Indian Health Service announces national expansion of the Community Health Aide Program

Press release

The Indian Health Service is announcing the national expansion of the Community Health Aide Program. The program provides education and training of tribal community health providers to increase access to quality health care, health promotion and disease prevention services.

As an expansion of the Alaska Community Health Aide Program, the national CHAP will be consistent with the Alaska model and will foster innovative service delivery for IHS by augmenting the existing workforce with mid-level paraprofessionals, utilizing culturally competent providers and providing workforce development opportunities for locally developed staff.

“Through this expansion to create a national CHAP, the IHS aims to provide culturally appropriate health care services through recruiting, developing and retaining a dedicated, competent and caring workforce,” IHS Director Rear Adm. Michael D. Weahkee said. “The CHAP model increases access to care by bringing health care closer to our patients. Traditionally, patients are brought to a health care facility, and the CHAP illustrates that health care can be delivered to the patient in their environment.”

The IHS initiated tribal consultation in 2016 to seek input on the potential expansion to create a national CHAP. In February 2018, IHS convened a CHAP Tribal Advisory Group to ensure that the questions and concerns from tribes, tribal organizations and urban Indian organizations across the country were being adequately represented. To better understand the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native communities prior to CHAP expansion, IHS participated in numerous listening sessions, focus groups and planning meetings.

Leveraging innovative workforce models that prioritize direct health care, CHAP is vital to rural and remote communities across Indian Country as the need for access to care in primary, dental and behavioral health increases. Federal law requires all health aides to be certified by IHS to provide services under a CHAP. As implementation proceeds, the CHAP must be sufficiently flexible to allow IHS and tribes to tailor resources to the specific local, mental, physical and cultural needs of the community, and operate within site-specific limitations in technology, resources and facilities.

IHS is taking a phased implementation approach, starting with tribal consultation on $5 million in funding from Fiscal Year 2020 to support key components. These include establishing certification boards at IHS area and national levels to begin certifying providers in the lower 48, increasing community education on the role of CHAP across Indian Country, investing into training within tribal communities, and providing additional support to tribally operated programs.

The Alaska CHAP was established in 1968 to provide a broad range of primary care services to residents of remote areas that would otherwise not have access to consistent medical care. Today in Alaska, more than 50,000 patients in remote villages throughout the state are treated by village-based health aides.

The policy may be accessed through the Indian Health Manual under Circular 20-06. For more background on the CHAP expansion, visit https://www.ihs.gov/chap/.