Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
On July 19, 2023, the Director of the Indian Health Service (IHS) issued a Dear Tribal Leader Letter providing an update on the implementation of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 advance appropriation for the IHS.
IHS received an advance appropriation for the first time ever in the FY 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which provided $5.1 billion in advance appropriations for the IHS in FY 2024. This will fund the majority of IHS programs at the same levels as FY 2023. The full year funding will be available at the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2023, regardless of whether or not Congress has acted on the budget. This does not prevent Congress from providing additional increases for these or other budget lines in any final FY 2024 appropriations legislation. USET SPF has long advocated for IHS advance appropriations, and continues to support IHS advance appropriations as a short-term stabilization mechanism in the absence of full and mandatory funding for the Indian Health System.
To ensure successful implementation of the advance appropriations, IHS has identified three strategic goals, listed below:
Goal 1: Distribute FY 2024 advance appropriations for IHS, Tribal and Urban Indian health programs as close as possible on or after October 1, 2023.
Goal 2: Ensure regular engagement with Tribal leaders, Urban Indian Organization leaders, and Congress
Goal 3: Demonstrate the impact of advance appropriations
More information on the goals, including steps that the IHS has and will take to achieve them, can be found in the Dear Tribal Leader Letter. In addition to the written goals, IHS provided a table containing a summary of the FY 2024 advance appropriation.
For more information, please contact Ashton Martin, USET SPF Health Policy Analyst, at amartin@usetinc.org or at 629-736-1433.
|