Indian Health Care Improvement Act

Summary

Indian Health Care Improvement Act - States that the Congress declares that it is the policy of this Nation, in fulfillment of its special responsibilities and legal obligation to the American Indian people, to meet the national goal of providing the highest possible health status to Indians and to provide existing Indian health services with all resources necessary to effect that policy. Defines the terms used in this Act. Title I: Indian Health Manpower - Authorizes 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 or Indian tribes or tribal organizations to assist such entities in meeting the costs of: (1) identifying Indians with a potential for education or training in the health professions and encouraging and assisting them; (2) publicizing existing sources of financial aid available to Indians enrolled in any medical or health-related school referred to in this Act are undertaking training necessary to qualify them to enroll in any such school; or (3) establishing other programs which the Secretary determines will enhance and facilitate the enrollment of Indians, and the subsequent pursuit and completion by them of courses of study, in any school referred to in this act. Authorizes to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of the five fiscal years after enactment of this Act for payment of such grants. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Service, to make scholarship grants for up to two years to Indians who: (1) have successfully completed their high school education or high school equivalency; and (2) have demonstrated the capability to successfully complete courses of study in schools of medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, or allied health professions. Authorizes appropriations for scholarship grants of $2,000,000 for the first fiscal year after enactment of this Act; $4,000,000 for the second fiscal year; and $6,000,000 for each of the three succeeding fiscal years. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Service, to make scholarship grants to individuals who are enrolled in schools of medicine, osteopathy, denistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, or allied health professions, and who agree to provide their professional services to Indians after the completion of their professional training. Authorizes appropriations for such grants of $8,000,000 for the first fiscal year after enactment of this Act; $16,000,000 for the second fiscal year; $22,000,000 for the third fiscal year; $30,000,000 for the fourth fiscal year; $34,000,000 for the fifth fiscal year; and, for each succeeding fiscal year, such sums as may be necessary to continue to make scholarship grants under this section to individuals who have received such grants prior to the end of the fifth fiscal year and who are eligible for such grants during each such succeeding fiscal year. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Service, to make grants to individuals, nonprofit entities, appropriate public or private agencies, educational institutions, or Indian tribes and tribal organizations to enable the recipients of such grants to establish and carry out programs to train individuals so as to enable them to provide their services to Indians. Authorizes to be appropriated to carry out the provisions of this section $1,000,000 for each of the five fiscal years after enactment of this Act. States that the Secretary, may provide allowances to health professionals employed in the Service to enable them for a period of time each year prescribed by regulation of the Secretary to take leave of their duty stations for professional consultation and refresher training courses. Title II: Health Services - Authorizes the Secretary to expend specific amounts of funds over a five-year fiscal period for the following health services: (1) patient care, (2) field health, excluding dental care, (3) dental care, (4) mental health, (5) treatment and control of alcoholism, (6) provision of health care personnel in primary and secondary Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and (7) maintenance and repair. Title III: Health Facilities - Authorizes the Secretary to expend $561,000,000 over a five-fiscal-year period in order to eliminate inadequate, outdated, and otherwise unsatisfactory service hospitals, health centers, health stations, and other service facilities. Authorizes the Secretary to expend $378,000,000 within a five-fiscal-year period following the enactment of this Act, to supply unmet needs for safe water and sanitary waste disposal facilities in existing and new Indian homes and communities. Title IV: Access to Health Services - Provides that the Secretary may enter into agreements with the appropriate State agency for the purpose of reimbursing such agency for health care and services provided in Service facilities to Indians who are beneficiaries of the Medicaid provisions of the Social Security Act. Title V: Health Services for Urban Indians - Directs the Secretary, acting through the Service, to enter into contracts with urban Indian organizations to assist such organizations to establish and administer, in the urban centers in which such organizations are situated, programs which meet the requirements set forth in this Act of making health services more accessible to the urban Indian population. Authorizes to be appropriated for the purpose of this title: $5,000,000 for the first fiscal year after enactment of this Act; $10,000,000 for the second fiscal year; and $15,000,000 for the third fiscal year. Title VI: Miscellaneous - Requires the Secretary to report annually to the President and the Congress on progress made in effecting the purposes of this Act. Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of $150,000 to support a one-year study by the National Indian Health Board of mental health problems, including alcoholism and related problems, among Indians.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

3 official files

• Public Law (PDF)

  Public Law · EN · 1 October 1976

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Passed House amended

  summary · EN · 30 July 1976

  Open at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 3 February 1975

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.