SEARHC - What's New - Steve Gage testifies before U.S. Senate committee about CHA Program

Steve Gage testifies before U.S. Senate committee about CHA/P program

Sen. Lisa Murkowski invited SEARHC Community Health Aide Program Coordinator Steve Gage to Washington, D.C., to testify March 8 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

Steve represented the Alaska Association of Community Health Aide Program Directors (an organization he chairs). The hearing dealt with the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Indian health care has been underfunded by the federal government in recent years, and Steve was asked to testify about Alaska's CHA/P program and how it could be implemented on Lower 48 Indian reservations as a way to fill coverage gaps. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), the committee chair, says it's his intention to bring the bill to a vote this session.

"Basically, they were interested in the CHA/P program — how it was set up and how we oversee program standards," Steve says. "My testimony concerned how CHA/Ps were hired and trained, how they came from villages all over the state, and how they are directed in their care by the CHA Manual."

The CHA/P program currently has more than 550 CHA/Ps working for 27 tribal health organizations in 178 rural communities. The program handles about 270,000 emergency and primary health visits annually for appoximately 50,000 Alaska Natives. The CHA/Ps work with mid-level providers and doctors, who help the CHA/Ps know when to refer someone to a higher level of service. It is the only health care program of its type in the country.

"There's a whole system of support for them, they're not out there practicing independently," Steve says of the CHA/Ps. "Sen. Murkowski had a question about where Alaska would be if the program went away, and I said 'we just wouldn't have health care in a lot of these villages.'"

Steve's written testimony, which is an overview of Alaska's CHA/P program, can be found on the Web at http://indian.senate.gov/public/_files/Gage030807.pdf.

A link to the hearing can be found at http://indian.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=65.

An audio transcript of the hearing (Steve's testimony is at the very end of Panel 2 and he is part of the corresponding Q&A) can be found at http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/001803.asp.

* PDF files require Acrobat Reader