Alaska Department of Health

Alaska has $272 million to change rural health care. The requests reached $2.5 billion.

Alaska has 217 preliminary rural health awards worth about $209 million — enough to replace equipment and add services, but not to replace Medicaid coverage.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago4 min read

Alaska proposes a new payment formula for its 24-hour behavioral health clinics

Alaska wants to change how it pays two clinics providing 24-hour behavioral health care, setting rates in advance. Public comment is open through Oct. 30.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Alaska proposes to pay for crisis mental health beds for the first time

Alaska proposed Medicaid rates for crisis mental health beds meant to keep people out of hospitals, its first pricing for that tier of care.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska would swap dated national manuals for an undated state guidebook

Alaska hospitals would follow a state guidebook instead of two national manuals for data reporting. The guidebook has no edition date. The manuals do.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage grant would keep HIV testing and outreach going through 2027

A $114,470 state grant on the Anchorage Assembly's agenda would keep the city's offsite HIV education, counseling and testing running through June 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska proposes letting one marijuana caregiver serve multiple patients

Alaska proposes letting one medical marijuana caregiver serve multiple patients and doubling the ID card term, its first rule update since 1998.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska streamlines the fall round of its $272 million rural health fund

Alaska is streamlining the fall round of its $272 million rural-health fund — one application instead of two, and about 11 weeks to awards, down from 24.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A $16 million award would restructure primary care across the Interior

The biggest award in Alaska's rural health program is $16 million to change how primary care gets delivered and paid for across the Interior.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Alaska adds $16.8 million in rural health awards without naming who gets the money

Rabies is climbing among wildlife across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

Rabies is rising among Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta wildlife. Foxes come in to den in village landfills in late winter, and rural dogs live outdoors.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska pauses weekly rural health awards with $207 million of $272 million announced

Alaska has announced $207 million of a $272 million rural health award across 217 projects, pausing its weekly announcement schedule as it processes the remaining awards by an Oct. 30 deadline.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Alaska starts spending its $272 million in rural health money

Alaska is spending the $272 million it won from a new federal rural health program, and adjusting the promises it made to get it as the money goes out.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska is adding a fingerprint background check to EMS licensing, starting in 2027

Alaska will require fingerprint background checks for EMS providers starting in 2027, as it joins a national compact letting EMTs work across state lines.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Grants target Medicare aid Alaska seniors often leave unclaimed

Federal grants of about $271,814 will help low-income Alaska seniors sign up for Medicare programs many never claim, as the state's older population grows.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska adopts Medicaid rules for specialized group home and family home habilitation

Alaska adopted Medicaid rules for group and family home habilitation services. Disability providers say the new rates may still be too low to sustain services.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska kids can draw their way into the health department's bookmark contest

Alaska's health department wants kids 3 to 18 to draw what being a "Health Hero" means to them — winning bookmark art gets printed. Entries are due Oct. 9.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Norton Sound's health corporation is in line for $7.2 million

Norton Sound Health Corporation would get about $7.2 million in federal rural health money, most of it replacing end-of-life computers in 15 village clinics.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

Alaska put a price on crisis beds the Legislature created in 2022

Alaska proposed Medicaid rates for crisis mental health facilities: $1,833 a day for adults and $2,197 for adolescents, the highest on the state's chart.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Four groups keep full Medicaid after Oct. 1. Refugees and asylees are not among them.

Alaska is moving to cut full Medicaid coverage for refugees, asylees and trafficking victims starting Oct. 1 when federal funding for noncitizens ends, leaving them with emergency-only coverage.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: New Alaska Medicaid work rules start in January 2027 — with broad exemptions

Alaska child care providers must file rates under categories the state has not adopted

Child care providers accepting state subsidies must report all rates in Alaska's AKCCIS portal by Sept. 30 or lose their program standing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Petersburg hospital gets preliminary nod for behavioral health grant

Petersburg Medical Center has preliminary approval for about $400,000 in behavioral health money, but cannot hire or buy anything until the state signs off.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A course that usually means flying to the East Coast is coming to Anchorage

A hospital cleaning certification course usually held on the East Coast is coming to Anchorage in September, if 20 people sign up by Sept. 4.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska seeks groups to run perinatal substance use treatment program

Alaska is seeking groups to run its perinatal substance use treatment program. In 2022, only about 10% of pregnant Alaskans who needed such care got it.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska adds $16.8 million in rural health awards without naming who gets the money

Alaska asked for $2.5 billion in rural health money and got $272 million. The state has now spoken for $182 million of it, without naming Friday's winners.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Alaska plans nearly $126 million for rural health projects, its biggest round yet

Alaska Mental Health Trust opens $636,523 for equipment at agencies serving beneficiaries

Alaska agencies serving Trust beneficiaries have until Sept. 9 to apply for equipment funding. The $636,523 pool caps each award at $30,000.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

In Anchorage, SNAP recipients now face work requirements

Anchorage SNAP recipients now have to meet federal work requirements, while the rest of Alaska is covered by a waiver through October 2026.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

New Alaska Medicaid work rules start in January 2027 — with broad exemptions

Starting January 2027, some Alaska Medicaid recipients 19 to 64 must work, study, train or volunteer 80 hours a month to keep coverage, though many are exempt.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Rural health transformation program set as keynote topic at Anchorage disability employment conference

Alaska's $272 million Rural Health Transformation Program will be the keynote topic at the Oct. 12-13 Employment First Conference in Anchorage, drawing employers and disability employment providers.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A state grant would keep TB screening running at Anchorage homeless shelters

A $2.77 million grant before the Anchorage Assembly would keep public health nurses screening for TB at shelters — the clearance many people need to get in.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

The Presidential Fitness Test is coming back to Alaska schools, with $1.15 million behind it

The Presidential Fitness Test — the mile run and pull-ups many remember — is coming back to Alaska schools in 2027-28, a decade after it was dropped.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage set to get $3 million to expand its crisis-response system

Anchorage is set to get about $3 million to expand its mental-health and addiction crisis teams, add assisted-living beds and start mobile opioid treatment.

by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read

State disability council offers free online advocacy training Sept. 1-2

The state's disability council is holding a free two-day virtual advocacy training Sept. 1-2, for self-advocates, families and the staff who serve them.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska Native youth die by suicide at five times the rate of White youth

Alaska Native youth died by suicide at more than five times the rate of White youth from 2016 to 2024, the state reported. The gap in attempts is wider.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Volunteers will build naloxone kits in Anchorage on Overdose Awareness Day

Volunteers will build naloxone kits in Anchorage on Aug. 31. Alaska recorded 238 opioid overdose deaths last year, down from 276 the year before.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Dunleavy names a fentanyl awareness day; Alaska recorded 339 overdose deaths last year

Dunleavy proclaimed a Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day. Alaska recorded 339 overdose deaths in 2024, down 5 percent, with fentanyl in about 73 percent.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska plans nearly $126 million for rural health projects, its biggest round yet

Alaska plans nearly $126 million for 105 rural health projects — its biggest round yet, though requests topped $2.5 billion for the money available.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Alaska makes its first awards under a $272 million rural health program

Most of Alaska's 2030 health goals are off track, new assessment finds

Most of Alaska's 2030 health goals are off track, according to a new state assessment. Alcohol-induced mortality was one of the few to meet its target.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Only 1 in 10 pregnant Alaskans who needed substance-use treatment in 2022 got it

Only about 1 in 10 pregnant Alaskans who needed substance-use treatment in 2022 got it, and the state is seeking to fund programs to help close the gap.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

In five remote Chugach villages, health aides work without an X-ray, and new funding aims to change that

In five remote Chugach-region villages, health aides assess injuries without an X-ray. New funding through a tribal health organization aims to finally put imaging in their clinics.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Alaska takes input on extra child-care help for kids with disabilities

Alaska pays extra child-care help for kids with disabilities and is taking families' input this week, as it separately moves to widen who qualifies for aid.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska issues intent to award $30 million to 37 rural health projects

Alaska issued notices of intent Friday to award $30 million to 37 rural health projects, with recipients required to spend funds by June 30, 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read