Rounds Delivers Opening Statement at Senate Indian Affairs Committee Field Hearing
RAPID CITY—U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today delivered the following opening statement at a hearing entitled, Improving Accountability and Quality of Care at the Indian Health Service through S. 2953.
Rounds’ opening statement, as prepared for delivery:
Thank you, Chairman Barrasso, for holding today’s field hearing here in South Dakota, where our tribal members are all too familiar with the failures of the Indian Health Service.
I would also like to thank Senator Thune and Congresswoman Kristi Noem for their tireless work to address the problems plaguing the IHS.
In South Dakota, we know all-too-well of these ongoing problems.
Nearly every week – if not every day – our newspaper headlines tell the tale of new problems.
Let me read some of the headlines we’ve seen just in the last month:
- IHS Hospital in Immediate Jeopardy
- Feds Deal Blow to Rosebud IHS Hospital
- Man won’t return to “death hospital”
- Tribal leaders say they were left out of IHS call for help
- Health Care Crisis Hits South Dakota reservations
I could spend my entire time reading headlines, but it’s important to understand the impact it’s having on real people, our tribal members:
- The Great Plains Area IHS – which covers South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa – has the second-highest mortality rate among all IHS regions.
- We also have the highest diabetes death rate, almost double the average among IHS facilities.
- Our life expectancy rate is the lowest of all IHS regions, at 68.1 years. Compare this to the U.S. average of 77.7 years.
It is clear the IHS is failing our tribal members, who are suffering and even dying due to this inadequate and disgraceful care.
As we all know, Rosebud has had its emergency department on diversion status for 195 days as of today, meaning tribal members are having to drive over 50 miles to receive emergency care.
The same is true for their OB and surgical departments as well.
These circumstances are going to continue to occur until we demand a thorough review and reform of IHS. We need an audit.
I had the opportunity to meet with the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association in April.
- We discussed an in-depth profile analysis on IHS that my office researched in an attempt to seek answers and gain a better understanding.
- We talked about the administrative imbalance; that there are 15,000 employees at IHS, only 750 are doctors yet nearly 4,000 are administrative “medical billers”.
- We also found that IHS employees and administrators can’t explain or don’t understand their own budget.
After reviewing the data with me, the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen voted on a resolution supporting an audit of IHS.
The IHS needs major reform. But, more taxpayer money won’t solve the dysfunction, because what IHS lacks is an efficient system and accountability.
Consider this: if the president proposed and Congress supported doubling IHS’s budget, based on IHS’s current template they would have 20,000 administration employees, 7,400 bureaucrats billing Medicaid and still only 1,500 doctors.
The imbalance in priorities would still exist – just at a greater level.
From my standpoint, investing more taxpayer money in a dysfunctional system will only compound the problem.
This is a serious issue that requires tangible solutions – not band aids.
There are significant administrative management, financial management and quality-of-care issues that must be addressed.
Today’s hearing will help us better understand where the problems lie and steps forward to fix these problems. We need an audit.
Ultimately today’s hearing is to fix the poor quality of health care for our people.
IHS will never be able to deliver the timely, quality care the federal government has a trust responsibility to deliver, without broad reforms.
I thank Chairman Barrasso, Senator Thune and Representative Noem for being here today, and also their ongoing work to address these issues.
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