Title
Future Public Health Delivery Models For Native American Tribes
Keywords
Access to care; Native Americans; Public health professionals; Survey; Tribes
Abstract
Background: More and more Native American tribes are assuming control of their own public health care delivery systems by contracting the functions of the Indian Health Service (IHS) through the provisions of P.L. (public law) 93-638, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. In doing this, some Native American tribes are making decisions to create or plan their own departments of public health. In Arizona, the Gila River Indian Community has already established its own department of public health and the Navajo Nation is in the planning stages of establishing its own department of public health. Methods and results: This paper proposes three public health organizational delivery models to meet the public health needs of small, medium, and large Native American tribes. Information for these models was derived from interviews with officials associated with the Arizona Department of Health Services and leaders of Native American tribes. These models progress in size and complexity as we move from small to medium to large tribes. Conclusions: (a) service delivery should focus on both preventative and curative services; (b) services should be developed with input from the underserved population; (c) members of underserved populations should be trained to provide service to their communities; (d) one model of health service delivery will not be appropriate for all underserved populations; and (e) different models are required to respond to differing cultures, populations, and geographic locations. © 2006 The Royal Institute of Public Health.
Publication Date
4-1-2007
Publication Title
Public Health
Volume
121
Issue
4
Number of Pages
296-307
Document Type
Article
Personal Identifier
scopus
DOI Link
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2006.11.005
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
33947255701 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/33947255701
STARS Citation
Allison, M. T.; Rivers, P. A.; and Fottler, M. D., "Future Public Health Delivery Models For Native American Tribes" (2007). Scopus Export 2000s. 6824.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus2000/6824