Expanded maintenance and improvement for health facilities — Facilities Appropriation Advisory Board Meeting
February 24, 2017
Indian Health Service leaders and Tribal partners met for the Facilities Appropriation Advisory Board (FAAB) Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the IHS office in Rockville, Maryland. Lincoln Bean, Sr., FAAB Vice-Chair, attended and represented Alaska. The committee is comprised of one primary representative from each of the 12 areas of the IHS, as well as two IHS representatives. The primary purpose is to seek consensus, exchange views, share information, and provide advice and/or recommendations to the IHS Director on IHS facilities appropriation issues.
Much of the discussion at the FAAB meeting surrounded the potential for a large infrastructure funding bill coming from the new Administration and a preparation strategy. There are proposed IHS project funding estimates ranging from $250 to $500 million and higher in fiscal year 2018.
The last time a major infusion of health facility project funding came to Alaska was through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. Under the M&I program, Alaska’s allocation of the national distribution was based on eligible space and backlog of essential maintenance and repair projects listed in the IHS health facilities data system. It is likely that any infrastructure funding coming from the new Administration would follow a similar path. With that in mind, ANTHC recommends that Tribal health organizations with eligible M&I facilities review and update their data. ANTHC is available to assist Tribal health partners with this effort. Please contact the ANTHC Statewide Health Facility Program Manager Will Fraser (william.fraser@anthc.org) for more information. IHS is working to complete an update their database by Aug. 1, 2017.