–521. 

will ensure more stable funding and sustainable planning for the entire Indian 

Health Care system by appropriating funding two years in advance. 

End discretionary decisions within the IHS budget. Unlike other health programs 

such as Medicare and Medicaid, IHS is funded as a nondefense, discretionary line 

item, creating an inconsistent funding environment year-to-year and ignoring external factors that contribute to the recognized growing gap between IHS and other 

public health programs. 4 Transferring the IHS budget to the mandatory side of the 

budget would adequately represent the trust and treaty responsibility due to AI/AN, 

while creating a consistent budget based on important factors such as population 

growth, inflation and evolving technology. 5

Fully fund Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) provisions related to patient care. Health reform represents a significant opportunity for Tribal and IHS 

programs to sustain, improve, and build innovative health systems in Tribal communities. However, to date, there are more than twenty-five (25) unfunded authorities 

in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA), each representing an 

unleveraged opportunity to increase and improve services for American Indians and 

Alaska Natives across the Nation. Therefore, successful implementation of the law 

is of great importance to Tribes and hinges on the full funding of the permanent 

reauthorization of the IHCIA and the overarching Affordable Care Act (ACA). The 

SGCETC respectfully requests funding increases to begin implementing the twentyfive unfunded authorities in IHCIA and countless others in the ACA. 

Fully support the IHS Information Technology System. The Resource and Patient 

Management System (RPMS) is the decentralized health information system used 

to manage both clinical and administrative information in IHS healthcare facilities. 

However, due to budget constraints and demands to meet growing industry and government standards, IHS has not been able to commit resources to update RPMS in 

every Area. Failure to maintain this system properly has resulted in lost revenue 

to IHS and Tribal facilities across the country. A short term influx in funding to 

bring RPMS up to industry standards in every area could result in more streamlined care as well as increase third-party revenue to the Indian Health Care System. 

Invest in Self-Governance Planning and Negotiation Grants. More than two decades of Self-Governance in IHS has shown that Tribal governments can and often 

do deliver better quality care in a more efficient and culturally competent manner, 

improving the health and welfare of communities significantly. Congress should increase its support for Tribes wishing to plan, prepare, and negotiate for Self-Governance programs. The easiest way to build the internal capacity for Tribes to make 

the transition into Self-Governance is to commit more Federal funds for planning 

and negotiation cooperative agreements. This year, due to inadequate funding, only 

five planning and two negotiation cooperative agreements were provided to a growing list of Tribes seeking alternative and innovative solutions to provide better care. 

II. Encourage Administrative Flexibility and Collaboration 

Ultimately, improving patient care requires more than the provision of adequate 

funding. We must also embrace and advance innovative and collaborative approaches to providing programs and services in order to achieve sustainable 

healthcare. The Administration can take action to improve its business practices, 

open additional streams of revenue, and leverage funding opportunities that already 

exist within the Federal government to provide quality care, expand services, and 

hire qualified providers and administrators. However, each of these solutions requires Federal agencies across the entire government to allow greater flexibility and 

collaboration. SGCETC offers the following solution to administratively improve patient care: 

Expand the IHS-Veterans Administration Memorandum of Understanding to Include Purchase and Referred Care. When the IHS and the Department of Veterans 

Administration (VA) negotiated the first national agreement, required under the 

IHCIA, they only included reimbursement for direct care provided by IHS facilities. 

Failure to include Purchased and Referred Care (PRC) is a disservice to Veterans 

and does not adequately address the specialty care that is needed while imposing 

a financial burden on Tribal healthcare systems which provide eligible veterans care 

at its own expense. After two years of implementation and changes to the VA health 

care delivery, Self-Governance Tribes believe the time is right to revisit the reimbursement agreement and include PRC. 

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Enact Medicare-Like Rates for IHS outpatient services for ITU facilities. IHS, 

Tribes and Tribal organizations currently cap the rates they will pay for hospital 

services to what the Medicare program would pay for the same service (the ‘‘Medicare-Like Rate’’ or ‘‘MLR’’). Currently, this MLR cap applies only to hospital services, which represent a fraction of the services provided through PRC. In December 

of 2014, IHS proposed a rule to amend the current rule to apply Medicare methodology to all physicians, other health care professional services and non-hospital 

based services that are authorized for purchase by the IHS and Tribal PRC programs or urban Indian health programs. Tribes generally support the proposed rule 

with limited changes and provided recommendations to allow for the greatest flexibility. To date however, a final rule has not been published. 

Previously, Congress also proposed legislative fixes to amend Section 1866 of the 

Social Security Act (SSA) to expand application of the MLR Cap. It would direct the 

Secretary to issue new regulations to establish a payment rate cap applicable to 

medical and other health services in addition to the current SSA cap on services 

provided by hospitals. It would make the MLR cap apply to all Medicare-participating providers and suppliers. Self-Governance Tribes support this legislative fix 

to leverage the limited resources provided to IHS, Tribal and Urban health programs. 

Bolster the recruitment and retention of qualified providers and administrators. 

Recruitment and retention of qualified health providers and administrators is at the 

crux of improving patient care. IHS, along with Federal partners such as the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Agriculture (USDA), the 

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and others, must adopt a reengineered business model that directly focuses on identifying the external factors 

and effective strategies that contribute to physician and administrator recruitment. 

Additionally, Congress could take steps to approve legislation that would amend 

the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income, amounts received under 

the IHS Loan Repayment Program and the Indian Health Professions Scholarships 

Program, which are currently a drain on the appropriations extended to IHS. 

Support legislation to expand Self-Governance under a Demonstration Project 

within HHS, by amending the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

Act (ISDEAA). Title VI of the ISDEAA required the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services (HHS) to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of a Tribal Self-Governance demonstration project for appropriate HHS programs, services, functions, 

and activities (and portions thereof) in agencies other than IHS. HHS submitted the 

required report to Congress in March of 2003. The report concluded that the demonstration project was feasible. Although Congress has considered legislation to authorize a Self-Governance demonstration project, legislation to advance this initiative has not been enacted into law to date. 

HHS has more than 300 grants specifically available to Tribal governments. Yet, 

Tribes are unable to fully maximize these opportunities because they are often 

short-term or one-time sources of funding. Additionally, these opportunities often 

focus on prevention or treatment of the same health issues, such as suicide, substance abuse prevention, heart health, or diabetes, but cannot be leveraged together 

to provide holistic health care to AI/ANs. Distributing funding through grants does 

not fulfill the trusty responsibility and does not lead to improved, long-term health 

status indicators. Expanding a model with a proven track record, such as Self-Governance, would continue to improve the nation-to-nation relationship and allow 

Tribes to leverage funding from across HHS to support preventative and direct care, 

to enhance substance abuse and behavioral health services, and to manage their 

health systems similarly to other public and private entities. 

Tribal efforts to continue working on the expansion of Self-Governance was recently realized in the transportation reauthorization legislation. P.L. 114–94, the 

Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) made several important 

changes to the Tribal Transportation Program, most notably created a Department 

of Transportation (DOT) Tribal Self-Governance Program which extends many of 

the Self-Governance provisions of Title V of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) to DOT. The FAST Act also provides modest funding increases for the Tribal Transportation Program (TTP) and the Tribal Transit 

program as well as a number of technical changes to these programs. So why, after 

more than a decade of asking has HHS been so unwilling to advance the same opportunities for Self-Governance in HHS? 

III. Adopt Effective Communication and Partnership with Tribal Nations 

During its sixty-year history as an agency committed to improving the health of 

American Indians and Alaska Natives, IHS has had many successes and downfalls. 

Like any other public or private organization, IHS will require consistent and transVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00194 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
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parent methods to evaluate and identify issues, to implement changes, and to respond to external, unknown factors. Instead of relying on Congressional action each 

time, the following recommendations should be adopted: 

Utilize formal and informal communication methods to encourage community partnership with Tribal Leaders. Delivering proper health care in Tribal communities 

requires true partnership between Tribal Leaders and agency officials. Since the 

Clinton Administration, Presidents have reaffirmed the responsibility of Federal 

agencies to consult with Tribal governments before taking actions that affect their 

communities. Though Tribal consultation is an excellent way to establish a set of 

principles, direction, or directly respond to a proposal, this formal communication 

does not allow for regular exchange regarding issues that arise outside of the formal 

policy process. Tribal Leaders maintain a close pulse on their community and the 

effects of proper health delivery. IHS should adopt methods to efficiently and effectively exchange information with Tribal Leaders in a manner that allows them to 

identify issues earlier and respond more rapidly. 

Institutionalize stakeholders throughout the Indian Health Care System. Another 

opportunity to tie Tribal communities to the performance of the Indian Health Care 

System is to regularly engage leadership in the administration and direction of local 

health facilities. IHS has adopted a process in other areas that allows Tribal Leaders and other experts to participate regularly in the governance of hospitals and 

clinics that impact the health of their citizens. Replication of this process would provide IHS with another avenue to hear from stakeholders and allow Tribes an opportunity to be part of the solution before issues negatively impact patient care. 

Direct IHS to develop an annual report which shows how well the Federal Government has upheld its Treaty Obligations and Trust Responsibilities to Tribes. Reporting on achievements is critical to winning and maintaining support. If the ‘‘performance-based budgeting’’ uses statements of missions, goals and objectives to explain 

why the money is spent, then similar objectives, goals and measures should be tied 

to the United States government honoring the treaties and fulfilling the trust responsibility. While our budgets remain at the discretion of Congress to sequester, 

decrease and eliminate services, we have no tools to leverage the broken promises 

to Indian people. There should be equal standards of performance and results to 

hold the United States accountable for not upholding the agreements between our 

nations and not honoring its word. 

Summary 

In closing, SGCETC again thanks the Committee for the opportunity to submit 

testimony. We look forward to working with you to initiate positive changes that 

will improve the health and welfare of every Tribal citizen throughout Indian Country. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 

My name is Steve L. Garreau and I want to tell you about what happened to me 

at the Eagle Butte IHS ER back in 2015. 

I went to the ER because I was having really bad nose bleeds and they would 

not stop. The ER doctor had them hold me down and she shoved a tube into the 

nostril that was bleeding and it was too big but she shoved it in any way and it 

hurt so bad. But after she had done this did she realize that it was to big and then 

she took it out and shoved a smaller one into my nostril. I do not normally holler 

from pain but when she shoved that big tube into my nostril, I hollered out in pain 

because it hurt that bad. 

Now as a result of the damage done to my nostril I have periods when I lose my 

sense of smell in it and it tends to discharge more than usual and I have headaches. 

They sent me to Rapid City and the ER doctor out there was really angry at what 

they did to me. He said that they tore up the inside of my nostril. He even wrote 

a statement about what they did to me. That statement is on file with Senator john 

Thune’s office. A copy can be requested. 

Sincerely, 

STEVEN L. GARREAU

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 

I am MeIda Garreau I am 85 years old and I live in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. 

I have been neglected by the Ii-IS clinic. I have seen so many Doctors and PA it 

is only to repeat over and over my condition and never get no satisfaction and my 

health deteriorates. I have cancer and in this cancer and it is so bad I can’t think 

straight. I have this lump in my mouth for 12 years now. I keep telling the doctor 

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and I continue to see the doctor on this lump but to no avail. They keep saying we 

will see you again all the time and then when it finally turned to cancer after a 

biopsy I’ve been really bad it came back again last month. 

My health deteriorated back in 1978 when I got a lump in my left side bottom 

jaw and when I check to see a doctor they slide me along no one cares to care unless 

it’s a matter of death. Well, a Dr. Carlson kept seeing me every 3 or 4 months. He 

would say it is not growing and releases me. This went on till it turned into cancer. 

I was sent to Minnesota University Hospital in Minnesota the doctor removed a part 

of it cause the cancer wrapped around my jaw GOD! I don’t want anyone to go 

through what I did. 

Finally a Dr. Gray sent me to Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. They did a major surgery and I can’t eat just liquids am so hungry I am sad all the time. 

The cancer came back aggressively had surgery and 6 weeks of radiation. I am 

now waiting for an appointment to go back to Rochester, MN at the Mayo Clinic 

if I am cancer free. I am very fatigued so I stay in bed all the time. I also had cancer 

in my breast in 1994 and 1996 because they didn’t follow up on me. 

Sincerely, 

MELDA GARREAU

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 

My name is Brenda (Clown) Veit I am 58 years old. 

I kept going to IHS for over a year for my bones hurting. No arthritis I was told. 

My last visit was June 2015. My wrist was swollen and my bones were getting deformed. Still I was told nothing was wrong. 

I finally went to the Women’s Health and they completed breast exam and immediately referred me out. I was given biopsy and diagnosed with 4th stage cancer in 

August 2015. I have cancer in seven different areas. 

If blood work were done they could have caught it. I now have terminal cancer 

with a diagnosis over a year left. 

Sincerely, 

BRENDA VEIT

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 

IHS Incident on January 1, 2018 

On December 29, 2015 I hurt my back while cleaning seeing that I couldn’t solve 

the problem of Pain myself I went into the ER. at the IHS hospital in Eagle Butte, 

South Dakota on January 1, 2016. 

I saw Dr. Mauricio Ferrel and he had an X-ray done on me. My pain level was 

at least a 9. While getting the X-ray the technician grabbed me by the ankles and 

pulled me down on the table to where he wanted me. Having had to hip replacements and the lower back pain this action caused me even more pain that made 

me cry. He could have told me to move down toward the end of the table instead 

of pulling me by the ankles I was in so much pain and I told the doctor what happened. I told him (the doctor) that you can’t be pulling on a 78-year-old woman like 

that without something happening. Before leaving the hospital I was given a shot 

for pain but it did not help. The doctor refused to give me something else for the 

pain he explained that the hundred milligram of Celebrex that I am taking for my 

rheumatoid arthritis should be adequate. But it wasn’t it drove me to see a doctor 

not connected with IHS to finally find relief. 

Sincerely, 

ARDIS LEBEAU WARCLOUD

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 

For 27 months my husband had total hip replacement at Black Hills surgery. 

Since that time he has been having swollen legs, knees and feet, severe pain in hip/ 

leg area. 

He has been sent to Bismarck, ND, Sanford twice for misdiagnosed heart attack 

due to faulty CT scanner or blood test. Sanford has informed us that over ten patients were misdiagnosed for false alarm of heart attacks. We appreciate Eagle 

Butte IHS concern for my husband’s heart but he was thoroughly tested and Sanford showed no blood clots either in legs, or heart, head nor chest areas. 

As his spouse, I am the opposite in regards to heart attacks. I have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease and I have had two heart attacks in Arizona in 

IHS. I was sent via ambulance to Casa Grande hospital for treatment. Due to high 

charges by ambulance I have not been able to get Eagle Butte IHS to pay for 

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$1,800.00 ambulance fees, MRI and CAT scan due to a truck running into the driver’s side of my van. As I tried to hold on to the steering wheel my right shoulder 

was torn from bone to ligament, collarbone cracked, and resulted in shoulder cuff 

surgery, when no other doctor at IHS could diagnose my need for a shoulder cuff 

surgery two years after the surgery, a specialist in bone/joint surgery diagnosed and 

performed a shoulder cuff surgery two years after the truck accident. I have been 

in severe pain since the accident which occurred in Casa Grande, Arizona. I have 

been doing physical therapy for two years until this last PT therapist told me he 

cannot help me any further because he has no training in how to use the neck-spine 

stretcher machine. 

I was told that IHS cannot pay for my medical bills over 30 days. My medical 

bill occurred over 2 years ago. I had asked if they IHS can help me pay it but I 

was refused. I am requesting your assistance in having IHS pay this outstanding 

medical bill for me. Thank you for your attention into this matter. 

Sincerely, 

MONA GREY BEAR WALKS OUT

Concerning our IHS Health Facility at Eagle Butte, South Dakota. I would like 

you to know how much we appreciate this hospital. If not for this hospital, we would 

not have emergency or medical care for most people in this area. Had IHS not been 

here, I would have lost family members and friends to heart attacks, appendicitis, 

pneumonia, strokes, cancer, and car accidents. I am grateful beyond words. 

We have a wonderful staff at our IHS. Of course, there are occasional exceptions, 

but nothing is perfect in this world. As a rule, our medical staff and doctors are 

exceptional, they do everything humanly possible to help as many as they can. The 

problem is their hands are tied much of the time, because of funding. Doctors are 

forced to provide healthcare on the basis of most life-threatening leaving much preventive care undone. 

There are many stories and examples, but one that comes to mind is an 11 year 

old granddaughter. She was swinging when her flip-flop caught on something that 

turned her foot backward, and stabbed a large sliver into the arch of her foot. We 

removed the sliver, and soaked her foot in epsom salt, but she was still not able 

to put her weight on it, and was still complaining of pain, so we took her in, and 

she was given antibiotics and told to soak in epsom salt. It was x-rayed, but nothing 

could be seen. Two weeks later, it broke open and another piece of the sliver came 

out. We took her in, and were told to soak it more. Since that time, it has healed 

over, but there is a bright pink lump on her arch, since June 2014. It is unfortunate 

that her foot is not priority. I don’t blame Doctors, I blame funding. 

My cousin was a diabetic on dialysis. He had trouble controlling his blood pressure and blood sugar, and when his blood sugar was finally stable; his insulin 

changed to a lower cost insulin, which made him sick, and caused his blood sugar 

to fluctuate again. Doesn’t make sense to me. I understand cost cutting, but I think 

it’s costing more in the long-term. 

It is too bad that people who have gone thru years of training, and have the ability to help others in need are stifled by pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and government budget cuts, which prevent them from doing what they 

have devoted a great deal of their lives of training to do. Unfortunately, that untrained people that control pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and 

government representatives, who have not taken an oath to save lives, have so 

much control over our health. 

It is my intent in this letter to voice my concerns, and do also ask that funding 

that in previous years has been subject to budget cuts, be restored to our IHS facility. Surely, funding services that have been in place providing services to their patients is at least as important as paying representatives of the people to force us 

to pay more of our earnings to our insurance companies for health and drug insurance, and giving them control as to where, when, who, and how we can be treated; 

which medications we receive, and what cost. I don’t often seek medical treatment, 

I have never been able to afford medical insurance, but if I do ever seek medical 

attention, I prefer a Doctor to an insurance agent, or a drug manufacturer. 

Yours Truly, 

GEORGINA J. RED BEAR

Please, Please, read the grievance below and remember the dates are wrong but 

major issue is I was in a middle of an emergency and just brought my brother home 

few hours prior to the leave request that morning prior to start of my tour of duty 

to transport him to the IHS Hospital/primary care provider to re-do his labs due 

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(hyperkalemia) and then re-assess him. Had that had happened like it should have 

I truly believe he would still be here. Everyone is telling me the opposite but he 

was only 47 and didn’t my assistance prior to this incident. But because the supervisor had sent the upsetting text refusing my leave request my brother’s attitude 

who was initially cooperative had took a turn and adopted the ‘‘I don’t want to be 

a burden’’ theme and told me to leave him alone! he is fine! and denied all requests 

to go the hospital. Later that night, I called the ambulance he complaining of SOB 

and died in the ambulance. We were very close and I am in therapy praying for 

some type of closure. They didn’t give me a new supervisor like I requested and forcing me to answer to her again without even an apology has made me angry. People 

in support of me said it would not do any good because it would not have any sincerity in it. I am very hurt and do not want to work here anymore under such inadequate supervision and taking it day by day hoping another job will appear soon 

that I would be able to apply for. Please make sure all supervisors are academically 

trained and up to par with their positions so a similar situation does not re-occur. 

Sincerely, 

CHARLENE M. JANIS, 

From: Janis, Charlene (IHS/ABR/RCH) 

To: Bruce, Pauline 

Subject: RE: Stage 1 Griveance 

Pauline, 

Thanks, I am so grateful and yes this my first day back. not the same! The dates 

need are what you said but other than that very true and I will keep in touch Pauline. A quick mention I am wondering if other supervisors are up to par with sick 

leave requests and able to recognize serious health conditions. I have a husband and 

with a defibrillator need someone like Lynn who competent to address and any serious issues with should they arise. 

I read that is Sioux Sans responsibility to ensure all supervisors are to be competent in everything and can be held liable for their misconduct one for making 

false statements via email or text or not recognizing serious medical condition a violation of the FMLA act. 

Thanks, 

CHARLENE M. JANIS

From: Bruce, Pauline 

To: Janis, Charlene 

Subject: FW: Stage 1 Griveance 

Charlene: Providing you a copy of what I submitted (see below). I may not have 

dates correct but that’s ok. I didn’t want to make you go over the whole event again 

but I did state on or about so that leaves it open. I did not want to miss the timeframes so went ahead and filed. I will be away Monday and Tuesday next week but 

hope to touch base with you when I return. 

Let’s see where this goes. Again, I’m so very, very sorry for your loss. 

Keeping you in prayer, 

PAULINE BRUCE

From: Bruce, Pauline 

To: Alberta Bad Wound, Lynn Pourier 

Subject: Stage 1 Griveance 

Importance: High 

Grievant: Charlene Janis, Medical Records Tech 

NATURE OF GRIEVANCE: 

On or about December 6th, BUE, Charlene Janis, requested leave to address an 

emergent issue with her brother’s health. BUE, Charlene Janis is the custodian of 

said brother and is responsible for his care. Ms. Janis shared with her supervisor 

the critical health issues concerning her brother. Ms. Janis requested leave and supervisor denied and stated that she would be AWOL. Following that event BUE, 

Charlene Janis went to meet with supervisor to take in documentation of brother’s 

discharge from hospital papers to verify the seriousness of his illness, brother was 

to go back the following morning. Supervisor was no where to be found to get approval and employee ultimately had to seek approval from second line supervisor, 

Lynn Pourer who approved leave without pay. BUE, Charlene Janis, was emotional, 

distraught and severely stressed and wanted to ensure that she received approval 

prior to being out of the office. Supervisor, Alberta Bad Wound, showed no compassion, concern nor did she offer her availability to assist BUE during this critical, 

emotional time. Brother of BUE, Charlene Janis passed away on December 7th, the 

following day in which employee was attempting to secure leave approval. BUE, 

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Charlene Janis at this time is grieving the loss of her brother and the added emotional stress she was put through by her supervisor. 

Supervisor Alberta Bad Wound has violated Article 1, Section 7 and Section 16. 

SETTLEMENT DESIRED: 

1. BUE, Charlene Janis be assisted with processing appropriate paperwork and 

approved for the Leave Share Program. Notification of approval of Leave Share 

be sent to all employees within IHS to seek leave donors to address the period 

of time in which BUE, Charlene Janis needs to be away from duty during this 

period of grief and time of healing. 

2. BUE, Charlene Janis, be referred to Employee Assistance Counseling to allow 

her time and the opportunity to meet with a grief counselor. Time allowed to 

attend counseling will be in accordance with policy for EAP Counseling. Use of 

Official Time. 

3. BUE, Charlene Janis be assigned under the direct supervision of Lynn 

Pourier, the second level supervisor who showed real compassion and concern 

for the BUE during this difficult time. 

Respectfully Submitted, 

196 

PAULINE BRUCE


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PREPARED STATEMENT OF KIROS A.B. AULD

My grandfather was an Urban Indian living and working in the Washington, D.C. 

area, hailing from a non-Federal Tribe. Despite his test scores, he was pulled out 

of school at the age of thirteen because ‘‘as a man’’ it was time for him to ‘‘pull his 

weight’’ for the family and he was the darkest of his siblings. Outside of his unit 

in World War 2, you wouldn’t have heard of him from deed or song. An old man 

working odds and ends, he found a sore on his foot that would not heal. Left untreated, gangrene followed, resulting in the doctors taking his foot. That wasn’t 

enough to save him, so the doctors took more of his leg. Soon, the illness took his 

life. I don’t expect people to care about what happens to Indians from non-acknowledged tribes, so maybe a recent example will make you reconsider whether this is 

your problem. 

A family friend who, unlike my grandfather, comes from a Tribe that is acknowledged by the Federal Government, traveled to the Nation’s Capital to serve his community at an agency that fulfills trust responsibilities to Tribes and individuals. 

Back home, he is eligible for services at an Indian Health Services facility. Here in 

DC, he’s an Urban Indian only eligible for services at Native American Lifelines, 

the closest health/dental provider accessible, but located in Baltimore, MD. He isn’t 

a ‘‘Big DC Indian,’’ but he reports to a few. 

Now stop me if you’ve heard this one before. One day, he found a sore on his foot. 

Left untreated, he passed out on his way to a convenience store and awoke at the 

hospital. The infection was so severe that he lost his foot. His youth saved him from 

losing more than that. 

In a sense, my grandfather was the lucky one, because in death, he escaped medical bills and the hard, expensive road to rehabilitation. Our friend is in store for 

all this without IHS support, which he would likely only have if he leaves his DC 

job and becomes another statistic back home. Despite coming here to serve his people, despite the history of Indians being drawn to our Capital to serve their Nations, 

and despite the Indians buried in the Congressional Cemetery, our ‘‘Little DC Indian’’ friend isn’t going to get a dime from Indian Health Service because DC is 

somehow outside the coverage area. 

IHS was established to provide health benefits pursuant to Treaty Obligations 

that were bought, bled, and bargained for. Pursuant to self-determination imperatives that strengthen Tribal Sovereignty, IHS employees are often selected from the 

Tribal Communities receiving those services. After what I’ve seen for decades, after 

what I’ve heard from being a spouse and friend to IHS employees, and after the recent Senate hearings, I have to wonder then whether IHS treatment priorities from 

the point of view of those at the top concerns not Indians at the bottom, rather the 

‘‘bottoms’’ of those at the top. 

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate when IHS provides quality care. Hell, if IHS was 

there for my mother as a little girl with an untreated ear infection, she would probVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00205 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK

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ably wouldn’t have ended-up partially deaf. I wonder why, if even during an election 

year of all times, the bosses in D.C. won’t just spare a staff member and a bit of 

metro fare to Rockville to put eyes and ears on what’s going on at IHS Headquarters. I also wonder, as someone who isn’t a Tribal Citizen of an Acknowledged 

Tribe, whether that lack of status makes me rate higher than the people IHS purportedly serves. 

Responding to an article about Senator Jon Tester’s 2014 inquiries, I published 

a complaint about management at IHS HQ in Rockville, MD. I wrote in as 

‘‘Opechan,’’ a default online handle I’ve used for over fifteen years. You might be 

familiar with it as ‘‘/u/Opechan,’’ founder and moderator of/r/IndianCountry, the 

most active Native American community on Reddit.com, the ninth most popular 

website in the U.S. 

This triggered a witch-hunt at IHS HQ and people were more concerned about 

‘‘who complained’’ than the substance of the complaint. I expect people to again get 

defensive and focus on everything except whether care for Tribes and Urban Indians 

is a big enough priority around DC or in general, or whether those trusted with deciding how to provide that care are actually doing so or just nurturing public sector 

kingdoms. 

I don’t write this as a Tribal Citizen or employee, I write this as a U.S. citizen 

who wonders why tax dollars that should be going towards satisfying Treaty Obligations instead go towards settlement and promotions of bad high-level managers. I’ve 

wondered why, just outside of the Beltway, bad actors at IHS HQ fail upward and 

benefit from grade increases for performance without their HR settlements being 

taken into account. I understand the value of having an ‘‘outside dog’’ to scare away 

bad actors, but one does not bring it in for guests, especially if it’s bitten members 

of the family and lacks house-training. 

Even if I wasn’t Indian at all (and I am), would that make anything I, you, and 

yours have seen and said about IHS less true? Shouldn’t this be easier for law makers to figure out, seeing as how it’s happening just outside the Beltway? It’s such 

low-hanging fruit; an easy win for an election year. 

I honestly don’t know and I’m nobody really, but have you gotten the sore on your 

foot checked out? 

You should. 

And it probably shouldn’t wait until you can afford airfare if you live off-rez, as 

most of us do. 

Public Healthcare Meeting—Cheyenne River Motel, Eagle Butte, SD. 

After 41⁄2 years of a broken ribs, broken arm, and a result of weak bones, I fell 

and fractured my hip and a lot of pain and without offending or violation of pain 

management contract was not getting proper care. Some of the nine different PA 

so - called Indian Tribal Cultural Dr., I am left in the air without help. I live in 

a very high level of pain, and I am changing my Medicaid to someone who’ll help 

me. I was told these medicines won’t help me, so they hold out on medications, and 

tape gauze bandages from which we might be healed for pejuta wica, restored and 

protected. I know my life isn’t going to be prolonged in good health, for the rest of 

my day wondering what the native people will do now that I am a diabetic. My culture, and descendant come in with other Indian Priority I and II list. 

ETHYLENE BUCK ELK THUNDER

1) We want Doctors that are able to do their job independently, without having 

another Doctor oversee them. For example, I had an appointment with my Doctor, 

Dr. McLain, then a Nurse came in and said ‘‘Dr. McClain is needed in ER, and he 

has to admit a patient.’’ Why is my Dr. getting pulled into this? The ER Doctors 

should be able to work independently, and they can’t. they shouldn’t be working in 

the ER anywhere. 

2) We need Doctors that know how to investigate with doing a complete physical, 

labs, patient history, etc. so that prompt diagnosis will happen. For example, it took 

June, July, August, and IHS didn’t know why I couldn’t walk. They just kept giving 

me pain medication after pain medication. Dr. Francine Mousseau yelled at me and 

my Mom because she said ‘‘None of my providers want to see you! I don’t want to 

see you, and Dr. Kahn don’t want to see you.’’ I said I have IHS eligibility. Then 

she went on to say ‘‘the regional office said my hospital don’t have to see you or 

help you.’’ So people are being yelled at with no diagnosis given, wrong diagnosis, 

wrong medication, and being turned away. 

3) More Doctors for optometry, physical therapy, and diabetes. It’s hard to get appointments, and then the Dr. or Therapist seems like they don’t know what they 

are doing. 

203 

4) Wrongful firing of people that are qualified to work there. Seems like they are 

letting a lot of ‘‘brown or dark-skinned’’ employees go, and sexual harassment to employees. 

To the Committee: 

I have worked as a clinical psychologist at IHS for sixteen years and at ‘‘638’’ tribal clinics for over three years. The problems identified by current and past hearings 

are accurate and, as you know, they persist. I would like to speak to the daily frustrations of treatment providers trying to provide good care to patients. 

Most of the IHS administrators at the top of the organization may be competent, 

as are most of the treatment providers who provide direct patient care. Unfortunately for tribal patients, that care is impeded by too many layers of managers who 

have priorities other than the mission of the agency. These mid-level managers 

seem to be invested in maintaining the status quo, not in challenging it in the interest of patients. And they will target for harassment employees who do speak up 

about deficiencies. The performance evaluation is their means for intimidating and 

silencing employees. That practice also serves to force out good treatment providers 

who don’t want their personal and professional reputations damaged by negative 

performance ratings. 

I was gratified to hear the statements of Chairman Barrasso about the rampant 

intimidation and harassment of employees, nepotism, and moving incompetent managers around within the organization. I have witnessed these things for years. That 

is the culture in which we labor and which is so demoralizing. I’m at a point where 

I do not believe anything will change for the better without a dramatic re-organization and elimination of several layers of bureaucracy. The dollars saved could be redirected toward paying for needed services for patients. 

Thank you for your continued efforts on behalf of Indian people. 

Respectfully, 

204 

LOUISE CENATIEMPO, PH.D. 

Licensed Clinical Psychologist 

I participated in the 2010 hearing by cooperating with the investigator Senator 

Dorgan had to Indian Health Employees and Indian people who used the services. 

I was employed at the Winnebago Indian Health Service Unit until May 5, 2015 

where to repeated emails to supervisor and up the chain on the poor care given, 

and nurses who failed to carry out the doctors orders, and that I had a license which 

prohibits me from taking & carrying out nursing care from unlicensed persons, such 

as a Dentist, Pharmacist. 

I blew the whistle after numerous attempts for upper management to correct the 

unsafe practices, but was ignored, I contacted CMS after the dead of the male patient who died April 2014, I let all know I was going to report for the negligence 

in the poor care that resulted in the death of the 35 year old male. 

I even let the Great Plains Area Director Ronald Cornelius know through emails. 

End result I was fired for making or scheduling clinic appointments so all and 

any patient can access care. I also responded to an email that was sent out by the 

Dentist that included all medical and nursing staff. I asked 2 questions, I did leave 

the email as it was sent out which all who were included in the email seen my questions. 

Many at the facility did not know that Dr. Rodriquez was a Dentist who had no 

medical previleges and could not write orders or perform direct medical care on patients. 

I also sent Robert McSwain and email, and the corp officer who came to the meeting held on or around June or July in Sioux City Iowa. It did not matter, because 

I took my oath of employment serious to uphold the oath and the laws I was fired, 

to be made an example as stated in my termination letter. 


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Why is it that the agency has fired federal employees for upholding the oath of 

office and supporting the constitution and state and federal laws have to waste government money to go to a EEO or MSPB hearing? 

Tonie Greve RN had several exceptional PMAP, no problems other than sending 

email concerns about patient safety, and following the chain of command, only to 

be fired for bogus allegations of making clinic appointments for patients to access 

care, no federal or state or Winnebago regulation, policy violation? Why not give 

back my job as a clinical nurse who did great work performance? 

Janet Uheling RN who had nearly 25 years of clincal nursing experience, great 

PMAP ratings. She did nothing wrong, she saved the gentleman in April 2014 who 

was severely ill, did patient advocate, got the permanent medical provider to come 

to the Emergency Room to see and treat the patient. The patient died 4 days later, 

but through no wrong doing of Janet Uheling RN. Karen Riser fired her for not documenting the results of a nebulizer treatment results, which had good results, as 

patient was admitted and alive, until the other nurses failed him on the inpatient 

unit for giving poor care, and not contacting the medical provider per parameters, 

and for failing to give standards of care, and notification of patient’s health 

deterioating. 

Mr. Robert McSwain stated he did not want to discuss due to employee rights and 

privacy rights, but I am Tonie Greve and I am the named representative for Ms. 

Janet Uheling RN. 

Karen Reiser was paid bonus and she failed to fulfill her job requirements, and 

performance. Trina Cleveland paid bonus she failed to fulfill her job requirements, 

Dr. Jose Rodriguez Dentist a commission corp officer who failed to fulfill his job duties and performance below standards. Mr. Ronald Cornelius knew of these problems yet ignored due to his personal friendships, instead of doing a complete unbiased investigation, instead he had the federal employees who upheld their oath of 

office fired instead of correcting the substandard care and poor job performers who 

continued to keep job after failing patients with standards or above standards of 

care. 

I want my job back, and my name cleared, and just work as I took the oath to 

uphold. Janet Uheling wants her job back as she did not violate any policy, regulation, but saved a patient, The nurses who failed the male patient still have their 

jobs, and still giving poor care at the Winnebago Indian Health Service Unit. 

This request is not abnormal, but seems fair request as I have had exception 

PMAPs, came to work daily, performed all duties required as a qualified nurse. I 

did leave and get a job in the private sector as a higher ranking and management 

position as Assistant Director of Nurses and helped that facility win awards for 

Standards of Care and participated in CIMRO standards, along with great plains 

but in the private sector. I left this job as I want to serve the Indian People as I 

am an enrolled AMerican Indian. I am willing to relocate if it is due to having family members in several of the Great Plains Tribes. I am asking for location in 

Pheonix area as I know no persons, have no family member in that area. I am willing to drop the MSPB hearing. 

Mr. McSwain has the information, and e-mails that I have sent to him and to the 

members of the Indian Senate Committee members. 

After reviewing the whole senate hearing that was conducted 2/3/2016, I have to 

write this letter. 

1. Master, Bacholor, Medical Degree means nothing if you dont have the experience, this is the problem when hiring medical personnel. 

2. When there are qualified staff hired with experience and want to implement 

positive change, training they are ignored, and told ‘‘No’’. 

3. When a medical doctor, PA, NP tells a nurse to carry out an order, but they 

refuse, that medical staff should be able to write an complaint, and that nurse no 

matter who he/she is or related to should be disciplined immediately. Given training 

if they don’t know and PIP for year to make sure the mistake does not happen 

again. In 2004 that was the policy when I started at the Agency, and believe me 

it took only 1 mistake, then I reviewed all the policies, regulations. I never repeated 

the mistake again. 

4. If you don’t train properly, or nurses refuse to attend trainings then they 

should be let go, as they are part of the problem. Same for Medical Staff. Medicine 

changes each year sometimes more rapidly. 

5. ER/LR need to have medical background or the training so they will know if 

a staff is upholding the medical license they hold, rather than being called insubordinate. This will help determine if deliberate mistakes, or refusals to go outside 

scope of medical practice/license is prohibited. 

206 

6. Supervisors who have clicks and know that some staff refuse to fulfill the vision 

& mission but turn blind eye. Remove that supervisor don’t promote or move to another facility. (Karen Reiser, Trina Cleveland, Miguel Fernandez, Jose Rodriques, 

Samir Joshi, Nancy Freemont, Deb Saunsoci) to name a few. 

7. Nurse Educator is given more authority to issue letters to employees who fail 

to attend mandatory trainings, and give to supervisors to issue discipline, if that 

supervisor refuses the Nurse Educator is given the autonomy to go to the next in 

line to have that supervisor disciplined for failing to adhere to the vision & mission. 

8. Transparency, meaning real transparency where one can report without reprisals. This was how it was back in 204 at Winnebago, but changed after 2012. 

9. Allow all medical staff to be allowed medical training. (each year money was 

put aside but only a few were allowed) if all medical staff given opportunity to further education and return to give the training to others will retain that education 

and shared with others. THis was how it was handled back in 2004 at the Winnebago Facility. It stopped in 2009. This would show how well funds are being spent. 

10. PMAP should be made each year that represents the Job Description of each 

individual, each department they are employed in. Right now the PMAP are generic 

and some if they have friends in supervisory positions get rated above the standards, which do not reflect the actual job performed. 

11. Show employees who go above and beyond recognition, not the same employees over and over who get preference because of friendships. 

12. Annual in person training from Great Plains ER/LR and Human Resources 

on expectations, regulations, policy. Doing computer training which can be falsely 

done is harming the education purposes. 

I was preceptored by Gloria Thomas who is a great nurse at winnebago who was 

a supervisor who made sure all under her supervision was taught and educated 

upon hire and every quarter for the first year. I am only a product from a mentor 

who loves the medical profession, loved the supervisory position and fulfilled the vision & mission at the Winnebago Facility. I was one of the original nurses trained 

in this manner, and only expected others to follow. 

13.when a nurse is the charge nurse (why have supervisor) who sits in an office 

and not come out to the floor to see what is going on, what needs attention for patient care, flow of clinic, what needs other areas need for nursing staff. Give that 

charge nurse the autonomy to fulfill her duties assigned to help with patient care, 

patient flow, patient safety. 

I hope I did not submit too much information on how to correct the problems. 

Sincerely, 

TONIE GREVE, RN 

In 2010–2011 I was experiencing fatigue and heart flutters as well as continuing 

to gain weight. Being tired constantly I thought maybe I could be anemic, making 

an appointment to have my iron level checked at the Eagle Butte Indian Health 

Service Out-Patient clinic. Kathy Zambo my provider listened to my symptoms then 

had blood drawn to see where my levels where. 

Later that evening she called, informing me that my iron levels were within normal limits. She also stated that my thyroid was functioning at a 0.00. She informed 

me that she would be submitting a referral to have me visit with an Endocrinologist 

in Bismarck. I was then referred to Dr. Ahmed. 

At my first appointment in Bismarck Dr. Ahmed performed various tests on my 

mobility as well as examining my thyroid. He concluded that I most likely suffered 

from Graves Disease and would be providing me with medication that would hopefully kick start my thyroid back into working order. Taking the medication 

(methamazole) for about 3 weeks I experienced an allergic reaction to the medication and was immediately taken off and prescribed another medication that is not 

for long term use as it begins to affect white blood cells and can affect your liver. 

I took the medication for approximately a year before being scheduled to undergo 

thyroid ablation with radioactive iodine. 

After the radiation treatment I was scheduled to return to check my thyroid levels 

every 4–6 weeks in order to begin the replacement hormone for my thyroid. On the 

3rd month of having my levels checked there had not been any change, Dr. Rauta 

stated that at the next test if it continued to not level out I would need to undergo 

another radiation treatment. 

Finally, my thyroid began to respond after the third or fourth month and I was 

placed on a high dosage of the replacement hormone. Dr. Rauta wanted me to have 

my levels checked every 4–6 weeks again to ensure that I was being prescribed a 

proper dosage. In requesting the needed referrals I began to experience denials from 

Contract health stating that I could be seen within the IHS clinic by other providers 

207 

one being Dr. Siddiqui who eventually stated that he felt I should continue my follow up appointments with Dr. Rauta in Bismarck as he is the physician who ordered the radiation treatment and knew my case the best. My referrals were continued to be denied. 

In the beginning of taking the replacement hormone I was prescribed a 150mg 

tablet but over time it was gradually reduced due to my thyroid reacting positively 

to the radiation treatment. I have not requested any further follow up in Bismarck 

as my symptoms have been steady at the level I am taking now which is an 88mg 

table 6 times a week. 

JACKIE DUNN

To whom it may concern: 

My name is Willard Black Cat. I am an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux 

Lakota and have resided on Pine Ridge Reservation my whole life. I am an elder, 

now presently in the hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota. A close friend, who is 


203d8.eps
208 

my medical power of attorney and has been supporting me during recent surgeries, 

is writing this letter for me (Rev. Janet Weber). 

I have many complaints over the years about my health care at IHS. I am diabetic 

and an amputee. It is a hardship for me to even get to the hospital, where I have 

to wait many long hours to be seen by a doctor. Sometimes I even have an appointment and when I get there I am told the doctor is not there, so I travelled for nothing. Sometimes I am there all day with no food, then it is very late and the CHR 

people have gone home and I have no ride home. I am an amputee and have no 

car. Some of the doctors are nice, but almost every time I go to the hospital for a check 

up, I get a different doctor, sometimes they don’t speak English too good. They don’t 

know me or my history. All my friends and relatives have the same complaints 

about IHS. Every month my medications change completely. I got very sick on some 

of the medicines. Some affected my mind and I became suicidal and was hospitalized. My diabetes medicine Metformin got me sick too. The needle injections in my 

stomach made big bruises and hard lumps. Finally I got the easy ’pen’ insulin, but 

then I was told to stop using this too. The medications change all the time and it 

is confusing. Also, the medical transport van to dialysis and the hospital sometimes 

does not show up. A few times also I fell in the van and broke ribs because the drivers do not always help me get in and out with my wheelchair. 

The most recent problem I had was with my foot, which started over the summer 

of 2015. I went to the hospital a few times with pain. They gave me ointment and 

gauze and sent me home. Things got really bad and I went to the IHS Pine Ridge 

Hospital in an ambulance and a few other visits. They wrapped it and sent me 

home. The pain was so bad I could not sleep for weeks. Why did they not give me 

a referral to a doctor in Rapid City? This finally did happen. I went to a doctor specialist in Rapid City on Jan. 8, 2016. He told me I now had gangrene and I would 

need an amputation. (I lost my other leg last year 2015). 

I am now in Rapid City Regional hospital since early January. I had stents put 

in my leg and they had to amputated all my toes and graft my heel. Why did Pine 

Ridge IHS wait so long—they never helped me and now I lost part of my foot. Here 

is a picture of my foot when I got to see the specialist in Rapid City on January 

8th, 2016. Pine Ridge IHS saw this earlier and did nothing. This is malpractice if 

you ask me. 

I have applied for residency in the new Oglala Sioux Lakota Nursing Home that 

is due to open in White Clay, Nebraska in April. I pray to God that this place will 

be giving us elders the good care that we need, and will be better than the IHS 

Hospital. 

Thank you for trying to fix this broken situation—the Lakota people have suffered 

enough for too many generations. 

Yours Truly, 

WILLARD BLACK CAT

This is my son, Eric Dickson Keefe.(Pictures retained in the Committee files) The 

IHS RN Debbie Knisipel, who was publicly seen barging into my private home, before the FBI or CI even had a chance to get their to conduct a homicide, spat out 

at me preniciously, ‘‘It was just a baby!!’’ Due to Debbie’s visit I was forced to settle; 

rather than go to court. Without a warrant Mrs. Knispel conducted an illegal 

search, seized an item that was in a closed cabinet, tampered with it, demanded 

my bodily fluids (and certainly would have provided herself with the opportunity to 

tamper with that), falsified the medical records, and generally impeded a homicide 

investigation! 

My son was sent to the mortician and procedures were preformed potentially 

loosing evidence before he was sent to autopsy. I still have some of Eric’s blood that 

may be tested for any medications. I also have the dress I was wearing when Eric 

left this world. It has not been washed and is stained with his breast milk that kept 

coming during the hours he was dying. It may be tested for anything in my system. 

Dr. Lehman was upstairs and did not come down during the time he knew Eric was 

dying. Why did this so-called good man not come down? Instead, he sent a spy posing as a mourner to come prey upon me; not to pray with me. 

Is it standard practice for an Indian Health Employee to come into our private 

homes (uninvited) during a time when evidence should have been secured by the 

proper authorities?! Dr. Douglas Dixon Lehman, the doctor who had performed 

Eric’s circumcision and then immediately released us with no post period of observation, wrote to me encouraging me to continue to speak to Debbie. 

For it not been for Mrs. Knispel’s visit their would have been no reason for me 

not to go to trial. I did not go to Rosebud Indian Health Service in the mistaken 

209 

belief that I was engaging in ‘‘welfare’’. I went believing that according to the Ft. 

Laramie Treaty and Snyder Act that health care is what we got in leiu of the millions of acres of land and mineral rights given up. 

I have been pursuing an attorney; to no avail, to pursue criminal charges against 

Mrs. Knispel. I was told by one, ‘‘I litigate for money; not the moral high ground.’’ 

The fact of the matter is that I can prove some of Mrs. Knispel’s lies, which is immensely disturbing and spiritually repugnant. 

To make matters worse Josh Verges of the Sioux Falls Argus leader published the 

following article: 

No where in any legal documents filed by my attorneys does indicate that ‘‘Once 

discharged, his mother gave him Motrin and Tylenol for the pain.’’ I made a request 

to Mr. Verges and the editor of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader to retract this 

story...they never did. Mr. Verges let me know that since I did not speak to him 

he had to explain what happened. What he wrote NEVER occurred. This is a slanderous and libelous news story, which is detrimental to all boys being circumcised 

and all patients at IHS. I am working towards all beings having affordable, honest, 

quality, and accountable health care. Why did Mr. Verges fail to explain how Dr. 

Lehman breached the standard of care? IHS is using his news story to bolster their 

faulting me. 

For almost everyday since June 19, 2008 I have either sat in the Evergreen Cemetery in Wood, SD or driven by it begging my God for some truth and justice. Eric’s 

earthly suffering and death should not be in vain. Something good should come from 

it. 

I beg of you to look further into what happened to my most precious to overcome 

this iniquity. Something has to be legally done about that RN and to provide for 

the integrity of the investigations of these deaths, so justice may prevail. 

Sincerely, 

MRS. MARY AURELIA KEEFE

Rosebud South Dakota couple files lawsuit over circumcision death 

Category: Crime, Justice, Courts and Lawsuits, Pierre, South Dakota (AP) 10–09 

A Wood couple has filed a lawsuit over the death of their 6-week-old son, who died 

after being circumcised at a hospital on the Rosebud Indian reservation. 

The lawsuit filed during September in federal court says Eric Keefe was circumcised at Indian Health Service Hospital on June 13, 2008. Once discharged, his 

mother gave him Motrin and Tylenol for the pain. He died the next day of massive 

blood loss. 

Forrest and Mary Keefe say in court documents the hospital failed to instruct 

them on what pain medications to give the boy. The couple is seeking $2 million from the Federal Government for personal injury 

and wrongful death. 

Circumcision Death Case Settles for $230,000 

April 8th, 2011 by Dan Bollinger 

Native American Boy Bleeds to Death 

The lawsuit involving a South Dakota Native American infant, Eric Dickson 

Keefe, from the Rosebud Indian Reservation, who bled to death from a circumcision 

in 2008, was settled this week for $230,000. The case involved an Indian Health 

Service doctor who circumcised the child at the end of the working day allowing for 

no period of post-surgical observation. Testimony showed the mother faced a long 

drive home on rural roads with other children in her care. 

‘‘This was sheer negligence and an ethical failure to consider the risk,’’ says 

George C. Denniston, MD, MPH, President of Doctors Opposing Circumcision, a 

physicians’ group based in Seattle, Washington, which assisted with the case. ‘‘Circumcision is unnecessary surgery, which the parents are never told holds a risk of 

death for their child.’’ 

Keefe bled to death during the night from his open circumcision wound in June, 

2008. Medical professionals say that the loss of only two and one-half ounces of 

blood can cause the death of even a large eight-pound infant. ‘‘That amount of blood, 

just a few drops per hour, was easily hidden in the super-absorbent disposable diaper baby Keefe was diapered with.’’ notes Denniston, ‘‘Parents are never told about 

that risk.’’ 

Doctors Opposing Circumcision has provided expert advice for numerous circumcision death cases. ‘‘Exsanguination, or bleeding to death, is hard to detect,’’ says 

Denniston, ‘‘since the child slips away quietly, and no one wants to disturb what 

appears to be a sleeping child.’’ 

Death from circumcision is relatively rare, although a recent study estimates that 

around 117 children in the United States die each year from circumcision. ‘‘These 

210 

are entirely avoidable deaths,’’ says Denniston, ‘‘caused by a pointless surgery that 

the child would never choose for himself.’’ 

Dear Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Panel, 

As I am writing this, I am hearing a story on my local radio about the life expectancy of Native Americans in MT being 20 years shorter than those of white Montanans. I am thinking about an announcement at community gathering in Browning 

last year where it was announced that over 50 percent of mothers are using some 

kind of drug during their pregnancy. Over the past several months, my husband, 

a teacher at the alternative high school in Browning has been learning about ACE 

scores and that his students are disproportionately affected by traumatic events in 

their lives that have the potential to irreversibly alter their ability to cope with 

school, work, and leave them more vulnerable to acute and chronic disease. Our Native communities are hurting in disproportionate ways for which we can not expect 

an underfunded and under-resourced Indian Health Service to take the complete 

fall. I do believe that IHS is doing what it can with the resources it has. One of 

the few things that we are very proud of at Blackfeet Community Hospital, is our 

Baby-friendly designation status to assist mothers and families to get breastfeeding 

off to successful start. We are one of two hospitals in the state of MT to achieve 

this. IHS is capable of great things. It is capable of being a leader in Native communities to make lives healthier for Native people, but it needs significant resources 

and reform. I left the IHS for many reasons, but one of the main reasons being lack 

of good leadership and support at my local level. I dearly admired and respected 

our local leadership team, but many of them were terribly overworked and often not 

provided with the type of training and support necessary to successfully do their job. 

I hope that tomorrow’s hearing is ripe with ideas and support for improving this 

system. I truly believe that it has immense potential, but needs the support of the 

congress and the American people to demand that it is no longer ignored or passed 

over. 

Senators Tester and Daines, thank you for being a part of this important committee and supporting Native lives and communities in Montana and across the 

country. 

KIRSTEN KRANE

I am writing in hopes that there will be a thorough investigation into the staffing 

practices of the Phoenix Area Office. It seems as though the service unit I work at 

in Yuma, Arizona has plenty of funds to over staff and hire Commission Officers 

at almost 3 times the rate it would cost to hire civilians, who are just as qualified. 

It’s disturbing to know that the disregard for the patients who suffer the highest 

rates of amputations from diabetes yet they are being denied necessary health care 

because of lack of funds. 

It doesn’t take a Harvard trained accountant to do the math in this case. Every 

time I see a new Officer hired, I immediately think, ‘‘And we can’t afford health care 

for the tribal peoples but we can afford to over staff and hire expensive Corp Officers.’’ We have an over abundance of Nurses and Pharmacists who are also Commission Corp. The Acting Clinical Director is a Nurse Practitioner. We have been without a CEO: for almost a year now and a Clinical Director a year. This concerns me 

because the longer those positions are left vacant the longer it will take to fill them. 

I need to mention that, a retired Corp Officer, Dr. Robert Harry, is kept on contract by the Phoenix Area Office to oversee troubled service units. Dr. Harry is often 

referred to as the ‘‘Cut Man.’’ I was told he is used like a ‘‘Neighborhood Bully’’ to 

hone in on Native Americans, female staff members to create a ‘‘Hostile/Oppressive 

work place.’’ I have to say he is good at it. 

I have heard him say he is in his 80’s and that made me realize that’s why he 

repeats himself several times, forgets what he told you to do and makes management decisions based on gossip and hear say. I question the validity of his position 

as ‘‘Acting CEO’’ when he is on contract. He says he has authority to make decisions 

on staff matters. I know Dr. Harry is very partial to hiring Commission Corp officers but wont allow essential medications and referral services for the patients. 

I am the Public Health Educator and I have not been allowed to spend any of 

the funds that were sent to Yuma from Portland Area Office.The funds are not part 

of the Yuma Service Unit budget yet I have not been allowed to order so much as 

a pen in almost a year. I believe, Dr. Harry makes certain that my job is difficult 

to perform without any supplies to do so. I further conclude Dr. Harry is trying to 

make my job miserable in hopes I will resign! 

211 

You can contact me in my office. I am. an enrolled member of the Rockyboy Chippewa Cree Tribe of Montana and I am an Indian Health Service Scholarship Awardee. Thank you for any attention you can devote to the issues I have noted. 

The ‘‘Good Ole Boys Syndrome’’ seems to be very active in the Phoenix Area. 

Sincerely, 

SARAH SCHMASOW BS, MS 

The following narrative is, to the best of our recollection and records, representative of the problems our office has encountered in trying to receive payment for 

$9,271.00 in medical services provided in September, 2015 to a single patient: 

9/18/15: A patient was referred to Scott Eccarius, MD though the Rapid City Regional Hospital (RCRH) Emergency Department (ED). He received a call that Friday 

morning at 0650 to consult on the patient in the ED. He saw him and determined 

that he needed surgery to repair multiple lacerations involving the patient’s left eye 

and left upper and eyelid from multiple stabbings earlier that morning. Patient also 

had 20∂ non-life-threatening stab wounds elsewhere. 

Dr. Eccarius spoke with the patient’s father by phone that morning before surgery 

and received consent for treatment as the patient had significant injuries and ethanol intoxication precluding obtaining informed consent from the patient. 

Patient was prepped for surgery and underwent 4–5 hours of surgery to repair 

an extensive scleral laceration, full-thickness left upper lid laceration and full-thickness left lower lid laceration. 

Dr. Eccarius spoke to patient’s mother right after surgery and explained what we 

had done and the profound nature of her son’s injuries. 

Patient stayed at RCRH overnight and was discharged by Dr. Eccarius the next 

day (Saturday). 

9/21/15: The patient was, apparently, an enrolled member and eligible for IHS 

services. We called Sioux San IHS Hospital to determine if we could get a purchase 

order for the above services. Our office was told by Loydell at Sioux San that they 

would have to speak with the patient. Called the number we had for patient. We 

talked to a family member about the importance of getting patient to Sioux San to 

get the purchase order for care. 

9/24/15: Patient returned to the clinic for a post-operative check up. Dr. Eccarius 

recommended that the patient be seen by a retinal specialist to care for the left eye, 

as to avoid developing vision loss in the right eye (sympathetic ophthalmia). The 

window of time to eliminate/reduce the chance of that developing is roughly 14 days 

from the time of injury. The ‘clock was ticking’ and we had no success in reaching 

the patient. 

Patient was advised of the need for him to go to Sioux San to sign the necessary 

paperwork for the purchase order. He said he was going to try to get a ride. 

9/28/15: Patient was a no-show to the appointment with the retinal specialist. Patient was called by our office as well as the retinal specialist’s office to reschedule. 

He rescheduled for 10/05/15. Again, we stressed the importance of checking in with 

Sioux San so they could authorize a purchase order, as well as the importance of 

keeping his appointments. 

10/5/15: Patient was again a no-show for the retinal specialist’s consult. 

10/7/15: Dr. Eccarius sent a certified letter to the patient’s last known address detailing the missed appointments, the need for making these appointments, and the 

need for making contact with Sioux San. 

10/20/15: Received the certified letter back marked ‘‘attempted not known’’. 

Eccarius Eye Clinic billing staff called the motel where the patient had been residing and where the letter was sent. We were told that he, his mother, and his 

girlfriend (all of our next-of-kin contacts) had been kicked out of that residence due 

to non-payment issues. 

10/28/15: Patient’s account was turned over to an outside collection agency. 

10/30/15: Collection agency sent letter to patient. 

11/11/15: Collection agency called patient. 

11/13/15: Collection agency sent letter to patient. 

Mid-December: Dr. Eccarius contacted Sen. Thune’s office regarding the roadblocks encountered in dealing with the IHS system with respect to this case. 

Mid-December: Dr. Eccarius received a call from and spoke with a top-ranking 

IHS official in Aberdeen, SD. 

12/17/15: Dr. Eccarius called Sioux San hospital and talked to Rick Sorenson, 

CEO. He said that we were too late for claim filing deadlines, but that if we got 

a signature from the patient, we could appeal the denial for payment. Rick explained that if we had an address, they (Sioux San) would go as far as knocking 

212 

on his door to obtain a signature. Dr. Eccarius was also informed by Loydell at 

Sioux San that patient had non-paid IHS claims to providers dating back to 2014. 

She offered to ‘deny them’ and suggested that we could then send him to collections; 

she was informed that we already had. Dr. Eccarius left a voicemail message for 

the billing supervisor at Sioux San, Brenda, to call him back to discuss the case (she 

related that she never received the voicemail). 

12/21/15: Left message for billing specialist at Sioux San, Brenda, to call us back 

if they had heard from the patient. We left her the updated address that a family 

member of the patient had given us. We did not hear back from her until her 12/ 

31/15 call. 

12/22/15: Collection agency called patient. 

12/23/15: Called the collection agency and asked that they escalate this case. Gave 

them the updated phone number and address that the family member had given us. 

Collection agency attempted to call patient 3 times, and also sent a letter. 

12/28/15: Collection agency called patient. 

12/29/15: Collection agency called patient. 

12/30/15: Left message for billing specialist at Sioux San, Brenda, to call us back 

if they had heard from the patient. 

12/31/15: Brenda called back, and said they were still working to find a valid address for the patient. 

Late December, 2015: Numerous attempts were made to make phone contact patient’s girlfriend, mother, and father to locate the patient- all without success. 

1/7/16: Collection agency called patient. 

1/13/16: Collection agency called patient. 

1/15/16: Jeannie Hovland from Sen. Thune’s office called to update me on the situation. 

1/15/16: Collection agency called patient. 

1/18/16: Collection agency called patient. 

1/18/16: Eccarius Eye Clinic found out that the patient was currently in the Pennington County Jail. We immediately called Sioux San and spoke to the secretary 

in Mr. Sorenson’s office because they had previously said they would obtain patient’s 

signature if they could determine where he was. We were told by Sioux San that 

they never ‘‘go and get a signature from the patient’’. We left a message to speak 

directly to Rick, since he had extended the offer. 

1/19/16: Talked with Jeannie Hovland who facilitated a call-back from Sioux San. 

1/19/16: Mr. Sorenson called back to let our office know that, ‘‘someone from his 

security team would go to the jail, and get the necessary paperwork for the purchase 

order to be signed’’. 

1/20/16: Left message for Rick to call if he received necessary signature. Our office 

has not heard back from Rick or Brenda whether they were able to make contact 

with the patient or not. 

1/22/16: Spoke with Jeannie Hovland with Sen. Thune’s office. She had also spoken to Rick Sorenson and was advised that due to the delay in receiving the signature (not for a lack of effort on the part of the Eccarius Eye Clinic) an appeal would 

have to be made to the national IHS office. 

1/26/16: Called collection agency. The agent said they have not talked to patient. 

They have called several times, and made contact with patient’s girlfriend, but they 

have never been able to speak with the patient directly. They will attempt to call 

patient again today. 

Our local IHS system is not set up to address the problems of a very challenging 

population, in our experience. It relies heavily on patient responsibility and, in turn, 

places undue financial and collection burdens on its providers. Furthermore, there 

appears to be few incentives/penalties built into the current system for either the 

patient or the IHS system to pay providers. In fact, it seems to be just the opposite: 

uncompensated providers, who have already rendered care, are artificially shoring 

up IHS budgets. 

Dear Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: 

I am a member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma and have been a beneficiary 

of Indian Health Service (IHS) my entire life. My experience includes working in 

Indian Health for over three decades and I now serve my people as the Director of 

the Kickapoo Health Center. Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on 

the topic of addressing critical concerns on Indian health. 

While IHS has been, and continues to be, grossly underfunded, the care that I 

and my family have received as beneficiaries of IHS has been life-saving. I’m quite 

aware that services offered and the care provided could be improved—for any health 

system, not just IHS. The program’s that IHS has implemented to care for our peoVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00216 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
213 

ple, such as the patient-centered home medical model, IPC and the Special Diabetes 

Program for Indians (SDPI) is very successful and has made great strides in the 

overall system. As a matter of fact, the United States Renal Data System 2015 Annual Data Report (hhtp://www.usrds.org/adr.aspx) has published data related to 

the impact of IHS and the SDPI’s efforts in Indian Country. Both end-stage renal 

disease (ESRD) incidence and prevalence in American Indians have continued to decline. Even more notable, is that these improvement are surpassing all other U.S. 

racial groups. 

Seeing as my father had ESRD and his health suffered due to complications of 

diabetes, this news is quite refreshing. Please know that there are MANY positive 

outcomes in IHS. I know, first-hand, of the quality and passion that IHS has for 

our people. I am encouraged by the support Indian health and SDPI has from Representative Tom Cole. Hopefully others in Congress can follow his lead. 

Thank you, 

GLORIA ANICO, 

Kickapoo Elder Health Director, Kickapoo Tribal Health Center 

My name is Mr. Francis Archambeau, and I am the former Classification Officer 

for the Aberdeen & Bemidji Areas. I have been listening to the hearings regarding 

the great plains area. 

I hope that I am not out of line as I am a former IHS employee, but I feel I must 

speak up regarding the problems in the Aberdeen Area. 

I retired in February of 2007, but I was the Classification Officer from 1991 to 

September 2005. I retired about the same time as the former Area Director Don 

Lee. Other good managers have since retired. 

Since Mr. Lee and myself retired, I have heard some alarming stories regarding 

the position classification program and staffing program which are situated in the 

Personnel (HR) office. 

Classification: Management, including Charlene Red Thunder, former Area Director, Ms. Geri Fox (HR), Ms. Alice Lafontaine (HR) and other high level management 

began to abuse the position classification function. Super grades were ordered by 

Ms. Fox, and Ms. Lafontaine in collaboration with Ms. Red Thunder to reward 

friends and relatives. 

These high grades are paid for by our tax dollars. Dollars that could be directed 

to patient care. The Area Office has too many deputies, full assistants and glorified 

secretary positions that were created to reward these friends and relatives. 

Solutions: The Human Resources Division including staffing and classification 

should receive intense oversight by an outside entity to ensure integrity of these 

programs. 

Staffing: It has been rumored that due to the same ‘‘rewarding of friends or relatives’’ that the IHS merit promotion plan is not being followed, and that some employees/persons may not even be eligible for positions, but were placed on selection 

certificates. My most recent memory of the staffing function in Aberdeen is that 

they create a merit promotion file when filling positions, but that file is shredded 

after one year. Should anyone wish to contest the filling of a position, there would 

be no record of that process. 

Solutions: Again, an outside entity should oversee this process to ensure fairness 

as described in the merit promotion plan. Merit promotion files should be required 

to be maintained for up to six years. 

Other abuses in the HR office and in conjunction with management direction are 

cash awards. Supervisors and managers are receiving awards, but not the worker 

who accomplishes the work. Ron Cornelius received a very large cash award recently, but nobody seems to know what it was for. 

Customer service to IHS employees from the HR office is practically non-existent. 

Final Statement: Each administrative program should be thoroughly reviewed 

and corrective action plans be implemented. Performance of all managers at the Division level and above should be reviewed, corrected or the managers should be reassigned or retired. We used to review administrative programs annually, but I am 

not sure if this is done now. 

Employees are afraid to speak up. Managers have ordered staff not to say anything if they are questioned by investigators. 

The personnel office is only a part of the problem. There are other organizations 

in the Area Office that are a problem. However, I believe the problem begins at the 

top. As service unit personnel hear about what is going on in the Area Office, there 

is a negative effect. 

Thanks 

214 

It is unfortunate that many of our tribal members have died due to lack of proper 

care and treatment. This is long overdue and has been a topic of controversy for 

many years—it just did not start five years ago. We all know that IHS provides substandard care to tribal members. The IHS facilities have rotating doors for their employees and do not promote continuity in quality health care. 

There have been many occurrences that tribal members health care was not a 

high priority to IHS. The IHS Staff are the priority. It’s obvious—look at our facilities—cheap not adequate to serve the population. 

The federal government has a TRUST REPSONSIBILITY to provide health care 

to tribal members, however that has been the unaddressed issue for many years. 

There was mention of SELF–DETERMINATION on the part of the Tribes in the 

Great Plains, unfortunately tribal leaders do not have the business savvy to operate 

this type of operation especially because of the consistent under-funded specifically 

for our health care in general. IHS should downsize and reorganize to decease the 

administrative overhead throughout the organization. 

BONITA MORIN, MSW 

Community Research Liaison, Cankdeska Cikana Community College 

My testimony of incidences of medical malpractice at IHS: 

I was given an IUD and hormones at the same time causing unceasing bleeding 

had to go to the ER in Florida. 

I broke my foot went to the er no exray tech sent home no treatment. Went back 

to IHS it was already mending no referral to fix it. Had to rebreak it myself to get 

it set could not walk on it or get it into a shoe. No referral out. Emergency room 

has long waits and they forget about you a lot of the time. I also had a hysterectomy 

through IHS and am now having bladder issues. Referral denied because its not life 

or limb . I need a referral to a Urologist. Picked up meds for a diabetic no needles 

included. Got a prescription for a sever eat infection took 4 days to get the meds 

in then they mysteriously found them. All this is incompetence and mismanagement. Considering getting and attorney. It would be a great service to our people 

if these things no longer occurred. Thank you. 

To you, my very best wishes. 

Sincerely, 

CONNIE CORWITT

I am forwarding this information as my testimony to how management conducts 

business at Fort Yuma Service Unit. The Acting CEO, Dr. Harry is a crony of Phoenix Area Office. He is a long time retired Commissioned Corp Officer and Dentist. 

I have been told he is in his 80’s. I have seen him going through garbage cans in 

the clinic and staff break rooms. He asks the same questions, or re-tell stories he 

already mentioned. It has been my experience with the Indian Health Service that 

Corp Officers are hired without competition. They are rehired back after retirement 

without competition to work as a civilian( cronyism?) or Contractor. The Federal 

Policy for retirement is 70 years old unless there is some kind of special permission 

granted to work beyond the retirement age requirement. 

It is a fact that Corp Officers are very expensive to employ when there are civilians available who cost about half the amount. This practice of unnecessary hiring 

Corp Officers consumes a huge amount of resources that could be better spent on 

direct patient care. 

SARAH SCHMASOW

Yuma, AZ. 

Dr. Russell, 

Chief Medical Officer, 

Phoenix Area Indian Health Service, 

Phoenix, Arizona. 

Dear Dr. Russell, 

I would like to report the ongoing issues at Fort Yuma Service that I believe are 

a result of some preconceived notions and hear say about my job duties/performance. 

The action taken against me has created a ‘‘hostile work environment.’’ I have had 

to endure the shadow cast over me that I believe was created by Ms. Amy Hamlet, 

Helen Safford, Shannon, Beyale, Commission Corp Officer, and Robert Harry Acting 

CEO, Fort Yuma. 

The first incident is when I was at a Health Educators meeting at Phoenix Area 

Office in June 2015. Ms Shannon, Beyale was rude, disrespectful and appeared agiVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00218 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
215 

tated when I would participate in the discussions. She would not allow me to do 

my presentation of my activities at Fort Yuma. The other three Health Educators 

were allowed to take up almost the entire time for their presentations. I was left 

with maybe 5 minutes. When I started my presentation, Ms. Beyale cut me off 

abruptly saying Dr. Mac Intyre was scheduled to do a presentation on ‘‘Historical 

Trauma’’. Ms. Beyale said I would be allowed to finish my presentation later and 

that never happened. Ms. Beyale appeared hostile and disgusted when I talked 

about historical trauma and utilizing Native American approaches to healing. 

I was purposely ignored during the entire meeting and the other 3 health educators participated fully in the discussions. I was excluded from the free time activities too with the group. 

When I returned to Yuma, I was told that someone from Area Office called and 

said I wasn’t prepared for my presentation and I had left early one day. I explained, 

to my Supervisor, Cynthia, Long that I had a unexpected medical issue and had to 

take my granddaughter to her medical appointment. I took sick leave for the 90 

minutes I left the meeting. 

I am not quite sure how Ms. Amerita ,Hamlet, Corp Officer became aware of the 

situation but after ,my supervisor told me Ms. Helen, Safford had shared this information with Ms. Hamlet. Ms. Hamlet told me that she was not sure how Ms, 

Safford got the information and that someone from Area Office was hating on me.’’ 

The only person who I deduced might be responsible was Ms Beyale. I didn’t report 

Ms, Beyale because I was concerned she might retaliate if I reported her disrespectful and hostile behavior towards me. I let this go but now I am experiencing the 

racist and discriminatory treatment by Ms. Beyale and Robert Harry. 

I have always been respectful to Ms. Beyale. She is 20 plus years my junior. I 

am also aware the Commission Corp Officers are held to a very high standard of 

conduct which in my case Ms. Beyale doesn’t apply when she interacts with me. 

I am now faced with the recent encounter with Ms. Beyale during a site visit to 

Fort Yuma Service Unit. It was my understanding, Ms. Beyale’s role is to act as 

a Consultant and Advisor to help me with the Health Education Program. That 

didn’t happen because Ms. Beyale appeared to have a hidden agenda that I later 

realized after her outburst of shouting at me while we were alone. She told me in 

a very hostile loud voice of disgust, she was tired of hearing about the Beading 

Therapy and my mentions of Historical Trauma! My approach to Health Education 

is culture based which is reflected in the Mission Statement of the Indian Health 

Service to provide Culturally Sensitive Care. 

Ms. Beyale’s response was perplexing to me because when the AAAHC came to 

do the site visit this past September 2015, my Health Education Approach got the 

highest praise! My approach is from Native American Traditional thought and practice. 

For some reason Ms. Beyale is downright hateful that I utilize Bead Work as a 

means and antidote to address stress and substance abuse issues. My Beading Therapy class was stopped by the Acting CEO, Mr. Harry for some mysterious reason 

without explanation. 

Ms. Beyale email to Robert Harry, Acting CEO, stated I wasn’t responding to her 

request for a date to do a site visit. I explained and apologized for the delay but 

it takes time to make all the arrangements to visit with all the programs I work 

with in the two tribal communities I work with. 

I proposed that we could meet in February because I had a commitment to train 

the Cocopah ADAP Staff and the January date her and Mr. Harry agreed on wasn’t 

going to work. I believe Ms. Beyale’s motives for emailing Mr. Harry was intended 

to damage me by creating a hostile work environment and suspicion of my activities. 

Ms. Beyale waited about 8 days before she would respond to the alternative date. 

When she did email me back she cc’s my Supervisor and Mr. Harry. If Ms. Beyale 

would allow me to communicate with the chain of command on my own, would be 

a more respectful approach. When she cc’s other in her emails to me can be misleading and can be concluded that I am being dishonest with my supervisor and Acting CEO. This results in creating a Hostile Work environment for me. 

Ms Beyale went into Mr. Harry’s office and closed the door and came out after 

several minutes to join the meeting I was in. Before Ms. Beyale verbally attacked 

me, she was invited to sit in on the Sexual Assault Team meeting I had to attend 

before leaving on the planned tour. 

After about 15 minutes into the meeting Ms. Beyale had a disinterested demeanor, pulls a bag of carrots out of her back pack and starts eating. We all know 

how loud it is to chew raw carrots. I chose to ignore her loud chewing and participated in the meeting. We are not allowed to eat in the workplace when it’s not a 

lunch or rest break. 

216 

When I was ready to take Ms. Beyale on the tour of the programs I work with 

she indicated she didn’t want to in spite of her email demanding a detailed agenda, 

prior to her arrival. I sent her a detailed agenda of the afternoon activities and cc 

it to Mr. Harry and Cynthia Long. 

Again, I was not allowed the full benefit of a program presentation! She did not 

want to hear about the abrupt directive by Mr. Harry gave me to not conduct any 

Beading Therapy anywhere on Indian Health Service Property. When I tried to tell 

Ms. Beyale about the issues preventing me from doing a good job, i.e. not allowed 

ordering supplies for almost a year and unanswered questions and lack of supervision she was not interested. 

All funds for health education was given to Yuma from Phoenix Area Office and 

now Portland Area. Ms. Beyale warned me, ‘‘you won’t be able to spend these funds 

before they take them back because of the fiscal year ending and the approving officials were too backed up.’’ I replied, then what good is it to send the money if I 

can’ spend it down? I ultimately, wrote up a plan to have a series of professional 

speakers come to train the staff and community on Diabetes. This plan was never 

acted upon so at the least minute, I came up with a plan to spend down the funds 

rather than send it back. I requested that all staff be allowed to attend the Annual 

Diabetes Conference in San Diego. This effort was approved. I need to mention, Ms. 

Safford was the Acting CEO during this timeframe and she is also Ms. Beyale’s direct supervisor. 

Ms. Beyale, I believe, was aware or should have been, I had no budget for Health 

Education in 2015 or 2916. This lack of funds has negatively impacted Health Education. Mr. Joe Law from Portland Area did however send me $10,000 for 2016 but 

I am not allowed to spend those funds either. Dr. Berkley made a statement long 

ago that I never forgot, ‘‘If you have no budget, you have no mission.’’ Given that 

realization you can imagine how I have managed to do my job. 

Further, my supervisor suggested since Mr. Harry would not allow me the 

preapproved comp time to conduct the staff stress management program. Ms. Long 

suggested I come in later. 

However, when I followed Ms., Long’s directive, Mr. Harry came to the room 

where we meet and pretended to be looking through a box of chocolates on the table. 

He asked me what I was doing. I replied that my Beading Class meets on Wednesdays 5–7 pm. He said, ‘‘Did your supervisor tell you I won’t approve comp time?’’ 

‘‘I responded, she said to just come in later and I did.’’ The next day Ms. Long came 

to tell me Mr. Harry directed her to tell me that I had to request 2 hours of my 

annual leave to cover coming in 2 hours late. I did as directed until I could file a 

grievance or EEOC complaint. 

While I met alone, behind closed doors, with Ms. Beyale, she was across the desk 

from me glaring at me. I asked her, ‘‘Why she looked so angry at me?’’ She was 

shaking, teeth clenched when she responded, ‘‘I am so tired of hearing about the 

beadwork and historical trauma!’’ She went on to say the other Health Educators 

didn’t want to hear about it either from me. So, why is it ok for a Non-Indian (Dr. 

MacIntyre retired Corp Officer/friend of Ms. Beyale) to talk about it and not me? 

She responded, that’s all you talk about.’’ I replied, because this is at the root of 

most of the health issues Native Americans have. 

The Beading Therapy has a successful track record in attracting participants! 

Ms. Beyale’s behavior toward me was hostile and I requested that it might be better to have someone else come to work with me since she can’t keep her personal 

feelings against me out the work we needed to get done. 

I asked, Ms. Beyale who her supervisor is but she would not tell me. I did find 

out that Ms. Safford is. I asked Ms. Beyale to wait until my supervisor joined us 

but with a look of disgust, grabbed her back pack, abruptly walked across the room 

to Mr. Harrys’ office and sat down smiling sarcastically at me. 

I told Mr. Harry he needs to get someone else more impartial to oversee Health 

Education because Ms. Beyale can’t be civil to me. 

I was so upset afterwards, I had a Nurse check my blood pressure, seen a provider 

and went home on sick leave. I am at home now still feeling the effects of the horrible treatment. Ms. Beyale’s behavior is outrageous, unprofessional, abusive, and 

uncalled for! 

After realizing all the connections between Mr. Harry, Ms. Safford, Amy Hamlet 

and Ms. Beyale, I noticed how my position was being undermined and sabotaged! 

This conduct, I believe constitutes discrimination, retaliation and cronyism. 

There are Federal Laws that protect the employees from this type of treatment. 

I believe, Ms. Hamlet is aware I wrote a formal complaint against her and I spoke 

personally with Dr. Russell regarding her conduct. 

217 

I have given Ms. Beyale every opportunity to be fair with me but apparently she 

can’t. I suggest that Mr. Joe Law, Acting Health Education Director help me with 

the Health Education program. 

Lastly, just as a mention, the Beading Therapy is in the process of being accepted 

as a best practice for Native Americans. When I mentioned to Ms. Beyale about this 

she was clearly disinterested and dismissive. 

I have to also point out, that almost simultaneously, there was a hearing going 

on in DC with the Indian Health Service Officials and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. There was extensive testimony on Historical Trauma by Indian Health 

Service officials and Cronyism. 

So, I really am at a loss, why Ms. Beyale is so hateful to me when I mention it. 

Her conduct and influence she has with Mr. Harry has created a substantial 

amount of duress, stress and Hostile work environment for me. I am home today 

on sick leave because I was so shocked and upset how Ms. Beyale treated me. 

Furthermore, the series of events have the appearance of Discrimination against 

Native American Culture and retaliation. 

I am requesting a full investigation into this matter and that I am offered immediate relief i.e. Administrative Leave from work until this matter is addressed. 

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs—Thank you for taking time from your busy 

schedule to conduct hearings on the Indian Health Services. We are in Albuquerque, 

NM 87114. Attached are writings done on discrepancies existing within the Indian 

Health Service Areas. All us Indian people hear is, we cannot do this due to budgetary shortfall. This statement is not true as Congress and the Presidents budget 

always include increase in the budget. If we can help further, please call on us. 

Frank and Corie Moran Adakai. Thank you so much for reading the following. 

January 31, 2016 

Director, 

Headquarters Office Indian Health Services. 

This letter is to address a very serious existing situation and affecting patients 

in a very harmful manner. The continued practice of IHS physicians, without hesitation, of prescribing Narcotics based Prescription Drugs to ease the pain or ailment, has to come to a stop immediately. This practice is just a short term fix. It 

is a known fact that as soon as the prescription drug wears off, the pain still being 

there, the individual resorts to popping some more Narcotic based drugs to ease the 

pain. In the meantime, individuals on pain medication becomes addicted and absolutely cannot live without it. The Indian Health Services (IHS) physicians should 

establish other alternatives such as consulting with a Pain Management Specialist 

to pin point the real cause of the pain. Once this is done, proper treatment can be 

identified. Within the past week, the Congressional officials sent out communication 

to their constituents advising them to sign a petition. Some pharmaceutical companies are buying up existing drugs, often times cheap generic ones, and hiking up 

their prices by large amounts to increase profit margins. In one of the worst cases, 

a pharmaceutical CEO bought a drug that retailed for $13.50 per tablet and raised 

it to $750 almost overnight. 

These increasing prices come with repercussions for New Mexico’s most vulnerable. It was reported that 540 drugs covered by Medicare Part D increased at least 

25 percent in cost-per-tablet in a year. 

In our state, where 255,414 seniors are enrolled in Medicare Part D, you can 

imagine the financial toll these price hikes take. If this so, is IHS ready to pay the 

increased amount? 

The issue at hand is the prescription of Narcotic based drugs being prescribed by 

the Indian Health physicians to patients. Every day you see individuals walking out 

of the IHS Pharmacy with two or three bags of prescription drugs. Most of the prescription is Narcotic based drugs. We all know this is a short term fix. The real 

cause of the pain or ailment is completely overlooked. In our immediate family we 

have actually experienced the tragic aftermath of Narcotic based drugs for pain prescribed for over thirty years, by the Indian Health Services physician. Our immediate family was very concerned over this long period of time, until in August of 

2015, we did something about this. The IHS physicians in Belcourt, North Dakota 

were excellent in quickly acknowledging the problem, and doing something about it. 

During the treatment of our family member, they terminated the constant use of 

Narcotic based prescription drug. During the process, our family member went 

through the immediate after effect of withdrawal. It was not a very nice sight to 

see. The physicians started working with our family member towards further identiVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00221 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
218 

fying what was actually causing the pain. Presently, our family member is under 

the care of Pain Management Specialist. 

Therefore, again, we are officially and respectfully asking Indian Health Services 

seriously consider reverting to working with Pain Management Specialist, and not 

continue to prescribe Narcotic Based Prescription Drugs. 

November 1, 2015—Document Number: 161–QASU–126—Chart: 48470 AIH 

Pursuant to 42 CFR 136.25, this appeal is being filed. 

On October 20, 2015 we received a letter signed by CDR John Rael. The letter 

received outlined the following; Contract Health Services request for services on October 19, 2015. Request received October 8, 2015 and was for NM ORTHO ASSOC 

& NM SPINE. 

Request had been received to authorize payment for Medical Services. Careful review of Contract Rules and Regulations was supposedly done and decision made 

that ALBUQUERQUE INDIAN HEALTH CTR will not authorize payment for the 

following reasons: 

Lives outside Local CHS Area. Not eligible for Contract Health Services (CHS) because you do not live on the reservation and do not maintain close economic and 

social ties with the local tribe(s) for which the reservation was established. Close 

ties include marriage, employment or tribal certification (per 42 Code of Federal 

Regulations 36.23 (1986). 

Reference was also made IHS records show that we have health care coverage/ 

resources (such as private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid available to pay for this 

medical care. (see 42 Code of Federal Regulations 36.61c (1990). 

The letter further stated: Any unpaid balances should be promptly submitted to 

the Indian Health Service Contract health Service Office for review. 

It also states: If you have received a denial letter, but your alternate resources 

have not yet been billed or paid, you are not necessarily being denied authorization 

for PRC payment. The IHS is coordinating your benefits and waiting to receive notification of the remaining approved medical costs. 

We do take exceptions to this denial letter for the following reasons: 

1. Discrimination—We are solely being discriminated against by the very entity 

directed to provide health services to all Indian people. We feel strongly the Treaty 

signed between Indian people and United States clearly states that the Treaty will 

provide health services along with other services. No where in the Treaty does it 

state that certain class of individual Indian people will be denied payment for 

health services. 

2. There are over five hundred Indian Tribes within the United States who receive 

benefits from the U.S. Federal Government through federal appropriation. 

Just like any other programs and organizations, Indian Health Services uses the 

most recent census of population as justification to seek federal dollars. We, even 

though we reside within an Urban setting, are counted and our numbers are used 

as justification. 

3. Many of us decided to leave the Reservation to seek better educational and employment opportunities. Many of us are retired from what employment we were involved with. Many of us have used what we learned from the white people. 

They use to tell us, ‘‘SAVE FOR A RAINY DAY’’. Many of us used that principle 

statement and that is how we were able to save our money, invest, and bought 

homes and land in an urban setting. We just did not stand in line waiting for a 

free hand-out. Many of us thought about our family and procured Insurance and 

Health Benefits. But still yet we are ostracized. 

4. The following statements contained in the letter are erroneous: do not maintain 

close economic and social ties with the local tribe(s) for which the reservation was 

established. Close ties include marriage, employment or tribal certification. 

We have maintained and still are maintaining close economic and social ties with 

the local tribe(s). This is done for many years through the facilitation and consultant work we do and have done with the local tribes, Navajo to the west and the 

Pueblos up and down the Rio Grande. The patient, Corie Moran Adakai is married 

to a Navajo and has been and going on 53 years. Corie Moran Adakai is an enrolled 

member of the Ojibwa Tribe of Turtle Mountain Agency and does have an enrollment number. This should satisfy employment and tribal certification questions. 

5. The letter contains references to the Code of Federal Regulation. The regulations cited are not law per se. It is only regulations and can always be changed as 

needed. Times are changing and there is constant progress. 

If references are made to citations within the CFR, then a copy of the applicable 

CFR should accompany the letter. In this way, a review can be made by the person 

who the denial letter was sent to. Of course, not everyone understands terminologies 

used in the CFR. 

219 

6. The following statement also contains errors and is totally misconception: IHS 

records show that we have health care coverage/resources (such as private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid available to pay for this medical care. 

We do have private health coverage and Medicare. We are not eligible for Medicaid, therefore, we do not have coverage under this provision. The medical records 

should be revised to reflect this. 

7. The denial letter is very confusing and the writer is talking from both sides 

of the mouth. The letter stated: Any unpaid balances should be promptly submitted 

to the Indian Health Service Contract health Service Office for review. 

If you have received a denial letter, but your alternate resources have not yet 

been billed or paid, you are not necessarily being denied authorization for PRC payment. The IHS is coordinating your benefits and waiting to receive notification of 

the remaining approved medical costs. 

Our question is: Is the payment going to be made by IHS or not? I know this is 

a form letter and it should be reviewed and updated reflecting changes to our concerns and questions. 

Sincerely, 

CORIE MORAN ADAKAI

I’m 63 years old and an elder of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in Eagle Butte, 

SD. Forty one years of public services work and still working. My concern is the 

competency of the Indian Health Services management people particularly a CEO 

at Eagle Butte. An individual with NO medical background nor employment in the 

health or medical fields. No college degree? I’ve known this CEO when he was a 

rookie in law enforcement back in the late 1980’s and I think he’s served a few positions of work in the criminal justice system including Chief of Police for the local 

Tribe and possible management positions in the BIA system. Up upon a couple of 

years ago or so I was informed that he was the current CEO of the local Indian 

Health hospital. I just about fell out of my chair when I heard this. 

I was visiting with a professional friend of mine who’s husband recently retired 

from the criminal justice field after forty years or so who had management experiences in that particular field. I asked her how she would feel if her husband went 

and applied for the CEO position in their local City’s big hospital. She said it would 

be a joke and that he would never qualify for that position and would not be stupid 

enough to think he would be eligible for that position in a different professional 

field. I then told her what happened at Eagle Butte with the Indian Health Services 

in hiring this new CEO. She was shocked and appalled and felt for our Native people as she heard so much negativity about the Indian Health Services management 

issues. 

For me and my personal medical issues getting services from this local hospital, 

I have absolutely NO confidence and comfort in the hospital’s management here at 

all. I personally know at least three people who had EEO grievances or complaints 

against its local management. Also the nepotism here at the hospital plus the hiring 

of people with no college degrees, professional experiences, etc. I personally know 

of one person highly qualified who was passed over to hire one of the management’s 

team members relative into that particular position. I AM ALL FOR REMOVING 

THE UPPER MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS HERE AND TO HIRE OUTSIDE 

HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO MANAGE OUR HOSPITAL. SOME HOW AND 

SOME WAY THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE. 

DARYL LEBEAU

Dear Senators, 

I am a physician/psychiatrist currently working in the Indian Health Service, and 

have been here for 31⁄2 years. 

The Indian Health Service is inefficient, bureaucratic, outdated, suffers from poor 

leadership, and low moral. 

Many of the problems with the Phoenix Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital 

are problems at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center/IHS hospital, and the IHS in 

general. 

My recommendation is for eligible Native Americans to be offered a choice of private health insurance plans, such as the Affordable Care Act provides, by which Native Americans and their families could obtain a health insurance plan that suits 

them, is more efficient, and could provide quicker service of their health care needs. 

The current system of the IHS providing clinics, hospitals would be slowly phased 

out. This would provide a cost savings to the government and taxpayers. 

Sincerely, 

220 

DANIEL COULTER, M.D. 

Dear Senate Committee 

The IHS is disproportionately overburdened, serving such a high risk population 

in many remote and underprivileged areas, yet seriously underfunded. Sadly, the 

IHS does not receive due credit and consideration for the excellent work that they 

do. 

Between 2012 and 2014, all 13 of the IHS’ birthing facilities gained the WHO’s 

prestigious Baby-Friendly designation. Baby-Friendly is an international designation earned by over 20,000 hospitals worldwide, yet fewer than 10 percent of U.S. 

facilities are designated, compared to 100 percent of IHS facilities. BFHI promotes 

optimal, evidence-based care for mothers and infants, and each hospital is designated by Baby-Friendly USA, an external organization performing an onsite assessment. IHS had the U.S.’ first Baby-Friendly hospitals in Arizona, New Mexico, 

North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. Early promotion and support for 

breastfeeding, a major component of Baby-Friendly status, is critical in AI/AN populations where obesity and diabetes are high. As highlighted by the Lancet’s January 

2016 Global Series on Breastfeeding, human milk offers strong protection against 

these conditions, and breastfeeding could save 800,000 infant lives per year worldwide, if practiced at the same level it is practiced in IHS facilities. 

Please respect and honor this outstanding IHS achievement which took place 

under the medical leadership of Dr Susan Karol; an active, inspirational CMO for 

the Agency. 

Sincerely 

ANNE MEREWOOD PH.D MPH IBCLC, 

Consultant to the Indian Health Service Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Boston 

University School of Medicine Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences, 

BU School of Public Health 

I understand people are passed over for positions—but I also know Mr. Cornelius 

has been penalizing me professionally since he swept the embezzlement under the 

rug. 

Also—a woman in our department harassed me outside of the office and brought 

that to the workplace. She had children with the Personnel Officer at the time, Mr. 

David Azure who was friends with the Executive Officer, Tony Peterson and also 

friends with the Finance officer at the time, Mr. Edmigio Violanta. Ms. Picotte 

would harass me outside of work and then come here and use her position with 

these men to try to get me fired. 

Each time I applied for a position Mr. Cornelius brought this woman up and he 

put her on my resume every application thereafter. 

Twenty years later that woman has six kids with five different men and is no better life situation today than she was in 1994. 

My husband of 25 years and I bought a newly built home almost eleven years ago 

and have one gainfully employed son in graduate school and another on his third 

year of college. 

When I applied for the next position in my career ladder after working 1900 hours 

of overtime to reduce cash I was passed over and asked in my interview how my 

past relationship with Ms. Picotte would affect my ability to do my job. Ms. Allery 

then denied asking the question—and destroyed evidence? She had two pieces of 

paper with questions written on them and she was taking notes as I was answering 

them. 

Rather than go on and on—I will stop there—Never did Ms. Picotte and her harassment affect my ability to excel in my position. And if it did—why was I rated 

Exceptional for all those years? And given awards and QSIs for my performance. 

Ms. Allery was the Budget Officer for several years and prefaced every meeting 

with me and the Accounts Payable Supervisor and the Accounts Receivable Supervisor with ‘‘I don’t know what you do in your section but. . . .’’ Not to mention she 

was selecting for a position when she herself was retiring. 

Ms. Mary Godfrey did the same 2 years later. . .

I fear Retaliation. 

KATHLEEN BANKSTON

I am in full agreement with the delegation from I believe Rosebud in their testimonies regarding Robert McSwain’s inability to address critical reports attesting the 

critical needs and conditions of Indian Health Service Units not only in the Great 

221 

* Attachments have been retained in the Committee files. 

Plains Region, but across Indian Country and after seeing his person, he need to 

retire. He looks overly tired and appears very uninterested. Senator Byron Dorgan’s 

68-page Report of 2010 addressing the critical conditions of all the Great Plain’s Regional IHS was brought to the attention of McSwain in my letter addressing the 

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council’s requesting its current CEO, Jana Gipp be 

placed replacing Winona Stabler without competition. I provide much documentation on my opposition to this practice, however, never received a response. All to 

the Great Plains Regional’s Chairman’s Health Board without a response. There is 

no monitoring or follow up by those contracting officers or employees whose responsibility is to provide technical assistance. And Yes, there is reprisal to employees 

who dare to speak out about deficiencies witnessed. McSwain lied. Since a majority 

of the Tribal Councils across Indian Country are corrupt and visionless, there is a 

dire need to get down to the grassroots people for identification of crucial health 

needs. The overload of programs on our reservation are only to provide salaries for 

those occupying these programs who are usually family members, relatives or 

friends of the tribal council so unqualified for the programs they are servicing. This 

has been a pattern of practice for decades and will not be eliminated overnight. Now 

that federal funding cuts are being manifested tribal councils will be forced to view 

its defiiencies and its resources to meet its memberships’ medical needs and find 

out its resources are now limited. The health conditions of the poor are devastating 

and inhumane on our reservations, and this is a fact. The tribal councils are incompetent as well. Senator Thune needs to hear from the grassroots now either through 

hearings, phone, emails or regular postal mails. Some of our membership are threatened to sign up under the Affordable Health Care Act or its IRS refund will be withheld. This is ridiculous! The current employees of all IHS needs to be assessed with 

background checks for drugs and other unethical practices. * 

LENA TOLEDO

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs 

My name is Brandon Gypsy Wanna. I am employed by the Sisseton Wahpeton 

Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation. I work in our Community Health Education Program as the Wellness Coordinator. I know many people in the world go 

without health care because they can’t afford it; I am thankful to have the Indian 

Health Service. However, this doesn’t mean we should have inadequate care. 

Below I have listed what I feel should be known about the Woodrow Wilson 

Keeble Memorial Health Care Center. (IHS, Sisseton Service Unit) 

Patients are not informed about what laboratory tests are being ordered on them; 

especially the HIV screening tests. As part of my job, I organize screening events 

in the community. At these events several people have informed me they were already screened at IHS and they found out about it from Pharmacy when they were 

picking up medication refills. I wrote a formal complaint about this issue. I received 

a repsonse stating that all people are told exactly what tests are being ordered for 

them. However, months later, I am still getting reports from people that they aren’t 

told what lab tests are being ordered. 

Many Native employees are being ‘‘forced’’ out because supervisors and administrative staff create and/or foster a hostile work environment and harass the native 

employees. Native employees are scrutinized on attendance, leave, breaks, etc. 

Often, the supervisors are getting advice from the area office. 

Current native employees are afraid to speak up about wrongs they see. I know 

of at least 2 people that followed the process of filing a complaint on either their 

co-workers or supervisor. Both were fired. They filed wrongful termination and of 

couse won their cases, however, the conditions at the facility still have NOT 

changed. They are still working in a hostile environment. The supervisors of these 

employees were never reprimanded and one got promoted to the area office. 

Thank you for your time and allowing me to submit my letter. 

BRANDON GYPSY WANNA

First I want to share with the committee that I am a dedicated employee of the 

Great Plains IHS, a veteran of the US Army, Commissioned Officer of the South 

Dakota Veteran’s Commission, and a proud Lakota enrolled in the Cheyenne River 

Sioux Tribe. 

Ever since I could remember, our people encouraged us to leave the reservation, 

get an education and come back to help our Tribe. With that said, I did just that. 

I joined the US Army and served my country. I attended college and received my 

222 

* The information referred to has been retained in the Committee files. 

Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing and then went on 

to earn my Master of Management/HR Management. I started working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the Administrative Officer and then I moved into Indian 

Health Service as a Contract specialist. I then moved into another area of Office 

of Tribal Programs as a Health System Specialist. 

Before taking on the position in the Office of Tribal Programs, I was assured that 

if I enjoyed working with Tribes and helping them that this was the direction to 

take. I was told that this position was important as we would act as the liaison between the IHS and the Tribes. How awesome was that? I love working with our people, and I love the fact that I can make a difference. This of course has not been 

the case. Our office is supposed to support the Tribes in their efforts to 638. We 

receive proposals, resolutions, request for additional funding and in turn we are to 

provide assistance or respond with a declination. In my opinion, we have failed, miserably. I was given the task of responding to letters received that were over two 

years old! Some of those letters are still sitting with no signature. A family wrote 

a letter of complaint in regards to being declined for direct services. These letters 

are now going on three years old. The Area Director letter is yet to be mailed to 

the family. This is only one example. We have 90 days to respond to a proposal 

mailed in by the Tribe. Many times we miss the deadline and if the Tribe doesn’t 

follow up, it slips through the cracks. If not, we have to send out funding that may 

not fit the criteria because we are tardy in our response time. This happens over 

and over. Who audits the Area office? I do not see an audit of whether or not we 

are following the law. I cannot submit the letter as evidence do to privacy, but the 

committee sure can come and ask during their investigation. 

I have been in my current position for almost three years. My supervisor holds 

a high school diploma and my second line supervisor holds a GED. They have 

wrapped themselves up in a fictitious world of their own which includes their rules. 

Although they have years of ‘‘experience,’’ their experience has not impressed me. 

They take their time in responding to the Tribes’ needs, and they protect their jobs 

by not doing what they were hired to do. They were hired to support the Tribes and 

help the Tribes become self supporting. Instead of doing this, they stand in the way 

of progress. They avoid Tribal needs and give the Tribes the ‘‘run around.’’ I have 

sat and observed their unprofessional behavior. I have been told to add ‘‘fluff’’ to 

letters. These 1–2 page responses to Tribes only add confusion. Many Tribes just 

give up because the hassle becomes time consuming. 

Currently I have a sexual harassment, hostile work environment and retaliation 

claim against my supervisor Sandy Nelson and the former Area Director Ron 

Cornelius. I have attached my last pre-hearing report for EEOC No. 443–2015– 

00088X, Agency No. HHS–IHS–0290–2014 and the current retaliation documents 

that occurred in December 2015. * 

For almost two years I have sat here putting up with continued retaliation and 

a hostile work environment. I have two written, unjustified reprimands that sit in 

my personnel folder that will sit for a total of two years. I provided rebuttals on 

the reprimands but not once did I receive a response from Mr. Nelson. In all of my 

career, I have never received a written reprimand, in a matter of six months following my EEO formal complaint, I received two. I have continued to decline in my 

personnel evaluations. My supervisor has increased percentages to over 90 percent 

just in order for me to pass at an acceptable level. If I wasn’t passing with less than 

90 percent, how am I to perform over 90 percent. It is called setting me up for failure. The attached documents will give you a very small insight to the broken EEO 

process. Every day I come to work and an unhealthy environment. Why do I stay? 

I have a family to support and as I sit here tortured daily, I job search for a better 

place, a place where the stress level has to be a lot lower. I have been ‘‘black listed.’’ 

I have had interview after interview with no job offers. I had no problem with getting jobs in the past, after all, I do hold three college degrees, and I bring a wealth 

of experience any position. All I can assume is that my personnel file must contain 

something in regards to my recent EEO activity. For over two years, this haunts 

me and follows me. My supervising staff treat me like a receptionist. I write correspondence letters and forward emails mostly. I am happy that I am well versed 

in MS Outlook. Needless to say, I have been trying to find a way out of this position 

for a long time. I will continue to search daily for an opportunity and hope that one 

day a prospective employer will see the potential I hold. I am a hard worker and 

feel that I am dedicated. At one time, I was a loyal employee. I cannot say I am 

that now, not in Indian Health Service. Mr. Cornelius, former Area Director of the 

Great Plains, was an enabler and the HHS zero tolerance policy on retaliation and 

sexual harassment is just words. No meaning behind them as managers are not peVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00226 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
223 

nalized for their actions. Heather McClane once worked at the Great Plains Area. 

I heard that she recommended the removal of Richard Huff for HIPAA violations. 

Ron Cornelius retaliated against her and took job duties away and gave them to 

Rachel Atkins. Randy Jordan and his girlfriend were resolutioned out by the Winnebago/Omaha Tribe but were given jobs at the Area office. Randy Jordan is a GS– 

15 who reports to a GS–14. Teresa Poignee, his girlfriend failed to make the panel 

for a IT position. Scott Anderson, former IHS employee in charge of the IT department, refused to hire Teresa in the position. Richard Huff took away Scott’s hiring 

authority and took it upon himself to hire Teresa in a position she does not qualify 

for. Ron Cornelius retaliated against Mr. Anderson, instructed him to move from 

Sioux Falls to Aberdeen where he and his family resides. Mr. Anderson went on terminal leave and applied for retirement. His last day was his first day in the Aberdeen office. Only lower level staff are harassed, retaliated against or worse, fired 

for their actions. There are reasons why there are problems in the field. It begins 

with the behavior at the Area office and the unethical behavior of staff in administrative positions. 

I watched the Senate Hearing and couldn’t help but cry at the stories I have 

heard. My father passed recently but suffered years and years of being 

misdiagnosed at the Indian Health Service. I lived back on the reservation for a 

short time. I could have used the Indian Health Service instead of paying for insurance, but I did not. I paid for insurance as I was aware of the care that IHS provides. Going for an immunization or a common cold was the most I could trust the 

facility. My life and lives of my family are too important not put all my faith in 

IHS. 

I see that my problems are small in comparison to others who have lost loved ones 

in the Indian Health Service because of misdiagnosis or improper medical care at 

a facility. I shared my personal experiences to prove the issues are deeper than the 

Senate Committee knows. To solve these issues, the Senate Committee has to make 

change at the highest level of administration. Those like my supervisor who come 

to work when he feels like it, makes sexual comments at females, carries on with 

unprofessional behavior and doesn’t do his job. The Indian Health Service needs to 

be proactive in hiring educated individuals in positions of GS–9 or higher. IHS 

needs to stop hiring high school graduates in positions of power. The problems will 

not stop in the field because the decision made in the Area office are not on the 

same level of those in the private sector. A secretary in the Aberdeen IHS can be 

paid over $90k a year, and I am almost certain they have no education to back that 

salary up. People in the private sector with degrees don’t make that much money. 

I have seen time after time the jobs that have been created for area staff. Rhonda 

Webb, Special Assistant to the Area Director, holds such a position. She is a licensed cosmetologist yet she made the panel for a GS–14 making over $97k a year. 

I know plenty of hairdressers who don’t make a third of that. The job was created 

for her and many others who made the panel, who hold higher education degrees, 

were passed up. No interviews were conducted. Why? Because this job didn’t have 

an education requirement. Like many other GS–14s and higher, you just have to 

know the right people to move up in the IHS. These uneducated individuals never 

had to take an English writing class, MS Excel class, MS Word class, the list goes 

on, but yet, they hold a dream job with benefits and high paying salaries. I personally have taught my co-worker, who has been in the government for over 30 years, 

how to set up a reoccurring meeting request in MS Outlook. This is high school 101 

and she has no clue. Yet, she is in charge of working on audits with Tribes. She 

is a GS–12, step 10. 

I work in a department where I am not allowed to even talk to members of the 

Tribes without be scolded or verbally reprimanded. How can I provide services to 

the Tribes if I am not allowed to talk to the Tribes? I know many people from the 

Tribes. I grew up on a reservation and experienced the many hardships that people 

face today. Indian Health Service was my medical provider my entire life. Luckily 

for me, I didn’t have major health issues. Before we can fix problems at the local 

agencies, we need to clean up our Area office. Find out the real issues and find out 

how staff are treated. I have attached an example of a form of dictatorship in an 

email for the committee to review. Upon my arrival back into the office from leave, 

I received an email that was disturbing to me. I was also told that I am not allowed 

to ‘‘share’’ outside of the department. This email stated that we were not allowed 

to enter the Area Director’s office without an appointment. This was the new ‘‘Office 

of the Area Director Protocol.’’ It is apparent that the Area office lacks knowledge 

of the definition of transparency. The atmosphere in Indian Health service is scary 

and a part of me is scared to send this testimony, but I feel it is important. It is 

important that he committee understand the foundation that has been created. I 

have only worked in IHS going on four years and it has always been this way. Let’s 

224 

find a way to clean up administration first and clean out the bad apples. If you don’t 

get rid of the rotten apples, you will not see an improvement in any area of the 

Indian Health Service. 

Thank you for allowing me to send in my documents. I am positive I missed something but am open to discussing or answering questions. 

Pilamayaye! 

KELLA WITH HORN

To Whom It May Concern: 

In regards to the Re-examining the Substandard Quality of Indian Health Care 

in the Great Plains; I listened to all the sessions and felt compelled to remark on 

what had been discussed. 

I am an Alaskan Native, I am an enrolled (descendant) member of Calista Incorporated and Cook Inlet Regional Incorporated (CIRI) descendant who received exemplary care at the Alaska Native Medical Center as run by the Alaska Native Tribal 

Health Consortium (ANHTC). As someone who worked for IHS in the past and 

someone who has friends who work for IHS or who receive care through the IHS 

facilities other than the Alaska Native Medical Center, I can honestly say that if 

I needed care through IHS in any area other than ANMC, I would willingly go into 

debt before being seen at any of the facilities that are in the Lower 48. I place a 

high value on my life and I feel that IHS does not place that same value on my 

life in regards to my healthcare. 

Although I do know that the Great Plains Area needs quality physicians and 

nurses and needs to bring the hospitals out from under immediate jeopardy; did no 

one think to mention that some of the problems that have led to the issues at Great 

Plains Area starts with the lack of training that ALL staff do not receive? 

It takes months to become hired through the Indian Health Service. One applies 

for a position through USAJobs.gov or through the IHS website, then one must wait 

anywhere from two weeks to six weeks until the closing date of the position before 

one is notified if one has been referred to the deciding official. Another two to six 

weeks before one is notified that one has been approved for an interview. Why? Because a panel must be put together that includes at least three or more individuals 

who have the same or slightly higher (or lower) qualifications for the position advertised and that all individuals must have proven that they are either American Indian/Alaskan Native through the B.I.A. Approved Form 4432. 

Once one is interviewed, it takes another two to six weeks before one is contacted 

by a member of Human Resources that they have been chosen for the position. Once 

one accepts the position; an immediate barrage of paperwork is either emailed to 

them or faxed; or they must pick up and then fill out immediately and return immediately to the HR Department before one can report to their duty station. This paperwork is sent to the individual with little to no help from the HR Department. 

Once the paperwork is approved, one is told where to report and whom to report 

to. 

One shows up on their first day, eager to make a difference in the healthcare 

quality of the service unit or at the area headquarters and they are given little to 

no TRAINING. The eager individual is expected to ‘‘hit the ground running, do not 

ask questions and don’t make waves.’’ They are not given time to learn the systems 

that they are expected to use such as the Electronic Health Records (EHR). If they 

do receive training, it is very limited and in a rushed fashion, such as 30 minutes 

on the ‘‘ins and outs’’ of the EHR from the Clinical Applications Coordinator (CAC), 

they are not shown how to access the Indian Health Manual, nor given any desk 

manuals or reference manuals that pertain to their position. If they ask for a copy 

of their position description, they are told they don’t need a copy. They are expected 

to know everything they need to know about their position from the moment that 

they clock in. 

This applies to ALL STAFF to include the nurses and physicians; how are they 

to know the IHS EHR if they are not trained on how to use it? How are they to 

know that they must provide clinical documentation on every patient and that they 

must finish and correct any notes if they are not trained on the system? When they 

ask for help or information; they are informed that they should know how to do 

their jobs and just ‘‘deal with it.’’ 

Staff are treated with contempt, lack of respect and they have no one that they 

can turn to for help; how can we expect to help care for all American Indians/Alaskan Natives if they are not given the training that they need or how to report issues 

without fear of retaliation? Fear of retaliation is very common and not just limited 

to one area. What happens when contract doctors leave because their contracts 

ended, they get their pay, which they are not supposed to receive until all their 

225 

notes are completed. It leaves patient care and patient safety severely lacking, it 

leads to medical charts being incomplete which puts patients at risk. That is not 

acceptable; for anyone whether they are native or non-native. 

Please, before more money is spent on hiring doctors, physician assistants, nurses; 

and the accompanying support staff are hired; please ensure that the PROPER 

TRAINING has and is taking place. Lack of adequate training results in unprofessional standards of care. Training in customer care, proper documentation, policies and procedures should be standard when an individual is hired, no matter the 

position. Training is essential to ensure that all who receive care through Indian 

Health Services are given the best care in the nation. 

Thank you, 

226 

LAUREL AUSTIN


203h8.eps
227 

FACT: The GP Area Office has made it a common practice of recycling field operations staff from one ihs field site to another and sometimes these staff are discretely allowed to telework and or occupy unclassified duties at locations of their 

choice. 

Question. Why are these employees allowed to float from location to location without being held accountable for their lack of performance or leadership at their pay 

grade? 

FACT: The Billings, Bemidji and Great Plains areas combined their Human Resources departments and staff to improve the hiring process for all three locations. 

The GPA created a Administrative Security Division that was to expedite the background checking process to assist with improving the hiring process also. There are 

currently HR field staff that should be performing this work locally and all field supervisor’s are required to complete approximately 80 percent of the HR process as 

instructed by GPA HR staff. When the capital HR system goes down which is freVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00231 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK

203h9.eps
228 

1See, for example, Comparison of Prices for Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Pumps, OEI– 

02–07–00660, March 2009; Power Wheelchairs in the Medicare Program: Supplier Acquisition 

Costs and Services, OEI–04–07–00400, August 2009; Medicare Home Oxygen Equipment: Cost 

and Servicing, OEI–09–04–00420, September 2006. 

quently, field staff are told the HR process is on hold until the system comes back 

on line. 

Question. What improvements in HR and ASD have been made? How long does 

it take to get a position advertised? How long does it take to complete a background 

check or verify credentials? Does IHS have a backup plan or process when the HR 

Capital system goes down in order to keep the HR process moving? Do we need 

these departments at the area level and or would the anticipated services be better 

suited at the field sites? 

FACT: The Great Plains Area has been informing field sites the GPA has a full 

time physician recruiter, whom is allowed to telework from their home. GPA staff 

have consistently pointed out that this recruiter has brought many new physicians 

on board within the GP Area. 

Question. Who are these new physicians and where have they been hired and 

placed? 

FACT: The Great Plains Administration is always informing on memo’s, email 

announcements, etc., the fact that they are a TRANSPARENT organization. 

Question. What is the GPA’s definition of transparency? Does the support staff in 

the area office feel they are afforded organizational transparency? Does the field 

sites fell they are afforded organizational transparency? How many official EEO, 

Union and Administrative Grievances has the GPA been investigated for in the last 

ten years? How many have been settled in favor of the IHS in the last ten years? 

How many were settled in favor of the complainant in the last ten years? How much 

money has been paid out by the GPA in the last ten years as a result of the out 

comes? 

MAIN Question. Mr. Cornelius, Do you feel the great plains area really needs a 

great plains area office if this is the type of leadership and guidance that you and 

your staff make available? 

SCOTT SORENSEN

RESPONSE TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY HON. JAMES LANKFORD TO

ANDY SLAVITT

Many small businesses that supply home medical equipment to their communities, a significant portion of which are seniors and thus Medicare beneficiaries, are 

struggling to continue doing business because of losing bids during Round 2 of the 

DMEPOS competitive bidding program. You may be aware that, of the bid winners, 

several of the ‘‘new’’ DME suppliers doing business in Oklahoma are from out-ofstate. Oklahoma is now being threatened with an access problem to quality, local 

suppliers with which communities are familiar. During my travels across our state, 

I am hearing that many of the small, family-owned businesses that have been able 

to keep their doors open despite losing out in the Round 2 bidding process are now 

the subject of an audit by either a Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) or a Zone Program Integrity Contractor (ZPIC). I am told that the combination of the losing bid 

followed by the daunting reality of audit compliance and reimbursement withholding is a knockout punch for those businesses who have managed to hold on 

post-bid loss. 

Question. What resources, programs, or funding opportunities are available for 

small businesses—specifically those in the durable medical equipment space -who 

failed to secure a winning bid under DMEPOS competitive bidding program, and are 

now the target of a CMS audit, either through a RAC or a ZPIC audit? 

Question. What can CMS do administratively to avoid putting DME businesses in 

this dangerous position? 

Answer. Medicare’s Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding program has been in effect since 2011 and is 

an essential tool to help Medicare set appropriate payment rates for DMEPOS 

items, save money for beneficiaries and taxpayers, and ensure access to quality 

items. Prior to the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program, Medicare paid for these 

DMEPOS items using a fee schedule that is generally based on historic supplier 

charges from the 1980s. Numerous studies from the Department of Health and 

Human Services’ Office of Inspector General 1 and the Government Accountability 

229 

2See, for example, Competitive Bidding for Medical Equipment and Supplies Could Reduce 

Program Payments, but Adequate Oversight Is Critical, GAO–08–767T, May 2008; Need to Overhaul Costly Payment System for Medical Equipment and Supplies, HEHS–98–102, May 1998. 

Office 2 have shown these fee schedule prices to be excessive, and taxpayers and 

Medicare beneficiaries bear the burden of these excessive payments. 

Under the program, DMEPOS suppliers compete to become Medicare contract 

suppliers by submitting bids to furnish certain items in competitive bidding areas 

(CBAs). After the first two years of Round 2 and the national mail-order programs 

(July 1, 2013–June 30, 2015), Medicare has saved approximately $3.6 billion while 

health monitoring data indicate that its implementation is going smoothly. There 

have been few inquiries or complaints and our real-time monitoring system has 

shown no negative impact on beneficiary health outcomes. 

CMS is required by law to recompete contracts under the DMEPOS Competitive 

Bidding Program at least once every three years. The Round 2 and national mailorder program contract periods expire on June 30, 2016. Round 2 Recompete and 

the national mail-order recompete contracts are scheduled to become effective on 

July 1, 2016, and will expire on December 31, 2018. 

During the implementation of this program, CMS adopted numerous strategies to 

ensure small suppliers have the opportunity to be considered for participation in the 

program. For example: 

• CMS worked in close collaboration with the Small Business Administration to 

develop a new, more appropriate definition of ‘‘small supplier’’ for this program. 

Under this definition, a small supplier is a supplier that generates gross revenues of $3.5 million or less in annual receipts including Medicare and non-Medicare revenue rather than the definition used by the Small Business Administration of 6.5 million. We believe that this $3.5 million standard is representative 

of small suppliers that provide DMEPOS to Medicare beneficiaries. 

• Further, recognizing that it may be difficult for small suppliers to furnish all 

the product categories under the program, suppliers are not required to submit 

bids for all product categories. The final regulation implementing the program 

allows small suppliers to join together in ‘‘networks’’ in order to meet the requirement to serve the entire competitive bidding area. 

• The program attempts to have at least 30 percent of contract suppliers be small 

suppliers. During bid evaluation, qualified suppliers that meet all program eligibility requirements and whose composite bids are less than or equal to the pivotal bid will be offered a contract to participate in the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program. If there are not enough small suppliers at or below 

the pivotal bid to meet the small supplier target, additional contracts are offered to qualified small suppliers. Contracts are offered until the 30 percent target is reached or there are no more qualified small suppliers for that product 

category in that competitive bidding area. 

• The financial standards and associated information collection that suppliers 

must adhere to as part of the bidding process were crafted in a way that considers small suppliers’ business practices and constraints. We have limited the 

number of financial documents that a supplier must submit so that the submission of this information will be less burdensome for all suppliers, including 

small suppliers. We believe we have balanced the needs of small suppliers and 

the needs of beneficiaries in requesting documents that will provide us with sufficient information to determine the financial soundness of a supplier. 

CMS continues to identify program integrity as a top priority and strives to be 

a good steward of taxpayer dollars. We believe the statutorily required Medicare 

Fee-for-Service Recovery Audit Program is a valuable tool to reduce improper payments. Ongoing enhancements to the Recovery Audit Program allow CMS to use Recovery Auditors effectively by identifying and correcting improper payments according to a risk-based strategy. At the same time, these enhancements will increase 

transparency, improve provider fairness, and lead to improved communication between providers and Recovery Auditors. For example, Recovery Auditors must wait 

30 days to allow for a discussion request before sending the claim to the MAC for 

adjustment. Providers can be assured that modifications to the improper payment 

determination will be made prior to the claim being sent for adjustment. Recovery 

Auditors also have 30 days to complete complex reviews and notify providers of their 

findings, which provides more immediate feedback to the provider on the outcome 

of their reviews. In addition, CMS instructed the Recovery Auditors to incrementally 

apply the additional documentation request limits to new providers under review to 

230 

3See Recent Updates to the Recovery Audit Program: https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/monitoring-programs/medicare-ffs-compliance-programs/recovery-auditprogram/recentlupdates.html 

ensure that a new provider is able to respond to the request timely and with current 

staffing levels. 3

The Recovery Audit Program uses techniques similar to commercial sector recovery auditing principles, such as using data analysis to identify improperly paid 

claims, requesting medical documentation to help identify possible improper payments, affording debtors a dispute or appeals process, and establishing recovery/collection processes. In addition, also similar to commercial sector recovery auditing, 

Recovery Auditors are paid on a contingency fee basis and must pay back contingency fees for review determinations that are overturned on appeal. 

CMS is continuously working to improve collaboration between review contractors 

to promote accurate and efficient reviews of Medicare claims while reducing provider burden and ensuring beneficiary access to needed services. We encourage providers to work with the Recovery Auditors or Zone Program Integrity Contractors 

during the course of any reviews. Letters sent to providers when overpayments are 

identified include information on the potential for an Extended Repayment Schedule. 

RESPONSE TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY HON. JOHN THUNE TO

ROBERT G. MCSWAIN

Question 1. What percentage of appropriated funds is used for administrative 

costs throughout the entire Indian Health Service (IHS)? 

Answer. The total Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 appropriation for IHS was $4.6 billion, 

of which $3 billion (65 percent) was allocated to Tribes for them to run their own 

health care operations and $1.6 billion (35 percent) remained at IHS for federally 

operated health programs. Of the $1.6 billion Federal allocation, $191 million or approximately 12 percent was spent on administrative type costs such as: program 

services, information management/technical support, patient accounts/business office, financial management, personnel management, and systems development. 

The $191 million relates to the administration of Federal programs IHS-wide only 

and therefore, does not include administrative costs incurred by Tribes or Contract 

Support Costs. IHS remains committed to good stewardship of Federal funds and 

to directing resources to activities, including essential administrative type activities, 

necessary for the provision of quality health care to American Indians and Alaska 

Natives. 

Question 1a. In the Great Plains Area? 

Answer. In FY 2015, the Great Plains Area’s appropriated budget authority was 

$382 million, of which $113 million (30 percent) was allocated to Tribes to run their 

own health care operations and the remaining $268 million (70 percent) was used 

for federally operated health care programs. Of the $268 million Federal Great 

Plains Area allocation, $29 million (11 percent) was spent on administrative type 

costs. These figures relate to the administration of Federal programs Area-wide only 

and do not include administrative costs incurred by Tribes or Contract Support 

Costs. IHS remains committed to good stewardship of Federal funds and to directing 

resources to activities, including essential administrative type activities, necessary 

for the provision of quality health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. 

Question 2. In response to the 2011 Program Integrity Coordinating Council recommendations, which was formed to follow up on the 2010 Senate Committee on 

Indian Affairs report ‘‘In Critical Condition: The Urgent Need to Reform the Indian 

Health Service’s Aberdeen Area,’’ the then Aberdeen Area IHS stated ‘‘Hospital 

CEOs are being held responsible for ensuring that Accreditation Specialist/QAPI Coordinators submit a Service Unit CMS Matrix to the Deputy Area Director-Field Operations by the 30th of each month outlining the level of compliance with CMS Conditions of Participation.’’ Please provide the committee with copies of any and all 

of the above mentioned reports on file at either the Great Plains Area office or with 

IHS headquarters. 

Answer. The agency would be happy to work with the staff separately on the document request. 

Question 3. How many IHS Equal Employee Opportunity (EEO) complaints are 

filed in the Great Plains Area? 

Answer. For FY 2015, there were 56 EEO complaints filed in connection with the 

Great Plains Area. 

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Question 3a. How does this number compare with the other IHS Areas? 

Answer. For FY 2015, there were a total of 79 EEO complaints filed in connection 

with the other IHS areas combined. 

Question 4. Additional, the 2010 Committee report indicated that IHS repeatedly 

used transfers, reassignments, details, or lengthy administrative leave to deal with 

employees who had a record of misconduct or poor performance. Since 2010, how 

many transfers, reassignments, details, or lengthy administrative leave have been 

used in the Great Plains Area? 

Answer. During FY 2010—FY 2015, the Great Plains Area processed 324 reassignments, 109 transfers, and 229 details. In addition, nine employees were 

placed on Administrative Leave. 

Question 4a. Of that amount, how many employees have had a record of misconduct or poor performance? 

Answer. Of the Great Plains Area employees identified above, seven have a record 

of misconduct or poor performance. 

Question 5. Great Plains Area IHS facilities have, and continue to be, cited for 

leaving prescription medications unlocked and in patient access areas. What has 

IHS done to ensure that the correct process for prescription medication storage is 

being followed? 

Answer. IHS is committed to ensuring proper controls over pharmaceuticals. IHS 

has developed new procedures related to controlled medications intended to improve 

control of pharmaceuticals. The new procedures include enhanced security during 

ordering, receipt, storage within the pharmacy, and storage outside of the pharmacy, as well as the requirement for security features such as automated dispensing 

machines, pharmacy locks, and video cameras. The processes also require IHS pharmacies to submit monthly reports on inventories of schedule II controlled substances, quarterly audits for schedule III–V controlled substances, and an annual 

physical audit on inventories of all schedule II–V controlled substances that must 

be conducted by a senior level pharmacist from outside the service unit. IHS reports 

to State Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) in 26 States and is working in collaboration with other States where there are issues with either privacy requirements, licensure requirements, or health management systems that IHS does 

not have access to. IHS will continue to work to identify new strategies to further 

improve its policies and procedures in this area. 

Question 5a. What changes can be made to ensure long-term compliance? 

Answer. See above. 

Question 6. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114–113), Congress 

appropriated $2 million to assist with accreditation issues at IHS facilities. Have 

these funds been allocated? If so, on what date were they allocated? 

Answer. Yes, funds were allotted to the Great Plains Area Office on March 8, 

2016. 

Question 6a. Additionally, please provide a spending plan for how these funds will 

be used. 

Answer. The spending plan for the $2 million included: $426,886 to Omaha-Winnebago; $910,313 to Pine Ridge; and $662,801 to Rosebud to purchase central monitoring systems for all three facilities and a laparoscopic tower at Rosebud. The 

laparoscopic/arthroscopic tower is installed and in use at Rosebud. The Rosebud central monitoring system has been purchased and will be installed in October 2016 

with a ‘‘go live’’ date scheduled for November 2016. For both the Omaha-Winnebago 

Hospital and the Pine Ridge Hospital the purchases are in the procurement process 

and it is expected that both will have purchase orders issued by the end of September 2016. 

Question 7. In 2013, then Acting Director of the IHS Yvette Roubideaux had indicated that a feasibility study was conducted that justified the Great Plains Area decision to relocate its information technology department from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Aberdeen, South Dakota. Please provide the committee with a copy of that 

study. 

Answer. A potential relocation of the information technology department from 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota to the Great Plains Area Office (GPA) in Aberdeen, South 

Dakota was contemplated by the GPA but, after conducting a reasonable search, we 

have not located any information regarding the existence of a formal plan/study to 

relocate the GPA Office of Information Technology (OIT) Department, including any 

evidence that such a study was conducted by OIT or submitted to Headquarters OIT 

for review. 

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Question 8. IHS facilities are now automatically designated as Health Professional 

Shortage Areas. What steps are HRSA and IHS taking to increase the number of 

eligible health professionals serving in IHS facilities? 

Answer. Having Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) Site Scores and an 

up-to-date National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Jobs Center site profile is essential to attracting NHSC scholarship and loan repayment participants. The IHS Office of Human Resources (OHR) and HRSA’s Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) 

Shortage Designation Branch and Division of Regional Operations are working together to identify IHS federal facilities needing HPSA Site Score or NHSC Jobs 

Center site profile updates. HRSA’s BHW prepared information and web presentations on the need for and how to update HPSA scores and NHSC Jobs Center site 

profiles. This information was widely distributed to IHS Federal facilities. IHS OHR 

also developed and distributed a fact sheet detailing how to update HPSA scores 

and NHSC Jobs Center site profiles. 

HRSA BHW also conducts 1,100 to 1,200 site visits annually to NHSC sites, including IHS and Tribal facilities. On these visits, HRSA staff meet with CEOs, recruiters and Human Resources staff; conduct oversite and compliance activities; 

meet with NHSC scholars and loan repayment recipients; and provide technical assistance to sites (e.g., assisting in updating NHSC Jobs Center site profiles). 

IHS and HRSA continue to promote IHS facilities as service sites for NHSC scholarship and loan repayment recipients. As of January 2016, there were 396 NHSC 

loan repayment and 22 NHSC scholarship participants at IHS and Tribal sites (including 20 in the Great Plains Area). 

IHS is also working with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to 

increase the number of applicants to the Commissioned Corps who begin their Corps 

careers with an assignment in the IHS. 

HRSA hosted a NHSC Facebook Chat titled ‘‘Finding Primary Care Jobs at HighNeed Locations’’ on February 3, 2016. IHS recruiters, including one from the Great 

Plains Area, participated in this live chat session. Another Virtual Job Fair is being 

planned with IHS and other American Indian Health Facilities, highlighting current 

job vacancies. 

Question 9. What strategies are the IHS and HRSA implementing to increase recruitment and retention of top quality health care providers? 

Answer. The need to recruit and retain highly qualified health care professionals 

to serve Indian communities is of critical importance to IHS and our Tribal and 

Urban Indian program partners. Collaboration with HRSA programs is a key to our 

success. IHS and HRSA work collaboratively to promote virtual events for both 

agencies. IHS facilities will participate in four NHSC Virtual Job Fairs in calendar 

year 2016. HRSA and IHS are working to promote the HRSA Nurse Corps. In February 2016, there were 13 Nurse Corps loan repayment participants and five Nurse 

Corps scholarship recipients working at IHS and Tribal facilities. IHS is also developing materials to promote the State Loan Repayment Program. 

The IHS has developed many materials to assist Clinical Directors, CEOs and 

others in recruitment and retention of health care providers. These materials are 

posted on the IHS Retention website at http://www.ihs.gov/retention/. HRSA also 

assists IHS with retention of NHSC and Nurse Corps providers. HRSA provides the 

contact information for providers and information on when the provider’s scholarship or loan repayment service commitment will be completed. This allows IHS 

managers and Area Office staff to follow-up with providers to work on retaining the 

provider at the current facility or at another IHS site. 

IHS is working to address these shortages using existing authorities for incentives 

to assist in the recruitment and retention of health professionals including: 

• Title 5 and Title 38 Special Salary Rates 

• Title 38 Physician and Dentist Pay (PDP) 

• The 3Rs (recruitment, retention, and relocation incentives) 

• Use of service credit to increase annual leave. 

Title 38 Special Salary Rates have allowed IHS facilities to offer pay that is closer 

to what health care providers would receive in the private sector. Title 38 PDP allows IHS to hire specialists, such as orthopedic surgeons, that would otherwise not 

consider IHS employment. 

Question 10. In addition to health care providers, there is also a need for top quality hospital administrators to properly manage and reduce bureaucracy at facilities 

in the Great Plains Area. What programs and resources are available to recruit the 

best hospital administrators to IHS facilities? 

Answer. Attracting and retaining highly qualified and effective Chief Executive 

Officers and other senior administrative leaders at IHS and Tribal facilities is esVerDate Mar 15 2010 09:00 Oct 03, 2016 Jkt 021662 PO 00000 Frm 00236 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\21662.TXT JACK
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sential to the success of Indian health care programs. Attracting these individuals 

to small hospitals and health centers in rural and remote locations is an ongoing 

challenge. IHS is able to offer incentives for these leadership positions including recruitment, relocation and retention incentives, service credit for annual leave, and 

setting pay above the minimum rate using the superior qualifications and special 

needs pay-setting authority. 

IHS has previously worked to promote from within for hospital administrator positions. Currently under review is the potential of developing additional career ladder opportunities as well as cross-training and more robust administrator developmental programs. The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps provides an additional resource for hospital administrators, on a limited scale. 

Question 10a. Do you need additional authorities to recruit hospital administrators or can existing authorities be used? 

Answer. The IHS Loan Repayment Program (LRP) is a valuable tool for recruiting 

and retaining healthcare professionals. The LRP currently requires participants to 

serve their obligated full-time clinical practice of such individual’s profession. Because health professionals appointed to purely administrative positions do not engage in full-time clinical practice, they cannot benefit from the current LRP. Additionally, the Internal Revenue Service has determined that IHS loan repayment/ 

scholarship awards are taxable, reducing their value. The President’s Budget contains two legislative proposals that address these problems. We look forward to 

working with this Committee and to answer any questions or provide any technical 

assistance you may need. 

Question 11. What steps has IHS taken to include Tribal Governmental participation in the governing boards of the IHS facilities in the Great Plains Area? 

Answer. IHS is committed to working in consultation with Tribes, including those 

in the Great Plains Area. It is the IHS policy that consultation with Indian tribes 

occurs to the extent practicable and permitted by law before any action is taken that 

will significantly affect such Indian tribes. This means that it is IHS’ expectation 

and the governing board’s obligation to engage affected tribes to ensure meaningful 

and timely input. 

It is important to note the IHS Director does not have the ability to delegate it’s 

authority to run IHS facilities to individuals (elected tribal officials and other health 

care experts) who would not be accountable to IHS, the agency responsible for running the hospitals. Without clear authority, we cannot ensure IHS hospitals will 

meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) accreditation. Moreover, governance board authority is extensive, and would include implementation of 

procedures for employee recruitment, hiring, supervision, and dismissal, and requiring hospital CEOs report to the board. Specifically, the inclusion of elected tribal 

officials and hospital administration experts outside the IHS system on governing 

boards raises legal concerns regarding inherently Federal functions, including the 

supervision of Federal employees by non-Federal employees, the sharing of confidential information, and conflicts of interest. In addition, at a time when several IHS 

hospitals need to be completely reorganized to maintain CMS accreditation, it is essential that authority over the operation of all hospitals remains clear and that IHS 

has the ability to affect change as needed. 

Question 12. What steps is the IHS taking to ensure that patients in the Great 

Plains Area understand the difference between a medical referral for which no Purchased/Referred Care authorization for payment is made, and referrals where payment has been authorized? 

Answer. To ensure that patients clearly understand the different types of referrals, IHS is developing outreach activities and training materials to ensure Purchased and Referred Care (PRC) patients and providers are aware of program requirements. Program materials will identify and explain the difference between 

medical referrals and PRC referrals authorized for payment. Staff will also incorporate this language into their daily use so patients and providers become accustomed to and recognize the difference in referrals. 

The Great Plains Area Office also developed a ‘‘Basic PRC Requirements’’ sheet 

that was sent to all PRC staff at the service units with the intent of offering patients an outline of basic eligibility requirements and includes the PRC contact information at the service unit. 

Question 13. GAO Report 14–57 recommended that the IHS separate reporting referrals from self-referrals and revise related to Government Performance Results 

Act reporting measures. What steps is IHS taking to implement that recommendation? 

Answer. IHS is working to implement GAO’s recommendation. As recommended 

by GAO–14–57 Report (Indian Health Service: Opportunities May Exist to Improve 

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the Contract Health Services Program), and with HHS concurrence in GAO–14–57 

Appendix 1, the Office of Resource Access and Partnerships is developing the following two measures that will begin baseline reporting in calendar year 2016. PRC– 

2 will track IHS PRC referrals made by IHS providers and PRC–3 will track PRC 

self-referrals where patients present to emergency rooms or urgent care facilities 

outside of IHS. 

The recommendation refers to timeliness for processing provider payments. The 

only self-referrals that will be tracked are those that are approved for PRC payment. No PRC payments are made for self-referrals that are denied. Self-referrals 

occur when patients visit a non-IHS facility for care without pre-authorization, so 

approved self-referrals will be tracked and denied self-referrals will not be tracked. 

Question 14. What steps is IHS taking to negotiate contracts to provide transportation/ambulance/air ambulance services in the Great Plains Area? 

Answer. IHS is committed to providing adequate access to these services in the 

Great Plains Area. The Great Plains Area Contracting Office has negotiated agreements at rates for 10 percent above the Medicaid rates for two contracts that are 

in place to service the Area. 

• The Eagle Air Med Corporation contract provides air transportation to the 

Great Plains Area IHS, utilized for the purchase of emergency air transport for 

medical necessitates throughout the GPA IHS service area. 

• Period of performance for Air Methods Corporation/Black Hills Life Flight is 

May 15, 2015 through May 15, 2016 with four one-year options—May 15, 2016 

through May 14, 2017, May 15, 2017 through May 14, 2018, May 15, 2018 

through May 14, 2019, May 15, 2019 through May 14, 2020 

Question 15. What strategies does IHS have in place to streamline the submission 

of third party claims and ensure that payment is received in a timely manner in 

the Great Plains Area? 

Answer. IHS is committed to facilitating the submission and payment of third 

party claims. The Great Plains Area is implementing a number of strategies to improve billing and payment for services delivered to patients with third party resources. We are working wherever possible to implement electronic submission of 

claims and transfer of payments, either directly or through a commercial clearinghouse. In addition, the Great Plains Area is working to implement strategies intended to monitor the billing process so as to quickly identify and remedy potential 

backlogs. IHS is committed to continuing to review and strengthen its procedures 

in this area. 

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