Written by Leslie McLove | Photos by NHBP Tribal Member and Photographer Johnathon Moulds

13 months after being sworn in as the Director of the Indian Health Service (IHS), Roselyn Tso (Navajo Nation) continued her tour across Indian Country by visiting The Pine Creek Indian Reservation for a tribal consultation session.  

The goal for this trip was for Tso to better understand the infrastructure of NHBP’s three tribal health centers and their needs and challenges, as well as the general issues that tribal, urban and federal health care providers face.

“I appreciated the opportunity to hear from the Tribal Council, the executive health board and health center staff about your tribal priorities and concerns,” said Tso.

An agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), IHS serves as the principal federal health care provider of health care services for American Indians and Alaska Natives. As its director, Tso leads a nationwide health care delivery system responsible for providing preventive, curative and community health care to approximately 2.7 million Native American and Alaska Natives in hospitals, clinics and other settings throughout the U.S. (1)

Tribal consultation sessions are designed to provide tribal leaders and health directors with the opportunity to address HHS on how the Department can improve tribal outreach and coordination, as well as programmatic and policy issues and concerns with Tribes.

According to its current strategic plan, IHS will use the information from such visits to address challenges and build on progress to support best practices and innovative approaches to health care. Hopefully, by addressing these challenges, IHS can help its facilities strengthen management operations, improve communication and inform leadership as they set priorities for the agency.

On October 18, 2023, Tso and her administrative staff sat down with NHBP Council Chairperson Jamie Stuck, NHBP CEO Barry Skutt, Jr., Bemidji Area Director Daniel Frye, NHBP Health and Human Services Director Rosalind Johnston, Pine Creek Health Clinic Medical Director Lisa Hoekstra, MD, and NHBP HHSD staff.

The afternoon was spent in an open discussion. This session allowed NHBP to express their concerns and share information as they collaborate with IHS to serve its Tribal Members. The topics discussed included the need for a more user-friendly IHS website so the NHBP HHSD can access information and training modules easily.

Another important topic of discussion was the increasing Native American user-patient population data for the Grand Rapids Health Center.

“There needs to be a better funding structure for the Grand Rapids clinic,” said Johnston. “We need to look at the user population at this county and make sure it’s appropriately funded in order to continue to provide the level of quality services that exist in Grand Rapids.”

Lastly, the group held a transparent conversation on the need for a more efficient Electronic Health Records (EHR) system, as IHS’s current Resource and Patient Management System (RPMS) does not functionally meet the needs of NHBP HHSD.

“We have struggled with the RPMS system. We have moved away from it and use a commercial product instead, which has required a lot of resources from NHBP,” said Johnston. “There has to be some way for Tribes to optimize some sort of EHR that will work for us in the Indian Health Service setting now.”

Tso took the time to address each of the concerns raised by Johnston, provided an update to NHBP on the status of each of these issues, and explained what steps IHS is taking now for future issues.

Everyone agreed that in order to make improvements, they would all have to work together to overcome these issues.

“Thank you for the engagement. We appreciate your being front and center and making the time to be available and engaged with leaders; that means a lot to us,” said Stuck.

After the discussion, Tso received a tour of the Pine Creek Health Center, Government Center, as well as The Pine Creek Indian Reservation.

NHBP HHSD continues to work tirelessly to ensure that Tribal Members are provided the high-quality, culturally appropriate patient care they deserve and looks forward to working with Tso and IHS to continue delivering on IHS’s mission of raising the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level.

For more information on how to become a patient at one of the three health care facilities of NHBP, please visit https://nhbp-nsn.gov/health-and-human-services/.

Source:

1. HHS Announces Roselyn Tso as Director of the Indian Health Service, September 2022; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Website: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/09/30/hhs-announces-roselyn-tso-director-indian-health-service.html