RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – Steps are being taken to fix what a U.S. Senate report described as a “chronic state of crisis” in the Aberdeen Area Indian Health Service, IHS Director Yvette Roubideaux said.

An 18-month Senate investigation spearheaded by former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan found serious management problems and lack of oversight in the Aberdeen Area IHS, which serves 18 tribes in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.

“I want to make it clear that at IHS, we agree that what was reported in that investigation was unacceptable. We have to take action, and we are taking action to address them,” Roubideaux told the Rapid City Journal on March 24.

Roubideaux was in Rapid City for a meeting between tribal officials and representatives of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

She said she had frank and open discussions with tribal chairmen about IHS funding levels and about her agency's response to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs report last December.

The Senate investigation found a lack of employee accountability and financial integrity; several service units experiencing substantial and recurring diversions of reduced health care services because of lack of qualified providers or funds; and key senior staff positions remaining vacant for long periods, contributing to the lack of proper management.

Roubideaux said Aberdeen Area Director Charlene Red Thunder is meeting expectations in addressing internal problems.

“She is making great progress and has been willing to do the very hard work of holding people accountable. I'm confident that she is willing to do the hard work necessary to implement the corrective action plan,” Roubideaux told the Journal.

The Aberdeen area comprises 20 IHS and tribally managed service units. It has 1,955 employees and an annual budget of $293 million. The annual estimated workload for the area includes 3,475 inpatient admissions, 859,163 outpatient visits and 77,039 dental visits.

Roubideaux said reviews of the other 11 IHS areas will be conducted to make sure problems found in the Aberdeen Area are not happening elsewhere.

Progress is slow and challenging because “these are longstanding problems in the agency. I remember some of these same problems when I was child getting health care here back in the 1970s,” said Roubideaux, who grew up in Rapid City.

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Information from: Rapid City Journal,
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com