Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Indian Health Service Use of Critical Care Response Teams To Support Health Care Facilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is charged with providing comprehensive health care for approximately 2.6 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs). It is critical to ensure safe and accessible health care for AI/ANs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior OIG work found that IHS facilities often lack sufficient clinical and other staff, and identified numerous problems caused by staffing shortages, including limited patient access to specialists and problems with the use of contracted staff. The COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate staffing shortages as IHS and Tribal hospitals continue to see more COVID-19 patients. As a response, IHS contracted additional staff by forming a Critical Care Response Team pilot program, which is designed to provide urgent medical care for COVID-19 patients in facilities with insufficient staffing. The teams are also charged with preparing and training frontline health care staff on evidence-based and best practices, supporting clinical decision making, and providing consultations and advice on hospital operations and how to manage critically ill patients. As of September 29, 2020, IHS had deployed five teams to provide services at six IHS-operated facilities and three tribally operated facilities and planned to make the program a longer-term part of IHS operations. Doing so could help remedy longstanding staffing shortages at IHS facilities. However, problems identified in prior OIG work indicate that IHS may have difficulty managing this contracted resource and integrating the teams into facility practices. OIG's review will use interviews with IHS and contracted staff, as well as document reviews, to assess IHS use of the Critical Care Response Teams, including development, management, and oversight of the teams, and IHS selection criteria for determining which facilities would receive deployments.

Announced or Revised Agency Title Component Report Number(s) Expected Issue Date (FY)
October 2020 Indian Health Service Indian Health Service Use of Critical Care Response Teams To Support Health Care Facilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic Office of Evaluation and Inspections OEI-06-20-00700 2021