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S. HRG. 111–88 

NOMINATION OF YVETTE D. ROUBIDEAUX TO 

BE DIRECTOR OF THE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

APRIL 23, 2009 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS 

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, Chairman 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Vice Chairman 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii 

KENT CONRAD, North Dakota 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

JON TESTER, Montana 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

lllll, lllll 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska 

TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska 

ALLISON C. BINNEY, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

DAVID A. MULLON JR., Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on April 23, 2009 .............................................................................. 1 

Statement of Senator Barrasso ............................................................................... 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3 

Statement of Senator Dorgan ................................................................................. 1 

Statement of Senator Johanns ............................................................................... 45 

Statement of Senator Johnson ................................................................................ 4 

Statement of Senator McCain ................................................................................. 8 

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

Statement of Senator Udall .................................................................................... 5 

WITNESSES

Hill, Dr. Gerald, President, Association of American Indian Physicians ............ 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7 

Roubideaux, Yvette, M.D., M.P.H., Nominee to be Director of the Indian 

Health Service ...................................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 

Biographical information ................................................................................. 13 

APPENDIX

Department of Health and Human Services organizational chart ...................... 54 

Indian Health Service organizational chart .......................................................... 53 

Letters submitted in support of the nomination of Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., 

M.P.H.: 

American Diabetes Association ....................................................................... 111 

American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian Caucus of the American Public Health Association .................................................................... 121 

American Public Health Association ............................................................... 124 

Association of American Indian Physicians ................................................... 122 

Association of Native American Medical Students, University of Arizona 

College of Medicine ....................................................................................... 125 

Bemidji Area Representative, National Indian Health Board ...................... 116 

Bill Anoatubby, Governor, Chickasaw Nation ............................................... 112 

Cherokee Nation ............................................................................................... 138 

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma .......................................................................... 132 

Fort Belknap Indian Community .................................................................... 113 

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe ............................................................................. 136 

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe ............................................................................ 135 

Lummi Nation ................................................................................................... 133 

National Congress of American Indians ......................................................... 115 

National Council of Urban Indian Health ...................................................... 120 

National Indian Health Board ......................................................................... 118 

Native Research Network, Inc. ........................................................................ 114 

Quinault Indian Nation ................................................................................... 131 

Rosebud Sioux Tribe ......................................................................................... 127 

Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe .......................................................................... 137 

Squaxin Island Tribe ........................................................................................ 134 

United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. ........................................................... 139 

Response to written questions submitted to Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H. 

by: 

Hon. John Barrasso .......................................................................................... 66 

Hon. Max Baucus ............................................................................................. 101 

Hon. Jeff Bingaman .......................................................................................... 107 

Hon. Barbara Boxer ......................................................................................... 109 

Page

IV 

Response to written questions submitted to Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H. 

by—Continued 

Hon. Maria Cantwell ........................................................................................ 75 

Hon. Tom Coburn ............................................................................................. 78 

Hon. Byron L. Dorgan ...................................................................................... 57 

Hon. John McCain ............................................................................................ 83 

Hon. Lisa Murkowski ....................................................................................... 85 

Hon. Jon Tester ................................................................................................ 87 

Hon. Tom Udall ................................................................................................ 97 

Supplementary information of Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H.: 

Ethics agreement .............................................................................................. 55 

Nomination papers ........................................................................................... 51 

(1) 

NOMINATION OF YVETTE D. ROUBIDEAUX TO 

BE DIRECTOR OF THE INDIAN HEALTH 

SERVICE 

THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2009 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:15 p.m. in room 

628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Byron L. Dorgan, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA 

The CHAIRMAN. We will call the hearing to order. 

This is a hearing of the Indian Affairs Committee of the United 

States Senate. It is a hearing on the nomination of Dr. Yvette 

Roubideaux for the Director of the Indian Health Service. Dr. 

Roubideaux, welcome, we are pleased you are with us. 

Let me state that President Obama sent Dr. Roubideaux’s nomination to the Senate on March 26th. I am pleased to see a physician with on the ground experience and other applicable experience 

that this candidate has had for this position. Also, Dr. Roubideaux 

would be the first woman to lead the Indian Health Service, so I 

know this is also a historic nomination. 

I want to start by saying that I believe Dr. Roubideaux will be 

inheriting an Indian health system that is broken. The Indian 

Health Service is only funded at about one half of its need. Clinician shortages are rampant. Significant health disparities permeate 

Indian Country. 

In addition, the Indian Health Service is an agency, I believe, 

with some very serious management problems and very little follow-through, even when those problems are apparent. As I’ve said 

in the past, I think there are a lot of really terrific people working 

for the Indian Health Service. I’ve seen them and met with them. 

I’ve been around them all across this Country. God bless them for 

the work they do every day. 

But the fact is, many of them are working in a system that is 

unbelievably bureaucratic, in some cases headed by people who are 

incompetent in managing the system. This is not new. We’ve held 

hearings about this. We need to fix it. And my discussions about 

it and the requirements to fix it should not tarnish a lot of good 

people who work there. But it certainly ought to be a warning to 

2 

the people who are there who have caused very serious management problems. 

The result of all of these issues is that Native Americans in our 

Country suffer health disparities on par with some of the Third 

World nations. Patients seem only to get care when it is life and 

limb emergencies. In Indian Country, we have heard from the table 

where you sit Dr. Roubideaux, don’t get sick after June because 

there is no money to provide you with Contract Health Services. 

There is a rationing of health care in Indian Country that should 

be considered, in my judgement, a national scandal and should be 

headline news, but it is not. 

The impact of this broken system is clearly shown in the health 

disparities. A chart that we will ask to be shown, shows the health 

disparities between the general population, which is in blue, and 

American Indians in red. You can see with respect to tuberculosis, 

infant mortality, the rates of suicide, pneumonia and influenza, alcohol-induced illness, diabetes, you can see the disparity. It is very 

significant. The mortality rate of tuberculosis is 510 percent higher, 

suicide rates 70 percent higher, alcoholism 500 percent higher, and 

diabetes 189 percent higher. 

This is not just about numbers, but about people, people’s lives. 

The next photograph you will see is of Jami Rose Jetty. In February, this Committee held a hearing, an oversight hearing on Indian youth suicide, teen suicide. At that hearing a young woman 

of 16 named Dana Lee Jetty of Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota 

testified. She described losing her sister, Jami Rose Jetty, who 

committed suicide at just 14 years of age. Jami’s mother knew 

there was something wrong with her daughter. She took her to the 

Indian Health Service over and over again, but they did not diagnose her with depression. And even though her mother knew better, the doctors would say, she is just a typical teenager and they 

sent the family home. 

November of last year, she took her life. Her sister, Dana Lee, 

found her. And during testimony, Dana said that she felt Jami 

would still be alive had there been trained mental health professionals available near the Spirit Lake Reservation to diagnose the 

needs. But Jami didn’t receive those services. Her death was tragic 

and unnecessary. 

I have spoken about Avis Little Wind, who was 14, took her life 

on the same reservation. I have spoken about her several times on 

the Floor of the Senate. She laid in her bed in a fetal position for 

90 days, nobody seemed to miss her. A terribly dysfunctional family, and eventually she took her own life. 

I spoke at length last year about Ta’shon Rain Little Light, this 

is a photograph that her grandmother used. Senator Tester and I 

were together on the Crow Nation Reservation in Montana when 

her grandmother began walking towards us as we held a hearing. 

She held that photograph above her head and that photograph, she 

said, is of my granddaughter. She said, you should know that she 

spent the last three months of her life in unmedicated pain. And 

she too was taken over and over and over again to the Indian 

Health Service and was told that she was depressed and sent 

home, over and over again. 

3 

Finally, with a referral from the Billings Hospital and a plane 

ride to Denver got a diagnosis that she had terminal cancer and 

was about to die. The fact is, this young woman, was diagnosed as 

just being depressed. She wasn’t depressed, she had terminal cancer. 

We just have to do so much better. I show you these photographs 

only to say that all of us, myself, Senators Barrasso, Johnson, and 

Tester, we represent real people that have real health care problems whose needs in many cases are not being met. The kind of 

health care problems that we would expect on a routine basis to 

be met for us, for our family, for the American people. They are not 

being met and young kids are dying and elders are dying. We have 

to do something about it. 

So we have today before us a new nominee for the position of 

running the Indian Health Service. I am going to support the nominee. I am very pleased she offered herself for public service. I desperately want her to succeed. We have to improve this; we must. 

People’s lives depend on it. 

Before we proceed, let me call on my colleague, Senator Barrasso. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING 

Senator BARRASSO. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I agree 

with you and associate myself with your remarks. I have a statement that I will include for the record. 

I would like to also join you in saying I do intend to support the 

nominee. I had a wonderful opportunity to visit with Dr. 

Roubideaux yesterday, had a great discussion on diabetes, on 

health care and prevention. We talked at length on the issues that 

you just discussed, that of the issue of suicide and what we can do 

to help, working so much with prevention, because in the Wind 

River Reservation in Wyoming, the life expectancy is 49. When you 

compare that to other men and women of our State with life 

expectancies around the age of 80, those are tragic numbers and 

we need to do better. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Barrasso follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING

Good Morning and thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this hearing on Dr. 

Roubideaux’s nomination for Director of the Indian Health Service. 

This position-along with Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs-is one of the most 

challenging in the government. 

The Indian health care system is complex. It involves an extensive list of health 

services and programs, in a wide variety of geographic and demographic settings, 

provided by IHS, Indian tribes, and urban Indian organizations. 

In the past, I have pointed out challenges facing the Indian Health Service clinics 

on the Wind River Indian reservation. Like many other parts of Indian Country, 

funding is a problem for the Wind River clinics. 

But the condition of our facilities is particularly noteworthy. 

Built in 1877, the clinic in Fort Washakie is one of the oldest—if not the oldest— 

facility in the Indian health system. 

It’s hard to imagine, but we are attempting to deliver modern health care services 

in a 132-year-old clinic. Yet with the current funding system, the Wind River clinics 

probably will not be replaced or extensively renovated during our lifetimes. 

Also, inefficiencies in the management systems of the IHS have real impacts at 

the reservation level. It is critical that the taxpayer’s dollars are used efficiently, 

4 

wisely, and effectively. This is especially true when the goal is the delivery of health 

care. 

Dr. Roubideaux’s extensive research and educational background are impressive. 

Her dedication to improve Indian health is unquestionable. There is no doubt that 

she is an intelligent, thoughtful candidate for this position. 

But I am particularly interested in hearing what Dr. Roubideaux intends to bring 

to the IHS as its Director. What does she want to achieve? When she looks back 

on her time as Director, what will she point to as her principal accomplishment? 

Mr. Chairman, we are in the midst of the nation’s health care reform debate. 

Now, more than ever, the IHS needs an exceptional leader. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Johnson, I know that you wanted to introduce Dr. Roubideaux, if you would be willing to do that. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TIM JOHNSON, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 

Senator JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is my honor 

today to introduce Dr. Roubideaux as the Indian Affairs Committee 

considers her nomination to be Director of the Indian Health Service. Dr. Roubideaux was born in Pierre and graduated high school 

in Rapid City in my home State of South Dakota. She is a member 

of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, where I am fortunate to have many 

friends. 

The Chairman might be interested to know, her mother was from 

Standing Rock Reservation, which is straddling both South and 

North Dakota. 

We are very proud to have one of our own be nominated to this 

position. She has a bachelor’s degree and a medical degree from 

Harvard. As you know, we have many unique challenges that face 

us in Indian Country, and especially in the Aberdeen Area. We 

would be well served to have Dr. Roubideaux as the IHS Director. 

Her experiences as a patient, a doctor and administrator within the 

IHS system provides her with first-hand knowledge that she needs 

to be an effective director of the IHS. 

I look forward to welcoming Dr. Roubideaux back to South Dakota soon. I also look forward to working with her as IHS Director 

to ensure that Federal Government does all that they can to fulfill 

its treaty and trust responsibilities to American Indians. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Johnson, thank you very much. 

Senator Tester. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA 

Senator TESTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I too want to 

thank you for your remarks. I think that they said what a lot of 

us were going to say, and I appreciate that. 

The system is broken. There is no doubt about it. We have seen 

a lot of instances brought before this Committee and we have seen 

first-hand the kinds of challenges that IHS has been presented 

with. And quite frankly, in a lot of those cases, they failed to step 

up to the plate and hit the ball. 

I am impressed with your resume and I think you bring some 

things to the table that will help this agency move forward into the 

21st century in a way that we have all hoped it would have been 

5 

moving forward for a long time, and it hasn’t. So success is critically important to all of us. 

There is one issue, and hopefully you can address this in your 

opening statement, and it is management experience. Lack of it can 

be a blessing and it can be a curse. So I think in your particular 

case, with your on the ground experience with the medical side of 

things, I like that. I like that a lot. And maybe you could talk about 

the administrative challenges and how you plan to address them. 

But with that, I too look forward to your taking over the Indian 

Health Service. I think as a Native American woman, you bring a 

lot of things to that department that can improve it. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Udall? 

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO 

Senator UDALL. Thank you very much, Chairman Dorgan. Let 

me say that I had a very nice visit with Dr. Roubideaux and I 

think her credentials are excellent. 

I think maybe sometimes, like Senator Tester said, that not having the so-called management experience you can move in and really shake things up and move them in the right direction. You certainly have an inquisitive mind and curiosity about that process. 

One of the things that I hope you address, because I see it as 

just an addition to the massive problems that the Chairman mentioned, a huge issue is preventive care with our Native communities. We in New Mexico have an epidemic in diabetes and obesity 

on the reservation. Those problems have increased over time. I remember a nephrologist, a kidney doctor telling me in New Mexico 

that 30 years ago, when he started practice, he didn’t see any Native American clients. And just in the short 30 years that he has 

been in practice, he is now in the middle of an epidemic. 

So it shows in what a short period of time that has changed. This 

isn’t some long, chronic situation. It is something that has occurred 

rather quickly. I kid my Navajo friends that it is the biliganna diet, 

the white man diet and all of them laugh. But I think that is a 

large part of it. And I think if we could put that preventive care 

in place it would really make a difference. I know you have been 

a real leader on that, you have focused on that. You have done epidemiological work in the area of diabetes. So we really look forward 

to working with you. 

I think each of the individuals have said, the Senators before me, 

that you are under-funded. I hope we can aggressively work on 

that. To me, the most traumatic comparison is that we spend three 

times as much for Federal prisoners as we do for a patient in the 

Indian Health Service. So that really says it all to me. 

With that, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for this hearing. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Udall, thank you very much. 

Dr. Roubideaux, the Committee members will ask you questions 

today following your presentation. And then additional questions 

may well be submitted to you in writing. Once we have received 

responses to those questions, it is my intention that we would seek 

to report out your nomination at our next scheduled business meetVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:23 Nov 16, 2009 Jkt 051936 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\51936.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF
6 

ing. We will try to move very quickly, because I would like this 

nomination to be approved by the entire Senate. 

The witness list today is Dr. Gerald Hill, who is the President 

of the Association of American Indian Physicians in Oklahoma 

City, Oklahoma. We will call on him first. 

But before I do, Dr. Roubideaux, do you have family members 

that you wish to introduce today who are with you? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. I would just like to introduce my mother, 

Cecelia Roubideaux, who is back home in Tucson, Arizona, and will 

watch this webcast later. 

The CHAIRMAN. All right. We wish her well as well. 

Dr. Hill, why don’t you proceed, and then we will recognize Dr. 

Roubideaux. 

STATEMENT OF DR. GERALD HILL, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION 

OF AMERICAN INDIAN PHYSICIANS 

Dr. HILL. Thank you. 

Good afternoon, Chairman Dorgan, Ranking Member Issa, and 

the members of the Committee. 

My name is Dr. Gerald Hill. I’m a member of the Klamath Tribe 

of Oregon and a practicing emergency physician in St. Paul, Minnesota. I am also the elected president of the Association of American Indian Physicians, a national non-profit organization made up 

exclusively of American Indian and Alaska Native physicians. 

It is a great honor to be here today to introduce and express our 

support for Dr. Yvette Roubideaux in her nomination as Director 

of the Indian Health Service. The mission of the AAIP is to pursue 

excellence in Native American health care by promoting education 

in the medical disciplines, honoring traditional healing practices 

and restoring the balance of mind, body and spirit. 

Dr. Roubideaux, a Harvard-trained physician, is a member of the 

Association and one of our finest examples. She has earned a national reputation for professional excellence in all of her professional endeavors. 

Dr. Roubideaux’s Native heritage and understanding of the community, as well as her development into a respected leader, physician, teacher, mentor and colleague, will provider her with a strong 

foundation should she be confirmed as Director of the Indian 

Health Service. Further, Dr. Roubideaux has witnessed the challenges of Indian health first-hand. Her work as a physician in the 

Indian Health Service for the San Carlos Apache Tribe and in the 

Gila River Indian community required that she not only understand western medicine but also how to apply this knowledge in 

Native communities. 

Dr. Roubideaux is among the most intelligent and dedicated people I have ever met. She has worked as a primary care physician 

in Native communities; led Native people in the fight against diabetes; mentored Native students; advised tribes and Government 

agencies; and as President of the AAIP, served as a leader for Native physicians. I have witnessed Dr. Roubideaux in discussion 

with tribal leaders in several settings. She shows the proper respect and interacts with them in familiar ways; has the courage to 

speak frankly and honestly to all and always from her heart. It is 

Dr. Roubideaux’s breadth of work in all these areas that sets her 

7 

apart and will lead to an outstanding career as Director of the Indian Health Service. 

Dr. Roubideaux’s most outstanding work is her leadership and 

passion in the fight against the diabetes epidemic. I know this 

Committee is keenly aware of Dr. Roubideaux’s integral role in the 

implementation and multiple reauthorizations of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, which provides funding for 399 IHS, tribal 

and urban diabetes programs across the Nation. Such accomplishments are what make Dr. Roubideaux an outstanding choice for Director of the Indian Health Service. 

Dr. Roubideaux represents for Native people hope and intelligence, compassion and caring, education and achievement and 

more. She represents the best that Indian people have to offer to 

our communities and the Nation. 

I cannot think of another person more suited to lead the Indian 

Health Service. On behalf of the Association of American Indian 

Physicians, we sincerely appreciate this opportunity to introduce 

Dr. Yvette Roubideaux to the Committee and support her nomination. The vast scope of her knowledge and experience, combined 

with her passion and commitment to the health and well-being of 

Native communities, uniquely qualify her for the position of Director of the Indian Health Service. 

Thank you for the privilege and honor of introducing this outstanding Native woman to the Committee. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Hill follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DR. GERALD HILL, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN

INDIAN PHYSICIANS

Good afternoon Chairman Dorgan, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the 

Committee. 

My name is Dr. Gerald Hill. I am a member of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, 

and a practicing emergency physician in St. Paul, Minnesota. I am also the elected 

President of the Association of American Indian Physicians, a national, non-profit 

organization made up exclusively of American Indian and Alaska Native Physicians. 

It is a great honor to be here today to introduce and to express our support for Dr. 

Yvette Roubideaux’s nomination for Director of the Indian Health Service. 

The mission of the AAIP is to pursue excellence in Native American health care 

by promoting education in the medical disciplines, honoring traditional healing practices and restoring the balance of mind, body and spirit. Dr. Roubideaux, a Harvardtrained physician, is a member of the Association and one of our finest examples. 

She has earned a national reputation for excellence in all of her professional endeavors. 

Dr. Roubideaux’s Native heritage and understanding of the community, as well 

as her development into a respected leader, physician, teacher, mentor and colleague, will provide her with a strong foundation should she be confirmed as Director of the Indian Health Service. Further, Dr. Roubideaux has witnessed the challenges of Indian health first-hand. Her work as a physician in the Indian Health 

Service for the San Carlos Apache Tribe and in the Gila River Indian community 

required that she not only understand western medicine but also how to apply this 

knowledge in Native communities. 

Dr. Roubideaux is among the most intelligent and dedicated people I have ever 

met. She has worked as a primary care physician in Native American communities, 

led Native people in the fight against diabetes, mentored Native students, advised 

tribes and government agencies, and, as president of the AAIP, served as a leader 

for Native physicians. I have witnessed Dr. Roubideaux in discussion with tribal 

leaders in several settings. She shows the proper respect and interacts with them 

in familiar ways, has the courage to speak frankly and honestly to all, and always 

from her heart. It is Dr. Roubideaux’s breadth of work in all these areas that sets 

her apart and will ultimately lead to an outstanding career as IHS Director. 

8 

Dr. Roubideaux’s most outstanding work is her leadership and passion in the fight 

against the diabetes epidemic. I know this Committee is keenly aware of Dr. 

Roubideaux’s integral role in the implementation and multiple reauthorizations of 

the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, which provides funding for 399 IHS, tribal and urban diabetes programs across the nation. 

Such accomplishments are what make Dr. Roubideaux an outstanding choice for 

Director of the Indian Health Service. Dr. Roubideaux represents, for Native people, 

hope and intelligence, compassion and caring, education and achievement, and 

more. She represents the best that Indian people have to offer our communities and 

the Nation. 

I cannot think of another person more suited to lead the Indian Health Service. 

On behalf of the Association of American Indian Physicians, we sincerely appreciate 

this opportunity to introduce Dr. Yvette Roubideaux to the Committee and support 

her nomination. The vast scope of her knowledge and experience combined with her 

passion and commitment to the health and well-being of Native communities 

uniquely qualify her for the position of Director of the Indian Health Service. 

Thank you for the privilege and honor of introducing this outstanding Native 

woman to the Committee. 

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Hill, thank you very much for your comments. 

We have been joined by the former Chairman of this Committee, 

Senator McCain. Senator McCain, I am about to recognize Dr. 

Roubideaux for an opening statement. Would you like to have an 

opening statement? 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN MCCAIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA 

Senator MCCAIN. Could I just mention that obviously we are very 

pleased to have Dr. Roubideaux, but also, I think it is worthy of 

mention, she currently is at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona. We are very proud 

of your work and we are very proud and appreciate the many contributions you have made. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator, everyone is trying to claim her at the 

moment. 

[Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. South Dakota, and her mother is a member of 

the Standing Rock Tribe that joins North Dakota. So we have all 

been very complimentary of Dr. Roubideaux. 

Dr. Roubideaux, why don’t you proceed with your statement, following which you will entertain questions. 

STATEMENT OF YVETTE ROUBIDEAUX, M.D., M.P.H., NOMINEE 

TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE INDIAN HEAlTH SERVICE 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Thank you, Chairman Dorgan, Vice Chairman 

Barrasso, and members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. 

My name is Dr. Yvette Roubideaux. It is an honor to appear before you today as President Obama’s nominee to be the next Director of the Indian Health Service. 

I am a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, which is my father’s 

tribe, and I am also part Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is my 

mother’s tribe. I have a long history with the Indian Health Service, first as a patient, then as a physician and a medical administrator. 

If confirmed, I look forward to working with your Committee to 

do whatever we can to improve health care for American Indians 

9 

and Alaska Natives. Even though we face enormous challenges in 

this time of hope and change, I believe we have a unique opportunity to begin the difficult work of restoring health and wellness 

to American Indian and Alaska Native communities. 

I am grateful for all that your Committee has done to improve 

the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives. I know you 

understand the significant challenges facing the Indian Health 

Service. It is a health care system that is confronted with all of the 

same challenges facing the U.S. health care system today. 

But the Indian Health Service, which is different from all other 

agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services, also 

faces unique challenges. The Indian Health Service was established 

to meet the Federal trust responsibility to provide health care to 

members of federally-recognized tribes. The mission of the Indian 

Health Service is to raise the physical, mental, social and spiritual 

health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest levels. 

However, this task has become increasingly difficult over time. 

Rapid population growth, increased demand for services, skyrocketing medical costs, difficulty in recruiting health care professionals, long waits for referral services and the growing burden of 

chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease, have created a significant strain on a system that is struggling to maintain current levels of services and in some areas, faces 

reductions in services and potential closures. 

Despite these challenges, I see evidence of hope and change. As 

I mentioned, I have a long history with the Indian Health Service. 

I have seen up close the challenges of providing health care to this 

population with limited resources. 

However, I have also worked on a variety of projects and national initiatives over the past 16 years that have shown me the 

great potential that exists in the system to improve access to and 

the quality of health care. I know that thousands of committed and 

dedicated career staff in the Indian health care system work hard 

every day to provide health care to their patients under difficult 

circumstances. And I know that many facilities and programs in 

the Indian Health Service have implemented innovative programs 

and have helped solve some of our greatest administrative challenges at the local level. We need to do more to learn from those 

successes and apply those lessons to other programs in the system. 

In addition, with the new Administration, strong allies in Congress and renewed focus and energy on health reform from members of both parties, we have an opportunity to bring change to the 

Indian Health Service. President Obama is committed to ensuring 

that our First Americans have access to high quality health care. 

Even as a Senator, he supported increased Indian Health Service 

funding and passage of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. 

New leadership in the Department of Health and Human Services 

will provide desperately needed support and direction. Congress 

has already passed legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, that included critical resources for Indian Country. 

And many members have demonstrated a commitment to doing 

even more. 

10 

In listening sessions held with tribes during the Presidential 

transition, I heard a great call for change and for a renewed effort 

to improve health care for our people. With this outpouring of support, I cannot help but feel we are at a unique moment in time 

where we have the potential to make great strides towards fulfilling the mission of the Indian Health Service and toward improving the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives. 

I am ready to serve and work with you to improve health care 

for American Indians and Alaska Natives. If confirmed, I plan to 

focus on four priority areas. First, I plan to renew and strengthen 

the Indian Health Service’s partnership with tribes. I believe the 

only way we can restore our communities to health is to work in 

partnership with them. Toward that end, I intend to work with 

tribes to reviewing the existing tribal consultation process and to 

find ways to make that process more meaningful, so that we can 

work more closely together on the difficult challenges and decisions 

that face us in the coming years. 

Second, as a part of the effort to reform our national health system, I plan to begin discussions with tribes, our health care providers and our patients on how we can bring reform to the Indian 

Health Service. We need to undertake a comprehensive review of 

our system to determine how to better meet the needs of our patients within the parameters of both broader reform effort and the 

available resources in our system. With respect to both quality and 

delivery of care, I hope we can look at what we are doing well and 

do more of it, as well as understand what we are not doing well 

and come up with specific solutions. 

There may be difficult decisions ahead, but I am confident that 

in partnership with our tribes and with Congress, this Administration can and will make the right decisions. 

Third, if I am confirmed, I plan to make improving the quality 

and access to care a primary goal of all our work in the Indian 

Health Service. This has been a central goal of my work ever since 

I decided to become a physician. I believe it is a primary wish of 

our patients. In order to restore their confidence in our system, we 

have to demonstrate that we provide high quality care they know 

they deserve. We need to implement more strategies to increase access to care in our system, to improve the quality of clinical services that we provide, and just as important, to provide better customer service. 

Finally, we need to ensure that what we do to improve the Indian Health Service is transparent and accountable, and that we 

are as fair and inclusive as possible in considering the needs of all 

of our patients, whether they are seen in INS direct facilities, tribally-managed programs or urban Indian health programs. I know 

we can make strides to improve care in the Indian Health Service. 

I have seen the best of what we can do in my work as co-director 

of the Coordinating Center of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians demonstration projects. This $27.4 million annual Congressional appropriation created a grant program to translate scientific 

evidence into real world diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention programs. 

This successful initiative has proven that when the Indian 

Health Service and tribal and urban Indian programs are given 

11 

* The financial disclosure report of Dr. Roubideaux has been retained in Committee files. 

needed resources and adequate technical assistance and support, 

they can step up to the plate, implement a complex set of evidencebased services, evaluate their activities and deliver positive outcomes that exceed everyone’s expectations. These programs demonstrated that the Indian health system has the potential to markedly improve the quality of health care it provides if given the support it needs to be successful. 

I realize that we face enormous challenges and that this work 

will not be completed in days, weeks, months or even years. But 

if confirmed, I am ready to begin the important work of bringing 

change to the Indian Health Service. I know our patients are ready 

for it, and I know there are many tribal leaders, Indian health care 

staff and providers who have ideas for how we can achieve that 

goal. 

I am confident that we can all work together in this effort, and 

I will rely on the guidance and support of this Committee as we 

move forward. 

Again, thank you for the opportunity to have a conversation 

about American Indian and Alaska Native health care today. I am 

happy to answer any questions. 

[The prepared statement and biographical information of Dr. 

Roubideaux follow:] * 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF YVETTE ROUBIDEAUX, M.D., M.P.H., NOMINEE TO BE

DIRECTOR OF THE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE

Chairman Dorgan, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: My name is Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, and it is an honor to 

appear before you today as President Obama’s nominee to be the next Director of 

the Indian Health Service. 

I am a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, my father’s tribe, and I am also part 

Standing Rock Sioux, which is my mother’s tribe. I have a long history with the Indian Health Service—first as a patient, and then as a physician and medical administrator. 

If confirmed, I look forward to working with your committee to do whatever we 

can to improve healthcare for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Even though 

we face enormous challenges, in this time of hope and change I believe we have a 

unique opportunity to begin the difficult work of restoring health and wellness to 

American Indian and Alaska Native communities. 

I am grateful for all that your Committee has done to improve the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives. I know you understand the significant challenges 

facing the Indian Health Service. It is a healthcare system that is confronted with 

all of the same challenges facing the U.S. healthcare system today. 

But the Indian Health Service, which is different from any other agency in the 

Department of Health and Human Services, also faces unique challenges. The Indian Health Service was established to meet the federal trust responsibility to provide healthcare to members of federally recognized tribes. The mission of the Indian 

Health Service is to raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level. However, this task has become 

increasingly difficult over time. Rapid population growth, increasing demand for 

services, skyrocketing medical costs, difficulties in recruiting and retaining 

healthcare professionals, long waits for referral services, and the growing burden of 

chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease have created 

a significant strain on a system that is struggling to maintain current levels of services and, in some areas, faces reductions in services and potential closures. 

Despite these challenges, I now see evidence of hope and change. As I mentioned, 

I have a long history with the Indian Health Service. I have seen up close the challenges of providing healthcare to this population with limited resources. However, 

I have also worked on a variety of projects and national initiatives over the past 

16 years that have shown me the great potential that exists in the system to imVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:23 Nov 16, 2009 Jkt 051936 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\51936.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF
12 

prove access to and quality of healthcare. I know that thousands of committed and 

dedicated career staff in the Indian healthcare system work hard every day to provide healthcare to their patients under difficult circumstances. And I know that 

many facilities and programs in the Indian Health Service have implemented innovative programs and have helped solve some of our greatest administrative challenges at the local level. We need to do more to learn from those successes and 

apply those lessons to other programs in the system. 

In addition, with a new Administration, strong allies in Congress, and renewed 

focus and energy on health reform from members of both parties, we have an opportunity to bring change to the Indian Health Service. President Obama is committed 

to ensuring that our First Americans have access to high-quality healthcare Even 

as a senator, he supported increased Indian Health Service funding and passage of 

the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. New leadership in the Department of 

Health and Human Services will provide desperately needed support and direction. 

Congress has already passed legislation—the American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act—that included critical resources for Indian country, and many members have 

demonstrated a commitment to doing even more. And in listening sessions held with 

tribes during the Presidential Transition, I heard a great call for change and for a 

renewed effort to improve healthcare for our people. With this outpouring of support, I cannot help but feel that we are at a unique moment in time, where we have 

the potential to make great strides toward fulfilling the mission of the Indian 

Health Service, and toward improving the health of the American Indian and Alaska Native population. 

I am ready to serve and to work with you to improve healthcare for American Indian and Alaska Native people. If confirmed, I plan to focus on four priority areas. 

First, I plan to renew and strengthen the Indian Health Service’s partnership 

with tribes. I believe the only way we can restore our communities to health is to 

work in partnership with them. Toward that end, I intend to work with tribes to 

review the existing tribal consultation process and to find ways to make that process 

more meaningful so that we can work more closely together on the difficult challenges and decisions that face us in the coming years. 

Second, as part of the effort to reform our national health system, I plan to begin 

discussions with our tribes, our healthcare providers, and our patients on how we 

can bring reform to the Indian Health Service. We need to undertake a comprehensive review of our system to determine how to better meet the needs of our patients 

within the parameters of both the broader reform effort and the available resources 

in our system. With respect to both the quality and delivery of care, I hope we can 

look at what we are doing well and do more of it, as well as understand what we 

are not doing well and come up with specific solutions. There may be difficult decisions ahead, but I am confident that, in partnership with our tribes and with Congress, this Administration can and will make the right decisions. 

Third, if confirmed, I plan to make improving the quality of and access to care 

a primary goal of all of our work in the Indian Health Service. This has been a central goal of my work every since I decided to become a physician, and I believe it 

is a primary wish of our patients. In order to restore their confidence in our system, 

we have to demonstrate that we provide the high-quality care they know they deserve. We need to implement more strategies to increase access to care in our system, to improve the quality of clinical services that we provide, and just as importantly, to provide better customer service. 

Finally, we need to ensure that what we do to improve the Indian Health Service 

is transparent and accountable, and that we are as fair and inclusive as possible 

in considering the needs of all our patients, whether they are seen in IHS direct 

service facilities, tribally managed programs, or urban Indian health programs. 

I know we can make strides to improve care in the Indian Health Service. I have 

seen the best of what we can do in my work as the Co-Director of the Coordinating 

Center for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians Demonstration Projects. This 

$27.4 million annual congressional appropriation created a grant program to translate scientific evidence into real world diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention programs. This successful initiative has proven that when Indian Health Service and tribal and urban Indian programs are given needed resources and adequate 

technical assistance and support, they can step up to the plate, implement a complex set of evidence-based services, evaluate their activities, and deliver positive outcomes that exceed everyone’s expectations. These programs demonstrated that the 

Indian health system has the potential to markedly improve the quality of 

healthcare it provides if given the support it needs to be successful. 

I realize that we face enormous challenges and that this work will not be completed in a matter of days, weeks, months, or even years. But, if confirmed, I am 

ready to begin the important work of bringing change to the Indian Health Service. 

13 

I know our patients are ready for it. And I know there are many tribal leaders, Indian healthcare staff, and providers who have ideas for how we can achieve that 

goal. I am confident that we can all work together in this effort, and I will rely on 

the guidance and support of this committee as we move forward. 

Again, thank you for the opportunity to have a conversation about American Indian and Alaska Native healthcare today. I am happy to answer any questions. 


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42 

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. Roubideaux, thank you very much. 

I am going to defer my questions until the end of the process. I 

will call on the Vice Chairman, Senator Barrasso. 

Senator BARRASSO. Thank you very much. You have had a 

chance to answer most of the questions that I had yesterday. 

Listening to Dr. Hill talking about your intelligence, as well as 

your dedication, and both will serve you very well in this job, but 

it is, I believe, your dedication which is going to make the real difference in the success that I see you having in the years to come. 

So I am very grateful for that. 

I did a little research last night. I told you about the Indian 

Health Service building that we have in Wyoming, and I said, it 

must be at least 100 years old. I think somewhere in here we had 

the number, and I have lost it right now, I think it is approximately 130 years old. So I am still welcoming you to visit us in Wyoming at the Wind River Reservation and see what we can do to 

help things there. 

Yesterday you and I talked a bit about diabetes management and 

treatment. I told you about a number of young men who were with 

us on Sunday in Casper, Wyoming, at a deployment service for 

members of the military. They performed a tribal ceremony, a 

send-off, a blessing. Looking at them, I had great concerns for their 

own health, for the potential for diabetes, for their life expectancy. 

Could you just take a couple of seconds to share with us your vision and maybe some ideas you have on how we can really come 

to grips and, even more successfully under your leadership, address 

these problems? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Thank you. Yes, the problems of the health status of the American Indian and Alaska Native population are 

great. Chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity are threatening the lives of our people. What is so heartbreaking about it is 

we are seeing young children who are obese, and we are seeing 

young children with diabetes. We know that if they have these conditions early in life, they are also going to experience the complications early in life as well. And that is heartbreaking. We don’t want 

this new generation of American Indians to die before their parents. We want them to live long and healthy lives. 

So first, we do need to look at the Indian Health Service and look 

what we have done well in terms of treating and preventing diabetes. Fortunately, your Committee has supported the Special Diabetes Program for Indians. I believe these resources have gone to 

great use in terms of helping us begin the process and the fight 

against diabetes, both prevention and treatment of this illness. 

If confirmed, as I look at the Indian health care system, I definitely want to improve the quality of care, I want to improve access 

to care and to make sure our patients are getting needed health 

care services. 

Senator BARRASSO. I will just go with one other question, Mr. 

Chairman. We are having a major debate here in the Senate and 

in Congress on overall reform of health care in America. We passed 

a bill last year through this Committee and through the Senate 

that had to do with the Indian Health Service and didn’t make it 

all the way through the process. Are there thoughts you have on 

ways that we can improve the Indian Health Service from a legislaVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:23 Nov 16, 2009 Jkt 051936 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\51936.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF
43 

tive standpoint to make you more successful in your job as the new 

Director? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Well, yes. As you know, the Indian Health Care 

Improvement Act was passed by the Senate but didn’t make it 

through Congress last year. Tribes have supported this bill for 

years because they see it as a way to improve and modernize the 

Indian Health Service. Both the President and I support passage 

of this legislation. 

So I am looking forward to working with you to find solutions to 

ensure that we pass this important piece of legislation. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Johnson. 

Senator JOHNSON. Congratulations, Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. 

Is it possible to address the issues of preventive care, diabetes, 

obesity, cancer, suicide and mental health, among other things, 

within your current budget? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Well, you have hit the nail on the head. It is 

clear that the Indian Health Service funding is woefully inadequate 

to meet the needs of this population. It is clear that we can do a 

lot better job if we had more resources. 

Of course, these are difficult budgetary times, and everybody is 

being asked to do more with less. But if you look at the Indian 

Health Service, I am confident that it needs a significant increase 

in additional resources to help address some of these problems. 

In addition, the President and I know money is not the only solution. So I plan to look at what we are doing in the system, what 

we are doing well and try to spread the lessons learned of that 

around in the system, and make sure that if there are things we 

are not doing well that we correct them. So I think there is a lot 

we can do toward preventing disease and treating disease. 

In addition, I am looking forward to talking with our tribal leaders. I think that the solutions to restoring our communities to 

health and wellness is to partner with our tribes. Now more than 

ever, we need their help. Because the clinic cannot deal with these 

health problems alone. Many of the health problems have their 

roots in other conditions in the community. So I am really looking 

forward to working with our tribes on solutions to these problems. 

Senator JOHNSON. Where is there such a level of suicide among 

our Native Americans? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. The story of suicide in Native Americans, especially young teenagers, is heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking to see 

a young life end before they have had a chance to make their potential contribution they could to our society. I think that problems 

like suicide have deep roots throughout all of the issues we face in 

Indian Country, and that it is important, when we look at the solution for suicide, that we work closely with our communities and we 

work with as many partners as we can to try to figure out how to 

adequately identify people at risk, how to treat them and respond 

to them and keep them safe. But we also have to definitely work 

on correcting those factors in our communities that are making our 

children think that they don’t have a life that is worth living. We 

want them to live longer and we want them to be healthy. 

So I am looking forward, if confirmed, to working with you to 

talk about what some of those solutions might be and also working 

with our tribes. 

44 

Senator JOHNSON. One last question. It seems to me that the 

level of education and income ought to be addressed along with 

health care. They are intertwined. As long as we lack education 

and income, we will have a problem with obesity among other 

things. Do you agree with that? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes. I think that in order for a person to be 

healthy, they need to be living a healthy life. And if they don’t 

know how to live a healthy life, then they don’t have a chance. In 

our communities, we have a problem with poor schools, we have 

problems with crime, we have problems with substance abuse. All 

of those things are barriers to the successful lives of our population. 

I look forward to working with our tribes to see if there are ways 

that we as the Indian Health Service can help provide more health 

education into the community. I think it is important that everybody should know how to eat healthy, how to make healthy choices, 

the importance of exercise. And to understand how the clinic works 

and make sure that they can get access to good quality care. 

So if confirmed, I look forward to working with you and our 

tribes on this problem as well. 

Senator JOHNSON. Thank you, I yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Johnson, thank you very much. 

Senator McCain? 

Senator MCCAIN. Congratulations again, Doctor, and we look forward to working with you on issues that you obviously have very 

in-depth knowledge of and are highly qualified to address. 

One of the problems that we have seen throughout my time on 

this Committee is the failure, at least perceived failure, on the part 

of the tribes to be adequately consulted when priorities are set by 

the Department of Health and Human Services and the Indian 

Health Service as well. So I think it is important, as you mentioned 

in one of your answers, that you travel to Indian Country as extensively as possible, particularly at the beginning of your tenure. 

As you know, most of the tribes that I know feel there is a big 

disconnect between Health and Human Services and the Indian 

Health Service and the tribal priorities. Sometimes I think those 

concerns are real, sometimes maybe not. It is just a lack of information flowing all the way to the tribal governments. 

Nearly $500 million in stimulus money goes to the Indian Health 

Service, as you know; $227 million of it will be spent on construction of IHS facilities. Will you have an input into what those priorities are? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Well, I am aware, and I am grateful for the 

funding in the stimulus package for facilities in the Indian health 

care system. What I can tell you is that upon confirmation and 

when I assume this office, I can look into this issue and look at 

how priorities are made for how this funding is going to be distributed. 

Senator MCCAIN. Do you know if those priorities have been established yet? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. I know that there are existing priority lists for 

facilities and maintenance and construction. I imagine that those 

existing priorities may have been used, but I am going to need to 

look into this more once if confirmed to be IHS Director. 

45 

Senator MCCAIN. I don’t know whether those decisions have been 

made or not, and maybe some of them are tentative. But let me 

recommend to you, $227 million for construction of IHS facilities, 

an additional $227 million, doesn’t come along very often. So let me 

be a little presumptuous and strongly recommend you jump right 

into that process now. 

As you know, there have been alot of projects on the priority list 

that have been on there for years and years and years. You also 

know that the construction projects are unfunded by nearly $3.5 

billion. As of fiscal year 2008, the maintenance backlog is estimated to be $408 million. 

So how this money is spent I think is very important. I would 

be very interested in how our Native American tribal leadership 

sets those priorities. A lot of times they don’t want to, because they 

don’t want to, as you well know, maybe alienate some other tribes 

by setting the priorities. But I think you should ask our tribal organizations what their priorities are, so that they are consulted. 

Finally, the issue of diabetes we are very well aware of. I think 

we also know that wellness and fitness plays a big role in that. You 

have seen it, as I have, time after time. So I hope you will devote 

some of your efforts on the issue of obesity, because we all know, 

you know better than I that the incidence increases dramatically. 

And that goes down to wellness and fitness. 

So I want to congratulate you. I am sure that your nomination 

will be held up and there will be great controversy surrounding it, 

but we will try and get it done as quickly as possible. I am sure 

the Chairman will agree. 

Thank you very much, Doctor, and thank you for your willingness to serve. We are very proud of you. 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator McCain, thank you very much. 

Senator Johanns. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE JOHANNS, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA 

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

Doctor, it is good to see you again. I of course had an opportunity 

to visit with you at some length and I appreciated that opportunity. 

And of course, I join with Senator McCain in saying congratulations and I wish you the very best. I am very anxious to work with 

you on issues important to Nebraska. 

Let me follow up on the issue of diabetes, which we had a conversation about. It is hard for me to imagine that we improve Indian health very much if we don’t address the issue of diabetes in 

a very meaningful sort of way. I go to a reservation in Nebraska, 

the Omaha reservation, and they have a dialysis center there, 

doing great things, doing exactly what you want them to do. Somebody shares with me that 40 to 50 percent of the adult population 

there has diabetes. And of course, that just brings everything with 

it, heart problems and it is just a bad deal. My father had adult 

onset diabetes. 

Give me some ideas, if you will, in terms of how do we attack 

that? How do we knock this rate down? What are some of the 

things that science or just good medical practices tell us that would 

46 

make a difference here? If you could be in charge of everything for 

a day, and resources were not an issue, which of course they always are, what would you do? What would you recommend to the 

Senate that we do? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. If confirmed, I would be pleased to work with 

you on this problem of diabetes in American Indians and Alaska 

Natives. You are correct, it is a huge problem. It is causing so 

much of a burden on our population and a huge part of the budget 

in the Indian Health Service is spent on the complications of diabetes. 

I think we can focus efforts in two areas, in both prevention and 

treatment. I think the Special Diabetes Program for Indians was 

a great start, but we clearly need to do more. I think we can do 

more efforts regarding prevention in our communities. Maybe we 

could do more prevention education in our schools with our children. Maybe we can do more education with our teenagers, more 

work with our tribes to make sure healthy foods are available in 

the grocery stores, to make sure that there is more exercise and 

safe walking paths so that people can be fit and healthy. So there 

is a lot we can do toward prevention. 

This is based on science. We know based on the Diabetes Prevention Program that lifestyle changes, including losing up to 7 percent of body weight through healthy eating and through regular exercise, not running marathons, but 30 minutes five days a week, 

can reduce the risk of diabetes by 58 percent. We know that is possible and being a scientist, I really believe in using evidence-based 

strategies to be able to improve the health of our population. 

So in the area of prevention, we know what to do, we just need 

to more of it. I think there is a lot of great lessons learned in the 

Special Diabetes Program for Indians. All of the great things that 

have been done there, and I would like us to share the lessons 

learned of that program as well. 

And again, treatment, we know what we need to do for diabetes. 

So if confirmed, I am looking forward to working with you all to 

see what else can we do to address this serious epidemic. And let’s 

turn it around as soon as possible. 

Senator JOHANNS. I appreciate the answer. I know many have 

worked on this issue for a long time. There is some great science 

out there. We do have a lot of answers. 

But I would just wrap up by saying, I really look forward to 

working with you on a whole host of issues. I have met with my 

tribes and they were very excited about you. My hope is that we 

can get you back to Nebraska some time. So I will just extend an 

invitation to you now, and I hope your schedule will permit that. 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Thank you very much. 

Senator JOHANNS. Okay, great. Thank you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Johanns, thank you very much. 

Dr. Roubideaux, the diabetes issue is a very important one. I 

began work on that so, so long ago, flying into the Three Affiliated 

Tribes on the Fort Berthold Reservation. I flew in on a small airplane one day with the late Mickey Leland, who later died in a 

plane crash in Ethiopia, I believe. I was on the Hunger Committee 

with Mickey when we were both in Congress. We began to take a 

47 

look at this issue of diabetes on Indian reservations in this Country, in addition to the hunger issues on Indian reservations. 

I am very interested in working with you, as I indicated earlier, 

and with other members of this Committee, on the diabetes issue. 

It is the case where it is not just double, triple, quadruple, but in 

some cases eight and ten times the national average. It affects virtually every other aspect of health care for American Indians who 

suffer from diabetes. So we have a number of programs, Special 

Program on Diabetes. The issue of detection, treatment and 

screenings and all of those issues are very important. This Committee, and I especially, want to spend a lot of time on that with 

my colleagues. 

A couple of quick points. Number one, our colleague, Senator 

Tester, raised the point, and I raised it with you yesterday or the 

day before, and that is, the Indian Health Service is in desperate 

need of good management. Your experience, your background 

would not be in managing a large organization. I think you would 

be the first to admit that you don’t come here saying, I have a lot 

of experience managing 15,000 people. 

But you come here with a lot of other great qualities, which commends me to very aggressively support you. But I think the number two spot that you are going to have to fill, will take someone 

with a very significant background in management. You and I had 

a long discussion about some of what I think is the incompetence 

in the bureaucracy, the structural cement through which you have 

to walk in the Indian Health Service to get things done. 

I think only with a very strong administrator working with you 

will you be successful to do that. Your response to that? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes, I agree with you. I need to have the highest quality people working with me, if I am confirmed as IHS Director, to help support all of the initiatives that we together want 

to implement. I know it is a large, complex organization. And I 

know that there is a lot to be done and there are enormous challenges. So I will definitely, if confirmed, I will go back and look at 

that position and look at the responsibilities and look at the possible candidates for that position and make a good choice. 

But also in terms of making sure we have great, effective managers in our system, I am going to make sure I take a look at all 

of our staff and do what I can to encourage their excellence as they 

work on these difficult, challenging problems. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, you and I talked about specifics, not specific people, but specific complaints, specific practices the other day. 

So I think I have alerted you to some of the concerns. I described 

to you circumstances where, an employee has had multiple, three 

or four or five EEOC complaints filed against them in the Indian 

Health Service, and on three or four occasions, the case is adjudicated against the Indian Health Service employee and that employee continues to be employed. 

In my judgment, it would take a nanosecond to decide, whatever 

it takes, we are going to get rid of employees like that. And I am 

hoping that you will go to this job dedicated, number one, to promoting Indian health and number two, to fixing the problems inside the Indian Health Service management structure. 

Are you familiar with the term locum tenens? 

48 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Yes, I am. 

The CHAIRMAN. And what is that? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. It means that you hire people under contract 

to come in for a short period of time to fill a vacancy. 

The CHAIRMAN. And when you are with the Indian Health Service at a facility, and you are trying to find a new doctor to come 

in, and you instead contract for a temporary doctor, how much 

more does that cost the Indian Health Service? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Oh, the cost of contracting for health care providers is enormous. It can be two to three times the cost of a regular health care provider. It is a huge drain on our resources. 

The CHAIRMAN. And how prevalent is that practice? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Unfortunately, because of the budget shortfalls 

that we have, some facilities are not able to recruit and retain the 

number of physicians and other health care staff that they need. 

But they still need to provide health care to the people in the community. 

So one option is to hire doctors under contract to come in for a 

period of time. I agree with you, the optimal solution would be that 

all of the doctors work in the clinic and are there for long periods 

of time. But unfortunately, the resources in the Indian Health 

Service are woefully inadequate. So what happens is we have staffing shortages. 

The CHAIRMAN. I understand that. One of the first things I’d like 

you to do when you are confirmed, and I believe you will be, would 

be to report to this Committee the amount of money that is spent 

in these locum tenens, temporary doctors program. My understanding is, and I accept the fact that sometimes it is hard to find 

a doctor to come to one of these facilities. 

But if the absence of finding a doctor means you go out and hire 

a temporary doctor and pay twice as much money, and my understanding is that is not unusual at all. If that is the case, if we are 

short of money for health care, and paying twice as much for doctors because we are hiring temporary doctors through contracting 

firms, and in some cases, some of them are only doing it through 

one special, preferred firm, and again paying double for the doctor’s 

services, I am wondering whether that is a very smart way to handle the taxpayers’ money. 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. Well, I am looking forward to working with you 

on finding solutions to our shortages with health care providers. I 

would prefer that we hired health care providers that were in the 

clinics, lived in the community, who were there, so that we could 

provide continuity of care for our patients. We would provide better 

quality care if we could do that. But we are short of resources, and 

I look forward to working with your Committee, if confirmed, to 

finding solutions to how we can get more resources for staff that 

we can hire, and incentives, not only to recruit those providers, but 

also to retain them. 

It is very challenging to work in a rural area. You are out in the 

middle of nowhere, there is a lack of resources, you are away from 

major city areas. There are a number of very great, wonderful, 

dedicated health care providers that are working in our clinics who 

need much more recognition, especially the ones who have been in 

49 

for 10, 20, 30 years. Because they have demonstrated a commitment to improving health for our people. 

So yes, I am looking forward to, if confirmed, working with you 

on this problem. 

The CHAIRMAN. But I might also say, Dr. Roubideaux, that it 

might be hard to recruit doctors to work in poorly managed facilities. It might be that a doctor might take a look at a facility and 

say, you know what, that is the last place in the world I want to 

work. It doesn’t have anything to do with the community, just talk 

to people who work there. 

I say that because I have visited facilities, I will give you a couple of examples. I visited a facility in which the doctor that took 

me around was wonderful. I was deeply impressed by the doctor, 

overworked, waiting room full, not good facilities. The doctor said, 

here is where the new x-ray machine is going to go. He showed me 

the space they had prepared for it. 

And I said, when is it coming? He said, I don’t know. He said, 

it was approved I think two years ago, and it is all ready, but the 

paper has not been signed by the regional office. I said, how long 

has that been? He said, oh, a long, long time. It just sits there and 

has never been signed. I said, Doctor, that is unbelievable. You say 

it is approved and is awaiting a signature at a regional office and 

it has been sitting there? He said, absolutely. He said, it just drives 

us crazy, because this should be here. This should be here to help 

my practice. 

So I mean, I think past the difficulty of recruiting is also the bureaucracy that exists in the system. We have a hospital that is 

right now not taking patients into the hospital. And that hospital 

is diverting patients elsewhere because it doesn’t have proper staffing, it has a serious set of management problems. 

But it is not because people don’t know about it. I went there, 

sat around the table with all of the people that ran the hospital, 

asked the regional director of health care to come to that town and 

sit around the table with me. That was over a year ago. Things 

have gotten worse, not better. It is very frustrating. 

So I told you at the start of this, you face a big challenge, and 

you are going to have to be tough to try to fix some of these things. 

Because the fact is, we can’t let these things continue. The existing 

or former head of the Indian Health Service pledged that he was 

going to fix this last problem I described. It has not gotten fixed, 

it has gotten worse. 

Somehow, not even the head office seems to be able to manage 

a regional office that is just stuck in the glue of its own incompetence. So that is not a question, that is just an observation. You 

can probably understand my frustration just by the description of 

what we have done. 

We are going to need your help to work together to write a new 

Indian Health Care Improvement bill. We are determined to do 

that, we have brought on a new staff person here in the Indian Affairs Committee. The minority and majority staff work together on 

this Committee for common purpose. We are going to write a bill. 

We hope to get a bipartisan bill through the Senate once again. 

And we are going to do this in a couple of stages. We will write 

a typical improvement bill that is better than the last one, because 

50 

we will now have some ability to do that. Then we are going to do 

something even more than that. We are going to try to step up toward a broader reform. If we can offer cards for Medicare, and we 

have signed the line on treaties to say to the Indian folks, we have 

taken your land, we have given you reservations, we promised you 

health care. If we have done those things and intend to keep those 

promises, and we should, then there isn’t any reason we ought not 

give them some alternatives for health care as well. And that is a 

card to go to a hospital somewhere, or some other facility, whether 

it be Indian Health or some other health care facility to meet their 

health care needs. 

So that represents a second piece of reform. I want to work with 

my colleagues, Senator Johnson, Senator Johanns. Senator Johnson, for example, he understands, I think Senator Johanns does as 

well, because they have the same geographical circumstance. Indian reservations in our area are not located near a big metropolitan area. So Indian Health Service represents the preferred and 

the first and often the only circumstance where Native Americans 

can access health care. 

I didn’t mean to give a presentation here, but I am going to really lean on your advice and help as we prepare our Committee 

members and our staff work to prepare some improvements in Indian health care. We hope very much in this session of Congress, 

finally, at last, at long, long last, we will get that done. 

Do you have any concluding comments, Dr. Roubideaux? 

Dr. ROUBIDEAUX. I would just like to say thank you, Chairman 

Dorgan, and the rest of the Committee, for having this opportunity 

to talk about American Indian and Alaska Native health today. I 

know there are enormous challenges, I know there are problems. 

But if confirmed, I am really looking forward to working with you 

to find solutions, so that we can say that we have all contributed 

to improving the health of American Indian and Alaska Native people. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, let me end on a positive note as well. All 

it not hopeless. I think the fact that someone with great qualifications will step forward to say, let me be part of fixing things, that 

gives me great cause for hope. And you do inherit thousands of people in that system who today, right now, are working, going door 

to door in their clinic, helping people, terrific people. My compliments to them and God bless them for doing it. 

So there are a lot of assets and a good foundation to build upon. 

So all is not lost here. If we work together, we can fix what’s 

wrong, we can improve it and we can make it right. This hearing 

gives me hope that you are willing to serve and willing to help us 

make a difference. 

Senator Johnson, anything further? Senator Johanns? 

All right. Thank you very much. This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:15 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

(51) 

A P P E N D I X 


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Æ 


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