Authors: Bartgis, J., and Bermudez-Del-Villar, A.

Publication Year: 2011

Last Updated: 2016-02-11

Journal: NCUIH

Keywords: Third Party Billing, Sustainability, Survival, Revenue, Income, Health Information Technology, Urban Indian Health Programs

Abstract:

In order to reap the benefits brought about by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, clinics and health programs across the US have to accommodate a series of new requirements to keep their financial structure up and running. That is not the case for Urban Indian Health Programs (UIHPs). These programs--serving a marginalized population within an already vulnerable community-- will have to learn and re-engineer their core finances system in order to survive and grow. UHPs creation and evolution respond to a promise never fulfilled; and that got them locked into a dependency cycle that is not compatible with the pervasive Third Party Billing (TPB) system; therefore not sustainable in current times. UIHPs are a critical component of the Indian health system given their unique culturally customized healthcare and community services in urban settings across the US. 

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