The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on cooperation between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service.

The VA and the IHS have been working together to the improve the delivery of services to American Indian and Alaska Native veterans. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), a member of the committee, wants to know how the effort is going.

Witnesses include Kevin Howlett, the director of health for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana, and Buck Richardson, the minority program coordinator with the Rocky Mountain Healthcare Network in Montana.

Richardson said Montana has become a model for Indian veterans' health care. The state has nine tribal veteran representatives, or TVRs, and has a telemedicine program that serves five reservations.

The hearing takes place at 10am in Room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Get the Story:
Advocates share Indian vet health care successes (The Helena Independent Record 11/4)

Committee Notice:
Hearing: VA and Indian Health Service Cooperation (November 5, 2009)

Related Stories:
Veterans Affairs hearing on cooperation with IHS (11/2)