Health
RSSHealth in Alaska is the state's public health system, healthcare delivery and the policies that shape them. It includes Medicaid and Medicare programs, tribal health corporations, rural and behavioral health care, and disease prevention across Alaska communities.
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Numbers are stories in the last 30 days.
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Week of Sep 21
Alaska has five weeks to commit $33 million in federal rural health money
Alaska has about $33 million in federal rural health money left to hand out, and five weeks to do it. There are no extensions, the feds say.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska will score rural health grant applications on cost-effectiveness
Alaska will score rural health grant applications on cost for the first time, and will post the final rules halfway through the window to apply.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska will not release statewide 2025 youth health survey results
Alaska is not releasing statewide youth health data for 2025. Only 29 percent of students answered, and the state says the numbers do not hold up.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska recorded 22 COVID-19 deaths last season, including one child
Twenty-two Alaskans died with COVID-19 listed on the death certificate last season. One was a child. The summary says nothing more about that.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Tlingit & Haida wins $1.57M to train Southeast Alaska overdose responders
Tlingit & Haida will spend $1.57 million over four years training responders and keeping naloxone stocked across Southeast Alaska communities.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Federal grant funds eating disorder training for 30 tribal health providers in Alaska
Alaska has no dedicated eating disorder care for an estimated 65,000 people. A federal grant will train 30 tribal providers to help them out.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Murkowski's bill would extend a rural maternity program Alaska never used
Alaska has never won a grant from the rural maternity program Murkowski's new bill would keep funded. The same bill has died three times before.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Copper River responders will learn to start addiction treatment in the field
One paid ambulance crew and 20 volunteers cover an area bigger than West Virginia. A $300,000 grant will train them to reverse overdoses in the field.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
More from Health
Juneau's JAMHI clinic gets $938,000 in congressionally directed funds to replace failing HVAC
Juneau has no road out. The clinic holding its primary care and behavioral health is getting federal money for failing HVAC and fire suppression.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Alaska Native tribes begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs
Ten Alaska Native tribes and health organizations begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs next week, sharing about $4.1 million in federal money.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kodiak's health center is getting its own heating unit, off the hospital's
Kodiak's community health center shares aging air handling with the hospital next door. A $300,000 earmark buys it a rooftop unit of its own.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Alaska sets October-to-May RSV window; Native toddlers again qualify for a second dose
More Alaska babies now qualify for a second RSV shot, including those born preterm or with Down syndrome. Parents may need to ask for it directly.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Week of Sep 14
Visiting dentist to hold five-day clinic in Nondalton
A dentist comes to Nondalton for five days starting Monday, one of the periodic visits that fill in for a permanent practice around Iliamna Lake.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska rural health notices pass $239 million with $30 million round
Alaska sent out $30 million more in rural health awards this week, funding a Girdwood telepharmacy, a Norton Sound scheduling hub and rural X-ray machines.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Summit on Aging offers 15-minute one-on-one slots with Alaska health leaders
Alaska's aging summit runs Oct. 15 to 17 in Anchorage, and you can book 15 minutes to tell state health leadership exactly what you think.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska urges flu shots now as influenza activity climbs
Flu is climbing in Alaska, where 36 people died last season and adults get vaccinated at less than half the national rate. Now is the window.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Coming up
Motivational Interviewing for Brief Intervention in Behavioral Health Settings (Session 2)
Virtual
Class
Beyond Blame: Empowering Families in Eating Disorder Treatment with Dr. Jim Lock
Class
Rural Health Transformation Advisory Council Meeting
Meeting
Alaska Commission on Aging Listening Session - Ketchikan
Meeting
Hinge Health 101: Digital Physical Therapy for Pain Relief
Class
About Health
Health in Alaska takes in the state's public health system, its hospitals and clinics, and the programs that pay for care, including Medicaid and Medicare. Tribal health organizations such as Southcentral Foundation deliver care alongside hospitals including the Alaska Native Medical Center, Central Peninsula Hospital and Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.
State epidemiologists track infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, influenza and COVID-19, and recommend vaccines to clinicians. Access to care in rural Alaska is a recurring question: villages without a permanent practice rely on visiting dental and primary care clinics, and federal rural health grants pay for facilities and equipment.
Behavioral health and substance use treatment form another strand, from opioid settlement grants to warnings about overdose. Health also connects to state and federal policy through Medicaid eligibility rules and the cost of health coverage for public workers.
More from Health
Alaska reports 36 flu deaths in 2025-26 season, most in four years
Thirty-six Alaskans died of flu-related illness this season, the worst in four years. The vaccine didn't match the strains that circulated here.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska ended childhood liver cancer, and Washington noticed
Alaska Native children once had the world's highest rate of liver cancer. A newborn vaccine ended it, and Washington is now citing that as the model.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage adds behavioral health care to its WIC program
Anchorage will place a behavioral health provider in its WIC program after a survey found many low-income mothers reporting anxiety, depression and hunger.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Three Southcentral villages get visiting primary care this week
A doctor is in Chenega Bay through Monday, in Nanwalek through Friday. Tyonek got one day, and sees a primary care provider every two months.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Juneau's city-owned ski area has carried EPA's most urgent water violation for six months
Juneau's city-owned Eaglecrest Ski Area has carried the EPA's most urgent drinking water violation for six months, with no record of it being resolved.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska proposes to drop its $190.50 newborn screening fee and set the charge by a formula
Alaska proposes calculating newborn screening fees by formula instead of a fixed charge, with written comments due by November 2.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
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
Week of Sep 7
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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom 
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
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 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
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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 News2mo 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
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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
