Health
RSSAlaska News covers health policy, public health trends, and healthcare system developments affecting Alaska communities and residents.
Dunleavy proclaims Sept. 13-19 Suicide Prevention Week in Alaska
Alaska has marked this week for suicide prevention. The message is simple: if you are worried about someone, ask them directly, and stay with them.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 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 AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Southwest Alaska carried most of the state's tuberculosis cases last year
Southwest Alaska, with about 5% of the state's population, had 46 of Alaska's 77 tuberculosis cases last year — roughly nineteen times Anchorage's rate.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 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 AlaskaNews2w 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 AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Dunleavy proclaims Sept. 9 FASD Awareness Day, citing Alaska's high per capita rate
Gov. Dunleavy proclaimed Sept. 9 FASD Awareness Day, citing Alaska's high rate of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and urging pregnant people to abstain from alcohol.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w 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 AlaskaNews2w 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 AlaskaNews2w 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 AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Southcentral Foundation sends visiting providers to Tyonek, Tatitlek and Nanwalek next week
Southcentral Foundation opens four visiting clinics Sept. 14 in Tyonek, Tatitlek and Nanwalek. Tyonek has no resident doctor and sees a primary care provider once every two months.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Kodiak assembly weighs $3.85 million grant to replace failing hospital chiller
A failing chiller that supports sterilization at Kodiak's hospital is running at 35 percent, and the borough votes Wednesday on a nearly $4 million replacement.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly schedules Hispanic Heritage Month health fair with Spanish-speaking staff
Anchorage Assembly is scheduling a health fair with Spanish-speaking staff and translation services for Saturday, Oct. 3, as part of Hispanic Heritage Month events starting Sept. 20.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Some Alaskans on HealthCare.gov are due $500 refund checks in October, but nobody has said how many
About 73,300 Alaskans who buy unsubsidized health coverage on HealthCare.gov will receive $500 checks starting in October, but those without any marketplace coverage won't qualify.
by Alaska News2w 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.News2w ago1 min read
SEARHC is hiring for 21 Juneau-area jobs, half of them in dentistry
SEARHC is hiring for 21 jobs in the Juneau area this week, nearly half of them in dentistry, with signing bonuses on some clinical roles.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w 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 AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Free medical, dental and vision care comes to Sullivan Arena Sept. 19-20
Free medical, dental and vision care is available to anyone at Anchorage's Sullivan Arena Sept. 19 and 20 — no ID, insurance or income required. Come early.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Alaska congenital syphilis cases hit a record in 2025
Alaska recorded 14 cases of congenital syphilis in 2025, the most ever, in a disease preventable with a test and a shot. Native infants were hit hardest.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Ninety-two Alaska water systems are listed as serious violators
Ninety-two Alaska water systems are federal serious violators, close to three times the national rate. The state has not brought a formal action since 2020.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read
Tribal consortium takes ownership of Alaska Native Medical Center
The Indian Health Service transferred ownership of the Alaska Native Medical Center to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium on Aug. 24, 2026, opening access to uncapped federal lease payments while the legal authority for the conveyance remains undocumented.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min read
Kaktovik under a do-not-drink notice after ethylene glycol found
Kaktovik residents can't drink the village tap water after testing found ethylene glycol, the toxic compound in antifreeze, in the system. Boiling won't help.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
A tiny Bering Sea tribe runs its own healing court, from the island to Anchorage
A tiny tribe in the Bering Sea runs its own healing court for people facing addiction, and a federal grant will extend it to members who've moved to Anchorage.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 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 AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago2 min read
The Knik Tribe has $1 million to design youth mental health care
The Knik Tribe has nearly $1 million to design a mental health system for Alaska Native young people in the Mat-Su. The money cannot pay for treatment.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Kodiak hospital chiller running at a third of capacity; borough moves to accept $3.85 million to replace it
Kodiak Island Borough Assembly votes Thursday to accept $3.85 million in state funding to replace a failing hospital chiller that is limiting emergency and surgical care on the island.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Federal money will put naloxone and first aid training on remote Alaska fishing boats
A nurse whose son died of an overdose at sea started mailing naloxone to fishing boats. Federal money will now expand it across remote Alaska.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Tribal consortium takes ownership of Alaska Native Medical Center
The Alaska Native Medical Center is now owned by the tribes it serves instead of the federal government — a first, and one with real money behind it.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
Recover Alaska wins $349,809 to put a peer recovery specialist on the lower Kenai Peninsula
Recover Alaska won $349,809 to place a peer recovery specialist across five lower Kenai Peninsula communities for three years, serving 225 adults with substance use disorders.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Nine Southeast Alaska communities are getting naloxone vending machines
Naloxone is going into vending machines in nine Southeast Alaska communities you can reach only by boat or plane. None of the sites exist yet.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Tanana Chiefs say up to 45% of dementia may be prevented or delayed
Tanana Chiefs Conference says 45% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 risk factors, from hearing loss to exercise and vaccines.
by Alaska Newsadded 3w ago1 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 AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Federal Medicare outreach grants send $174,880 to 10 Alaska tribal elder programs
Nine Alaska tribal elder programs will share $160,460 in federal Medicare enrollment grants running through August 2027, with the largest awards going to groups in Anchorage, Dillingham, and Palmer.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 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 AlaskaNews3w 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 News3w ago1 min read
CDC placed $2 million with an Anchorage firm without competition
CDC awarded $2 million in one-year contracts to Anchorage-based Eagle Health Analytics for emerging infectious disease and Ebola response work, running through September 2027.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 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 AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Alaska joins an EMS licensure compact, but it won't take full effect until 2027
Alaska is joining a compact letting out-of-state paramedics and EMTs work here without a separate license — but it won't really kick in until 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Alaska draws 50 people a year off a disability waitlist that has passed 800
Alaska was ordered to eliminate the waitlist for home-based disability care four years ago. Providers say it has roughly doubled since then.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Interior Alaska's tribal health system is recording patient visits with AI
Tanana Chiefs Conference clinics are recording patient visits with an AI scribe. Patients can say no, and TCC says the recordings are deleted after 90 days.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
