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FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2003

Indian Health Service (IHS) programs are among the highest rated in the federal government, agency officials said this week.

In formulating the Bush administration's new budget, Dr. Charles Grim said the White House looked at the performance of two IHS programs. Through the Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART, sanitation construction received a score of 80 while direct health service was put at 77.

"When you average the two, we have the highest rating in all of the Department of Health and Human Services," Grim, the IHS interim director, said in an interview on Wednesday after testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about his agency's fiscal year 2004 budget request.

IHS officials believe the favorable marks are reflected in a $2.9 billion budget that even Grim has labeled "austere." Sanitation, contract health services and a program that will enable tribes to raise wages for their health care staff were the beneficiaries of an additional $130 million being sought to improve the health and well-being of more than 1 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

"We think there was a correlation," said Grim.

Tribal leaders aren't so sure. Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), says the PART system doesn't take into account the federal government's trust responsibilities.

"This is a legal requirement," he said. "These are acts of Congress, these are Supreme Court case decisions, these are commitments and there are treaties."

Hall met with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last week in hopes of getting a better handle of the rating system being used throughout the federal government, with negative consequences for Indian Country. Rural water programs at the Department of Interior, for example, were zeroed out because the OMB found their performance less than adequate.

Hall wasn't convinced that the good scores for IHS were beneficial. "Then why aren't they getting more money?" he questioned.

By Grim's own account, the 2004 IHS request is only 0.7 percent above the level contained in the omnibus appropriations act that was signed into law last month.

The PART ratings are an integral component of the President's budget," according to OMB director Mitch Daniels. "Agencies have dedicated considerable time and effort to develop program effectiveness and accountability ratings using the PART," he wrote in a January 14 memo. "This rating process generated a great deal of interesting and useful information."

Relevant Documents:
OMB Memo (January 14, 2003)

Relevant Links:
Indian Health Service - http://www.ihs.gov
Department of Health and Human Services - http://www.hhs.gov

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