December 16, 2014  |  Issue 14-37

 

 UPCOMING EVENTS  

 

 

All Tribes Call with IHS Director

December 16, 2014

3pm EST

 

AI/AN Native Youth Webinar

December 17, 2014

8pm EST

 

IHS Tribal Self-Governance Advisory Committee 
January 28, 2015

Washington, DC

 

NIHB Tribal Public Health Summit 

April 7-9, 2015

Palm Springs, CA

 

NIHB Annual Consumer Conference

September 21-24, 2015

Washington, DC

 
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In This Issue

Capitol Hill Updates
A

On Saturday, December 13, the U.S. Senate cleared an omnibus appropriations package that will keep the majority of the federal government (including the Indian Health Service) funded through September 30, 2015. The final vote on the legislation was 56-40. In the Senate, 31 Democrats and 24 Republicans, majorities for both parties, supported it.  

 

Specifically, the provisions for Indian Health Service Include:

  • $4.6 billion in FY 2015. This is $208 million above the FY 2014 level.
  • $4.2 billion is provided for services 
  • $460.2 million for facilities
  • $914 million for Purchased/ Referred Care (formerly known as Contract Health Services) This is a $35 million increase from FY 2014. 
  • $663 million  for Contract Support Costs (CSC). This amount includes increased CSC for FY 2015 but also funds to repay other budget line items which were reprogrammed to cover the FY 2014 CSC shortfall.  
Please stay tuned to NIHB in the coming days for specific details on the FY 2015 Indian Health Service budget. 

 

B
Congress Repeals Section 910 of the Violence Against Women Act
On December 11, Congress passed S. 1474 which repeals Section 910 of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  This provision prohibited Alaska Tribes from exercising Special Domestic Violence Jurisdiction over non-Indian domestic violence offenders. This action is a major victory for Alaska Native Tribes.  

Last year, the Indian Law and Order Commission, a bipartisan advisory board, called the Alaska exemption "unconscionable". 
Administration Updates
D

Webinar:  American Indian/Alaska Native Youth and the ACA

Please join representatives from the White House, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, United National Tribal Indian Youth (UNITY) and the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) for a Webinar/Call on "What Native Youth need to know about the Affordable Care Act". The webinar/call will take place on Wednesday, December 17th at 8 PM EST. Below you will find an agenda as well as the Webinar link and the Call-In Information.  In addition, the Power Point can be found here

 

Call-In Number:  (855) 897-8197

Webinar link:  http://www.cmsitutrainings.net/

 

AGENDA

Welcome and Opening

  • Raina Thiele, Associate Director, Intergovernmental Affairs
  • Jared Massey,Program Support Assistant, UNITY, Inc.

Affordable Care Act and Native Youth

    • April Hale and Dawn Coley, National Indian Health Board

ACA and Youth Led Outreach

  • Aaron Payment, Chairman, Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians; and At Large Member HHS Secretary's Tribal Advisory Committee
  • Raina Thiele, Associate Director, Intergovernmental Affairs

Question and Answer Session


 

Closing and Recap

    • Stacey Ecoffey, Principal Advisor for Tribal Affairs, HHS Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs
G

Please join Dr. Yvette Roubideaux the Acting Director for the Indian Health Service (IHS) for an IHS update by teleconference on Tuesday, December 16 at 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Eastern.

 

DIAL-IN NUMBER:

800-369-1880

 

PASSCODE

7650553

 

Note:  This call is off the record and not for press purposes.  Please dial in 5-10 minutes early to avoid any delays in joining the call.


H
CMS Issues Proposed Rule Regarding Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2016

On November 26th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, (CMS) issued a proposed rule, "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2016," that announced a number of new benefits for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN).  In the proposed rule, CMS is establishing a requirement for Qualified Health Plan (QHP) issuers to prepare a summary of Benefits and Coverage for each plan variation that they offered.  

 

This is beneficial to AI/ANs who will be better able to compare plans and fully understand the type of coverage that is available to them.  In addition the proposed rule will also urge QHPs to offer contracts to all Indian health care providers in their network and to include all the special terms and conditions under Federal law pertaining to Indian Health Care Providers, otherwise referred to as the "Indian Addendum."  These proposed changes are a direct result of NIHB's advocacy efforts in these areas.  NIHB applauds CMS for making these proposed changes but will continue to advocate that the inclusion of the "Indian Addendum" be a mandatory requirement.

 

Comments are due on December 22, 2014.  NIHB and the Tribal Technical Advisory Group to CMS (TTAG) are in the process of constructing comments for this proposed rule.  For more information or a copy of NIHB's comments, please contact Devin Delrow at 202-507-4072 or at [email protected]

 

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