Highlights: The Indian Health Service (IHS), like most federal agencies, must use appropriations in the year for which they are enacted. However, there has been interest in providing IHS with advance appropriation authority, which would give the agency authority to spend a specific amount 1 or more fiscal years after the fiscal year for which …
BIA report prepared in response to Public Law 115-141.
OIG identified underlying issues that are hindering the Indian Health Service (IHS) from improving its management of its hospitals, and recommends strategies for IHS as it implements new improvement plans. The issues represent core organizational challenges that, if not addressed, could continue to limit IHS’s ability to improve hospital operations and quality of care.
“The IHS hospitals we reviewed did not always follow the Indian Health Manual when prescribing and dispensing opioids. Specifically, through our patient record review, we found that hospitals did not always review the course of patient treatment and causes of pain within required timeframes, perform the required urine drug screenings within recommended time intervals, review …
