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The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium building, photographed in October 2021 in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes \/ ADN) <\/p>\nThe Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium building, photographed in October 2021 in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes \/ ADN) <\/p>\n
The largest Alaska Native healthcare provider in the state will receive hundreds of millions of dollars after the federal government settled a lawsuit over claims it owed the organization years of unpaid expenses.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $400 million settlement with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the nation\u2019s largest Native health organization. The settlement follows a 2021 lawsuit in which the tribal health organization said the Indian Health Service failed to reimburse the consortium for support costs over nearly a decade. <\/p>\n
Attorneys representing the consortium, also called ANTHC, told a federal court they were dismissing the case July 9 because a settlement had been reached. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis settlement marks an important step toward ensuring that resources accurately reflect the true cost of operating a complex Tribal health system and advancing self-determination in healthcare,\u201d Natasha Singh, president and CEO of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, wrote in a statement. \u201cElements of ANTHC\u2019s settlement are still being finalized, but this gives us a stronger foundation to expand access, improve care, support our workforce, and make thoughtful long-term investments to advance the health of Alaska Native and American Indian people.\u201d <\/p>\n
Other terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. <\/p>\n
The settlement \u201cprovides the consortium with support and autonomy for the healthcare services they provide to American Indians and Alaska Natives,\u201d acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. <\/p>\n
Anticipating the settlement, the consortium \u201ccommitted resources\u201d to ongoing projects including expansion of the hospital it co-operates, the construction of a skilled nursing facility and technology improvements, according to the ANTHC statement. <\/p>\n
The federal government owed the tribal healthcare provider about $634 million for unreimbursed overhead, or \u201ccontract support\u201d costs, for all fiscal years between 2014 and 2022 except 2015, ANTHC said in an amended civil complaint filed last year. <\/p>\n
Those costs were related to the consortium\u2019s billing third parties like Medicare and private insurance for patient care and unreimbursed costs that could include financial audits and management, required by the Indian Health Service, ANTHC said in the civil complaint. <\/p>\n
ANTHC, which operates the Alaska Native Medical Center with Southcentral Foundation, was established as a nonprofit in 1998 and now provides healthcare for more than 175,000<\/a> Alaska Native and Indigenous people. It also provides other services, like climate change mitigation resources, research and water and sanitation system construction, according to its website. <\/p>\n The lawsuit that prompted the federal settlement involved payments for services the Indian Health Service previously provided but were now managed by the consortium, through partnerships with dozens of tribal health organizations around the state under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. <\/p>\n That act gave tribes and organizations more autonomy<\/a> to design services that best fit them and allowed them to receive money meant for direct services, like Indian Health Service healthcare, and instead provide it themselves.<\/p>\n Tribes or tribal entities that offer healthcare with Indian Health Service funding will often bill third parties, like Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance, for those costs, the same as non-tribal providers. The Indian Health Service also required certain costs for third-party billing to comply with self-determination contract rules but had refused to reimburse tribes for those expenses, according to<\/a> the Pacific Northwest law firm Schwabe. <\/p>\n Those unreimbursed expenses, ANTHC said, could include financial management or audit expenses and personnel or facility expenses, according to the civil complaint. <\/p>\n Numerous other tribes and tribal organizations<\/a> nationwide have made similar claims. <\/p>\n