Dear Tribal Leader:
We would like to invite Alaska Native Tribal Leaders (or their representative designees), along with Tribal Health Program leadership, to a listening session hosted by the Alaska Native Health Board regarding our collaborative efforts to administer the VA Indian Health Service/Tribal Health Program/Urban Indian Organization (I/T/U) Reimbursement Agreement Program (RAP).
Two nationwide virtual listening sessions were previously held (December 2021 and January 2022) to address creating and adopting a new reimbursement agreement template. The primary issue discussed was inclusion of reimbursement for Purchased Referred Care (PRC) into the agreements, pursuant to Public Law 116-311. Inclusion of PRC into the program will require adopting a new agreement template. Discussions in the previous sessions have been broadly focused on identifying areas of concern and ambiguity in the current agreements, soliciting feedback for improvements to enhance operations, and focusing on aspects of the Veteran experience.
VA gained valuable information during those sessions and from the comments submitted during the following open comment period. Given the unique needs and expanded scope of the agreements in Alaska, VA would benefit from an additional discussion to gain further insights from Alaska Tribal Health Care Organizations.
The listening session will be held to address the above topics on Thursday, May 26, 2022, 2:30 – 4:30pm AKDT. Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Conference Rooms 1 & 2, 4000 Ambassador Dr, Anchorage, AK 99508. For those who wish to dial in, participants can access the ZOOM meeting, or dialing in at (669) 900-6833, using meeting ID 925-9110-2414 and passcode 964081.
Written comments may also be submitted to tribalgovernmentconsultation@va.gov before July 15, 2022. A tribal consultation will be held at a future date that incorporates information obtained from these sessions.
For questions regarding these efforts, please contact Kara Hawthorne at Tribal.Agreements@va.gov. Program information can be found on the IHS/THP/UIO Reimbursement Agreements Program–Information for Providers and VA Tribal Government Relations websites.
We look forward to working with Alaska Tribal Health Programs to enhance the Reimbursement Agreement Program and grow the unique relationship serving Veterans.
Sincerely,
/s/Sachin Yende, MD
Acting Executive Leadership Team, Integrated Veterans Care (IVC)
/s/Thomas A. Steinbrunner, FACHE
Director, Alaska VA Health Care System
