Health
RSSAlaska News covers health policy, public health trends, and healthcare system developments affecting Alaska communities and residents.
Alaska's Medicaid home-care waivers renewed, but a waitlist persists
Federal regulators renewed four of Alaska's Medicaid home-care waivers, which keep people out of the nation's priciest nursing homes — but 512 wait to get in.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska tells school kitchens cooking produce is safest Cyclospora step
Alaska school kitchens are told cooking produce to 158 degrees is the safest way to kill Cyclospora, as washing alone cannot remove the parasite amid a national surge in cases.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska takes public input Wednesday on child care facility safety rules
The state holds a session Wednesday to hear from providers and families on child care safety rules, one of several as Alaska revisits its regulations.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A program that lets people with ALS try experimental treatments just got five more years
A federal program that lets people with ALS try experimental treatments when they can't join a clinical trial just got five more years, in a bill Sen. Murkowski led through the Senate.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska makes its first awards under a $272 million rural health program
Alaska is making its first awards under a $272 million federal rural health program, $4.5 million to 19 projects, with more coming each Friday. Demand hit $2.5 billion.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Six graduate a Tanana Chiefs apprenticeship built to staff Interior clinics
Six apprentices finished Tanana Chiefs Conference's yearlong clinical training in Fairbanks — the first cohort where everyone who started made it through.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Tanana's rebuilt village clinic has opened
Tanana's village health clinic has reopened after a tribe-led rehabilitation of a building that needed structural repair, one of nearly 40 clinics TCC runs in the Interior.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Senate confirms CDC director; Alaska's vaccine question stays open
Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz as CDC director 51-44, with Murkowski and Sullivan voting yes, ending a nearly year-long vacancy while vaccine policy remains uncertain.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Murkowski cosponsors Senate bill to pay providers for breast cancer risk assessments
Sen. Lisa Murkowski cosponsored a bill to pay doctors for breast cancer risk assessments, addressing cost barriers that delay detection in rural Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
20 Alaska Native students are training to bring health care home to rural communities
Twenty Alaska Native students are training as nurses, midwives and doctors on tribal scholarships — many aiming to bring care home to rural communities.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Senators move to renew the grants behind rural Alaska's telehealth links
Four U.S. senators, including Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, introduced a bill to renew the federal ECHO grants that fund rural Alaska's telehealth links between local clinics and distant specialists.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage weighs $1 million for nonprofits feeding and sheltering vulnerable residents
Anchorage votes Tuesday on just over $1 million for nonprofits providing food, emergency shelter and other essential services to the city's most vulnerable residents.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A Medicare rate bump for psychiatric care reaches Alaska's hospitals
Inpatient psychiatric care gets a 2.3% Medicare rate bump Oct. 1 — and it reaches Alaska, where mental health care runs through hospital psychiatric units.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min read
Alaska adopts a behavioral health clinic model that can't turn crises away
Alaska is adopting a behavioral health clinic model that can't turn anyone away in a crisis, 24/7, regardless of ability to pay. So far only two clinics qualify.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Medicare drug premiums are likely to rise for Alaska seniors in 2027
The federal subsidy keeping Medicare drug premiums down ends this year, so many Alaska seniors will likely pay more in 2027. Low-income enrollees on Extra Help are mostly shielded.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A rare bacterial infection in Alaska turned out to be mostly a lab error
A spike in a rare Campylobacter infection in Alaska last year was mostly a lab miscount. Six real cases remained statewide, one of them fatal.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Free two-day medical, dental and vision clinic set for Sullivan Arena in September
Remote Area Medical runs a free two-day clinic Sept. 19-20 at Sullivan Arena offering dental, vision and medical care with no ID or insurance required.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Kodiak hospital pauses reverse osmosis, steam generator design
Kodiak hospital paused design work on a reverse osmosis system after discovering it may not work with existing sterilization equipment, with a facility evaluation set for August 3.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Medicaid narrows where trainee therapists can bill
Alaska Medicaid says trainee therapists can only bill from inside a community behavioral health clinic, a clarification of a rule that wasn't there in June.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
In Tyonek, one health aide holds the village's care together
Robert Stephan is the only health aide in Tyonek, a boat-or-plane village where the doctor visits every two months. Now he's headed to PA school.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Ketchikan's hospital, its own residents can't get answers
Ketchikan's hospital is losing money it won't fully document and renovating an ER whose bed count its own administrator can't name — while patients wait in hallways.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Measles turns up in Anchorage wastewater
Measles RNA showed up four times in Anchorage wastewater this month. No case has been confirmed, and clinicians are told to isolate suspected patients on sight.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Rural birth and nursing bills clear a Senate panel
A Senate panel advanced rural nursing and obstetrics bills — the kind that matter in a state where women fly to Anchorage a month before giving birth.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska sends kids Outside for care. A Wasilla project targets that.
Alaska sends children thousands of miles away for behavioral health care. A Wasilla proposal would build the kind of local services that could keep them home.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Federal government to pay ANTHC $463 million over unpaid health costs
The federal government will pay ANTHC $463 million it owed for years — money the tribal health system had been covering itself across rural Alaska.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska veterans fly to Seattle for cancer care. The Senate is arguing over why.
Alaska has more veterans per capita than any state and no VA cancer center. A Senate fight over precision oncology money decides who gets care close to home.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska corrects fiscal year 2027 waiver rate chart as 3.2% Medicaid increase takes effect
Alaska corrected a rate chart for Medicaid home and community services after finding an error, but the underlying 3.2% payment increase that took effect July 1 remains unchanged.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Four TCC employees selected for ANTHC leadership programs
Four Tanana Chiefs Conference employees selected for competitive nine-month leadership programs run by Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to develop skills across tribal healthcare.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
PRC benefits cover hearing aids, vision care, and travel for eligible Noatak residents
Noatak residents can use Purchased/Referred Care to cover hearing aids and vision care, plus travel help for specialty referrals. • Must get prior authorization and submit bills quickly to avoid delays or uncovered costs.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
TCC seeks contractor for new Rampart health clinic, proposals due August 21
Tanana Chiefs Conference is seeking a general contractor to build a new health clinic in Rampart, with proposals due August 21 and construction expected to finish by the end of 2027.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's senators voted to let a Medicare AI pilot keep running
Alaska's senators voted last week to let an AI-driven Medicare prior-authorization pilot keep running, and backed a defense bill that stalled anyway.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Murkowski bill targets Alaska's rural health shortage with immigrant credential grants
Sen. Murkowski introduced a bill to fund grants helping internationally trained health professionals already in the U.S. get licensed and work in Alaska's rural clinics and hospitals.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
IHS picks Sitka and Bethel tribal health groups for first-ever elder care construction program
Indian Health Service picked Sitka and Bethel tribal health groups to build and expand skilled nursing facilities, the first time the federal program has funded long-term elder care in Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Federal grant would re-launch Alaska Native elder resource center; deadline July 27
The federal Administration on Aging is offering $215,000 annually for three years to re-establish a resource center for Alaska Native elders, with applications due July 27.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
ANTHC skilled nursing facility moves into finish phases ahead of January 2027 opening
ANTHC's 80-bed skilled nursing facility in Anchorage now opens January 2027, pushing back from summer 2026, as the $69 million building enters interior and exterior finish work.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Cyclospora cases nationally up sixfold; Alaska Department of Health urges produce washing
Cyclospora cases nationwide have jumped sixfold since May, and Alaska has recorded five cases this year; the CDC urges thorough washing of fresh produce under running water.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaskans can call 988, but in many places no team can respond
Alaskans in crisis can reach the 988 line, but many communities have no local team to respond. The state's new answer, for now, is a training network.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's worst-ever syphilis outbreak is now reaching newborns
Alaska is in its worst syphilis outbreak ever, up twentyfold since 2016 — and it's now reaching babies. A record 14 newborns were born with it in 2025, though it's preventable with prenatal testing.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Anchorage weighs $528,000 for addiction, homelessness, and disability care
Anchorage is set to accept ~$528,000 in grants for opioid treatment, homeless outreach, and disability services — the last one patching three years of state funding cuts.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska child vaccination rate at 55%, well below national average
New state data shows 55% of Alaska toddlers have finished the recommended vaccine series and kindergarten measles coverage is 77% — below national averages and the herd-immunity threshold.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
