Sec. 2. Findings
335 words·~2 min read·
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Congress makes the following findings: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration concludes the rate of serious mental illness in American Indians and Alaska Natives is twice that of any other race or ethnicity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concludes the suicide rate among American Indian and Alaska Native youth is more than twice that of any other race or ethnicity. The United States Surgeon General attributes high rates of homelessness, incarceration, alcohol and drug abuse, stress, and trauma as principal causes of mental illness in American Indians and Alaska Natives.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality concludes in The National Health Disparity Report, 2011, that American Indians and Alaska Natives had worse care than Whites in 28 measures of health care quality and access. The Indian Health Service reports that per capita spending on personal health care of American Indians and Alaska Natives was $2,741 in 2012—nearly two-thirds below the national average of $7,239. The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, reports that a shortage of psychiatrists at the Indian Health Service and other tribal health facilities significantly limits mental health access to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
The One Sky Center, the American Indian/Alaska Native National Resource Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, identifies 20 psychiatrists currently practicing in Indian country (out of approximately 60,000 psychiatrists practicing nationwide), and 2 Native American psychiatrists currently practicing in Indian country (out of 13 practicing nationwide). According to the American Psychiatric Association, psychiatric physicians practicing in American Indian and Alaska Native population groups often face cultural competency challenges, professional isolation, high demand for medical and mental health services, relatively low compensation, and high burnout rates.
A legislative initiative is warranted to create a nationally-replicable workforce model that identifies and incorporates best practices for recruiting, training, deploying, and professionally supporting Native American psychiatric physicians or non-Native American psychiatric physicians (or both), who are fully integrated into existing medical, mental, and behavioral health systems in Indian health programs.