The Indian Health Service (IHS) has released its Fiscal Year 2011 Report to Congress on Administration of the Tribal Self-Governance Program (Report) for comment. The IHS is required by law to submit such a report to Congress annually, and to seek tribal comments for inclusion in the final Report. The full Report and the letter from IHS seeking tribal comments are attached to this memorandum.
By statute, certain information must be presented in the Report, including an analysis of the level of need being funded or unfunded for each tribe under self-determination contracts, compacts, and funding agreements with the IHS. The Report should also include the relative costs and benefits of self-governance; funds expended on the provision of services by the IHS as well as funds transferred to each self-governance tribe; the funding formula used to determine tribal shares of all Headquarters funds; and a description of the methods used to determine tribal shares of funds controlled by all components of the IHS.
The IHS allocates tribal shares for most Headquarters programs through a “Tribal Size Adjustment” formula, where each tribe’s share of funds is determined in proportion to user population, with a small supplemental amount for tribes of less than 2,500 users. Special program formulas apply to certain IHS programs, including Contract Health Services (based on a Fiscal Intermediary formula using a tribe’s percent of the 1993 total claims) and the Office of Environmental Health and Engineering, Environmental Health Services Support (based on a tribe’s pro-rata share of the Area Environmental Health Services workload). Tribal comments on these funding formulas must be included with the final Self-Governance report to Congress.
Comments must be submitted by October 19, 2012, via email to sgreport@ihs.gov or by postal mail to the Director of Indian Health Service at
801 Thompson Ave., Suite 440, Rockville, MD 20852.
Please let us know if you would like further information on the Report or assistance drafting comments.
