Nelson slams health officials over tribal funding cuts

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By KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln Journal Star

Sen. Ben Nelson on Thursday blasted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Indian Health Service for cutting health funding for the Omaha Tribe, leading to a nearly $800,000 budget shortfall for the tribe.

Nelson criticized IHS for mismanaging its own funding while forcing cuts on the tribes it is meant to help.

“Instead of assisting tribes who struggle to adequately finance their health care delivery services, it seems IHS has been busy squandering federal dollars and leaving the tribes behind to pick up the pieces,” Nelson said in a news release Thursday.

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Sen. Ben Nelson

Sen. Ben Nelson

This week, the Government Accountability Office released a report that showed IHS had lost at least $15.8 million worth of equipment and later falsified documents to cover up some of those losses.

IHS spokesman Thomas Sweeney defended the agency, saying it lost track of some inventory after it implemented a new inventory tracking system in 2005. The agency expects to account for most, if not all, of that inventory as it continues to implement the new tracking system, he said.

Nelson sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt and to IHS Director Robert McSwain expressing concern over IHS’s management and its decision to cut the Omaha Tribe’s health funding.

Health and Human Services officials could not be reached for comment. Sweeney said the agency had not received Nelson’s letter and would not have a response until it had.

The Omaha Tribe is facing a nearly $800,000 funding shortfall for the 2008 fiscal year because IHS has forced it to accept less than one-third of what the tribe needs to administer its health programs, according to Nelson’s office.

IHS has asked the Omaha Tribe to cut the administrative cost rate for its health programs from 18 percent to 4.47 percent.

The administrative cost rate cut is affecting each of Nebraska’s four tribes, Nelson’s office said, but the Omaha Tribe is facing the most serious funding shortfall.

Jacquie Peregoy, chief financial officer for the tribe, said the funding disparity could lead to drastic cuts in services for the tribe’s nearly 6,000 members.

“It could result in the closing of our health center,” she said.

The tribe already has had to make cuts within its financial department because of the funding rate cut, she said.

“We have had to cut back on our staff,” she said. “We are working very short-staffed and reduced hours. That affects how we can service the health center itself.”

In its report, the GAO said the Indian Health Service, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, “made a concerted effort” to obstruct the investigators’ work, including misrepresentations of data and fabricated documents.

The GAO found that the agency had lost 5,000 pieces of equipment that included a computer containing more than 800 Social Security numbers. Also missing are trucks, tractors and about a third of information technology items from the agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Md.

“IHS has demanded that the Omaha Tribe tighten their belt several notches, while the agency itself binges on federal resources,” Nelson said. “This has clearly affected their ability to carry out their mission and is seriously impacting thousands of Native Americans in Nebraska who may now struggle to find health care services.”

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Nelson sits on the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, which oversees IHS.

He said the tribe is working to repair problems caused by past mismanagement. He called on IHS to set aside unobligated contract support dollars or other available funds to cover the tribe’s FY2008 budget shortfall.

“We must remind ourselves that the U.S. government is a partner in serving our nation’s Native Americans, not simply a series of regulatory hurdles set to frustrate their efforts or to save money through diminished services,” Nelson said.

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.