Indian Health Care Improvement Act

(Measure passed House, amended, roll call #578 (310-9))

Indian Health Care Improvement Act - =Title I: Indian Health Manpower= - Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, acting through the Indian Health Service, to make grants to public or nonprofit private health or educational entities of Indian tribes or tribal organizations to assist such entities in meeting the costs of, among other items, identifying Indians with a potential for education or training in the health professions and encouraging and assisting them to enroll in health professions schools, or to undertake postsecondary education or training to qualify them to so enroll. Authorizes appropriations from fiscal year 1978 through fiscal year 1984 for such grants.

Authorizes two-year scholarship grants to Indians who completed high school and have demonstrated the capability of completing a course of study in a health professions school. Authorizes appropriations from fiscal year 1978 through fiscal year 1984 for such grants.

Authorizes appropriations through fiscal year 1984 for the Health Professions Scholarship Program. Gives priority to Indians for such scholarships. Permits the service requirement of such scholarships to be met by service in the Service in an urban Indian health program under this Act or by private practice in an area of physician shortage which will serve Indians.

Authorizes appropriations through fiscal year 1984 for the Service extern programs.

=Title II: Health Services= - Authorizes expenditures through the Service over a seven-year period for patient care, field health, dental care, mental health, inpatient mental health services, model dormitory mental health services, therapeutic and residential treatment centers, treatment and control of alcoholism among Indians, and maintenance and repair.

=Title III: Health Facilities= - Authorizes expenditures through the Service over a seven-year period for the construction and renovation of hospitals, health centers, health stations, and other facilities of the Service. Authorizes the equipping and staffing of such facilities. Requires consultation with affected Indian tribes before such funds are expended.

Authorizes expenditures over a seven-year period to supply unmet needs for safe water and sanitary waste disposal facilities in existing and new Indian homes and communities. Gives preference to Indian firms (including those owned by federally recognized tribes in the State of New York) in construction or renovation of facilities and safe water and sanitary waste disposal facilities authorized by this Act.

=Title IV: Access to Health Services= - Makes hospitals and skilled nursing facilities of the Indian Health Service, whether operated by the Service or a tribal organization, eligible for Medicare reimbursement payments. Makes such hospitals and facilities eligible, if not in compliance with Federal standards, for 12 months after submitting a plan for achieving compliance. Requires the Secretary to use such payments for making improvements in such hospitals and facilities to bring them into compliance.

Authorizes Medicaid reimbursement payments to the States for health services to Indians. Sets the Medicaid assistance at 100 percent for services received through a Service facility.

=Title V: Health Services for Urban Indians= - Authorizes contracts with urban Indian organizations to assist them in establishing and administering programs to meet urban Indian health needs. Sets forth requirements of eligibility for such organizations to enter into such contracts, including that such organizations provide assistance to public and private health service resources in serving Indians, aid in familarization of Indians with available services, determine the size of the Indian populations served by such organizations, determine the extent of unmet health care needs of such populations, and determine the feasibility of providing services through such organizations to meet the purposes of this Act.

Permits Indian organizations to utilize existing Federal facilities in connection with such contracts.

Authorizes appropriation for purposes of this title of $5,000,000 in fiscal year 1978, $10,000,000 in fiscal year 1979, and $15,000,000 in fiscal year 1980.

=Title VI: American Indian School of Medicine= - Directs the Secretary to study the need for and feasibility of establishing a school of medicine to train Indians to provide health services to Indians. Requires a report within one year on such study to the Congress.

=Title VII:= Requires specific reviews and reports on programs under this Act to be submitted to the Congress.

Prescribes procedures for implementation of regulations and a plan to effectuate the provisions of this Act.