The headquarters of the Spirit Lake Nation in Fort Totten, North Dakota. Photo from SLN
The Spirit Lake Nation is vowing to make improvements at an Indian Health Service facility on the reservation. The tribe took over operations at the Spirit Lake Health Center in Fort Totten on Wednesday. Patients should see shorter wait times because more staff are being brought in, the director of nursing said. Services are also being expanded. “That's going to open up quite a few more clinic time slots for patients so we should be able to take the ones that had been booked out further like into August and September and beyond and move all move all of those patients up to be seen sooner,” Sharon Whitmer told WDAZ. The tribe is the first in the Great Plains Area to enter into a self-governance compact with the IHS. Others in the region rely on the IHS to provide direct services as required by their treaties and other agreements. More tribes have expressed interested in compacts and have asked the IHS for assistance with the process. Get the Story:
Tribe takes over Spirit Lake health care services (WDAZ 6/3) Federal Register Notice:
Notice of Tribal Consultation and Urban Confer Sessions on the State of the Great Plains Area Indian Health Service (June 3, 2016) Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Notice:
Oversight/Legislative FIELD Hearing on "Improving Accountability and Quality of Care at the Indian Health Service though S. 2953." (June 17, 2016) Government Accountability Office Report:
INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE: Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Patient Wait Times (April 29, 2016) Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Report:
In Critical Condition: The urgent need to reform the Indian Health Service’s Aberdeen Area (December 2010)
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