In This Issue

On January 17th, Congress passed an appropriations bill to fund the Federal government for the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014.  As you may recall, the FY 2014 appropriations act provides an additional $303.7 million above the FY 2013 sequestration level.

The law removed caps on Contract Support Costs (CSC) and created a way for the Indian Health Service (IHS) and Bureau of Indian Affairs to fully fund CSC in 2014. Given the parameters of the legislative language, the "way" to fully fund CSC was by moving money from other IHS and BIA line items into CSC.

Last week IHS released their FY 2014 operating plan which specifies the funding for each spending account for the remainder of the fiscal year.  The plan fully funds Contract Support Costs and makes reductions in other areas from FY 2013.  Accounts receiving those reductions for FY 2014 include Self-governance ($1 million), Tribal Management ($1 million) and Indian Health Professions ($5 million).

The Tribal Management Grant (TMG) program provides assistance to federally-recognized Tribes and tribally-sanctioned Tribal organizations in assuming all or part of existing IHS programs, services, functions, and activities (PSFAs) through a Title I contract and assists established Title I contractors and Title V compactors in further developing and improving their management capability. The Self-Governance budget allows for the execution of IHS Tribal Self-Governance Programs including funding required for Tribal Shares; oversight of the IHS Director's Agency Lead negotiators; technical assistance on tribal consultation activities; analysis of Indian Health Care Improvement Act new authorities; and funding to support the activities of the IHS Director's Tribal Self-Governance Advisory Committee. The Indian Health Professions account provides scholarships and student loan repayment for medical professionals who commit to work at IHS.

At the Direct Service Advisory Committee meeting last week, Acting IHS Director Dr. Yvette Roubideaux explained that IHS is developing a plan for how the cuts will be implemented during FY 2014. Please click here, to find a chart that compares FY 2014 with previous years' funds.

On Friday, during a conference call with the White House, Dr. Roubideaux announced that the President's budget for FY 2015 (to be officially released on March 4, 2014) will also fully fund CSC and provide a $200 million increase for IHS. The overall budget request will be $4.6 billion for IHS.

Last week, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) met with key Indian Country advocates to discuss the current state of the Special Diabetes Program (SDPI) for Indians legislation.

NIHB was especially honored to be joined by former Gila River Governor Richard Narcia. Narcia began the meeting by sharing some of his tribe's experiences with diabetes and how SDPI programs have shaped those experiences. Gila River has one of the highest rates of Type II diabetes in the world, and has two dialysis facilities on the reservation. He went on to discuss how SDPI programs have played a big part in combatting diabetes, with several education programs focused on prevention and education impacting his community. Narcia also added that the Gila River tribal council recently discussed what options they would have if funding were to ever go away. They were uncertain if they would be able to succeed in putting the funding together.

The Special Diabetes Program (SDP) and SDPI is usually renewed as part of the "Medicare Extenders" which attach to the "Doc Fix." As many of you know, SDPI is set to expire on September 30th of this year. Last fall, a letter supporting renewal of SDP/SDPI experienced wide bi-partisan support. Seventy five percent of the House and Senate signed onto the letter. Then, on December 12th, 2013 the Senate Finance Committee passed a bill (S. 1871) that would renew SDPI for five years at $150 million per year. However, the bill has yet to be considered by the full Senate. The House of Representatives has not considered the Medicare Extender legislation.

NIHB will be advocating that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have SDP/SDPI renewed permanently as part of the extension by March 31st of this year. SDPI programs will start losing staff if funding is either unstable or only partially renewed. This would be detrimental to the infrastructure that has been built since the start of the program. Because SDPI is a grant program, IHS will need four months to advertise and complete the grant. This means that the notice must go out on June 1st of this year in order for programs to get funding on October 1st.

Please contact your member of Congress and ask them to ensure that SDPI is included as part of any temporary or permanent Doc Fix legislation by March 31st.

Indian Health Service (IHS) will hold its annual Tribal Budget Formulation this week on February 26-27.

The session will offer an opportunity for Tribes to voice their most critical budget needs for FY 2016. Please note that IHS will not be providing a 1/2 day orientation for new Tribal representatives at the beginning of the session.  These sessions have already been conducted during the Area Budget Formulations; if any Area Representative has not attended this orientation, the Tribal Co-chairs strongly recommend that you contact their Area office budget officer to receive this prior to attending the national work session. You can view the draft agenda here .

The location for the Budget Formulation is:

Washington Marriott Wardman Park

2660 Woodley Road NW

Washington DC 20008

Tel:  202.328.2000 | Fax: 202.234.0015

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will hold their annual Tribal Budget consultation at HHS Headquarters in Washington DC on March 6-7th 2014. The address is 200 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20201.  

The two-day session will include one-on-one sessions and a Tribal Resource Day on Thursday, March 6, 2014, and the Annual Tribal Budget Consultation session on March 7, 2014.

The Tribal Resource session on March 6, is designed to give an overview of the programs, grants, and services that the Department provides to tribes. This session will be held from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Also on March 6, the Department will hold one-on-one meetings with HHS Divisions for to share their specific health and human service issues with HHS officials. These meetings will occur from noon to 5:00 p.m. Officials from various HHS agencies will be available to listen and contribute to the conversation. To register for one-on-one meeting time, please email your request, and include the agency/agencies you would like to meet to [email protected]. All requests for one-on-one meetings must be received by Wednesday, February 26, 2014.

On Friday, March 7, 2014, HHS will hold its annual consultation process. Please click here to view the most recent agenda. Please click here for more information from HHS on this year's consultation and a summary of last year's.

Please contact Caitrin Shuy with NIHB for at [email protected] or (202) 507-4085 with any questions.