Washington, D.C. – At a U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) highlighted her bipartisan legislation to help the Indian Health Services (IHS) recruit and retain health care workers. Reno-Sparks Indian Colony Tribal Health Center (RSTHC) Executive Director Angie Wilson and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary Melanie A. Egorin both called on Congress to pass Cortez Masto’s bill.
Senator Cortez Masto discussed how her IHS Workforce Parity Act would improve health care in Tribal communities by allowing providers working part-time to access IHS scholarship and loan repayment program. Currently, IHS has a 25% vacancy rate for health care providers, and Cortez Masto’s legislation would help attract new doctors and nurses to both the agency and Tribal health facilities that serve over 2 million American Indian and Alaskan Native Tribal members.
RSTHC Executive Director Wilson stressed how workforce shortages in Indian Country have impacted Tribes’ ability to provide health care to their members and called on the Senate to pass the IHS Workforce Parity Act saying, “When we look at the health disparities of American Indians and Alaskan Natives…we need help on the ground.”
HHS Assistant Secretary Egorin also discussed how Cortez Masto’s bipartisan bill would help strengthen the workforce pipeline at IHS, saying “This bill…builds capacity and it builds the ability to recruit and retain [health care providers], which is a critical need.”
“The advocacy and what we hear from you is so important as we look to passing this legislation and doing right by Indian country,” Cortez Masto concluded.
Senator Cortez Masto has led efforts to provide Native American communities across Nevada with access to quality health care. She helped secure over $1 billion in coronavirus relief funding for the Indian Health Service to combat the pandemic and $125 million in additional funding for Tribes and urban Indian health organizations within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to address the mental health needs of Native communities. She has also cosponsored legislation to help address health disparities for Native Americans in urban areas and expand access to physician training to address the state-wide doctor shortage.
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