Indian Health Services (IHS): A Case Study

The Indian Health Services (IHS) is a department agency within the Department of Health and Human Service (HHA). The IHS is responsible for providing medical and healthcare services for federally recognized Indian American and Alaskan Native tribes in the United States (Tosatto, Reeves, Duncan, and Ginter, 2008). The United States negotiated treaties with Native American tribes in exchange of land for promised health services (Tosatto, Reeves, Duncan, and Ginter, 2008). Those tribes that did not sign the treaty were not eligible to participate with federal government programs. Those with Indian heritage who were eligible were provided various health services under the IHS program, but some IHS locations did not have the necessary equipment or facilities to provide adequate services (Tosatto, Reeves, Duncan, and Ginter, 2008). The IHS is extremely dedicated to respecting the local traditions and beliefs of Native American tribes, but with changing external factors the IHS has found some difficulty (Tosatto, Reeves, Duncan, and Ginter, 2008). It has not developed an …show more content…
573). The IHS needs to have an adequate mission, vision, and values towards the program. It needs to be explicitly communicated across all participating groups. The mission needs to express the interest that it has for the community and how it will execute its goals. A major reason why programs fail is because execution of the plan never happens or doesn’t go as planned (Neilson, Martin, and Powers, 2008). I believe that Dr. Trujillo needs to address all stakeholders and have them on the same page for the program. Below is a SWOT Analysis chart that identifies a few strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that I will discuss in this