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 Aug 24
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
Meta settlement would cap teen social media at two hours a day, bringing Alaska millions
A proposed settlement with Meta would cap teen time on Instagram and Facebook at two hours a day and bring Alaska millions of dollars.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
YMCA child weight program starts Sept. 8; a parent must attend all 25 sessions
An Anchorage YMCA program requires a parent at all 25 sessions, and the last half hour each night is the children teaching back what they learned.
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 Anchorage Assembly recognized September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
The Anchorage Assembly recognized September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The region including Anchorage has Alaska's highest number of suicide deaths.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo 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
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
Tlingit & Haida back a Ketchikan plan to treat addiction closer to home
The Tlingit & Haida tribe backs a Ketchikan plan for a residential addiction treatment center so Southeast Alaskans no longer have to leave the region for care.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
More from Health
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
Southcentral Foundation asks Congress to make IHS contract support costs mandatory
Southcentral Foundation asked Congress to move Indian Health Service contract support costs into mandatory spending to shield rural Alaska clinics from federal budget cuts.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Week of Aug 17
An Alaska water system logged the EPA's most urgent violation
A water system serving 771 Alaskans logged the EPA's most urgent drinking-water violation in March. The federal record doesn't say which community it serves.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Three remote Aleutian villages are getting traveling dental and medical clinics this month
Sand Point, Akutan and Atka are getting short-term traveling dental and medical clinics this month, in Aleutian villages 570 miles from the nearest hospital.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 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
Tanana Chiefs wins federal grant for suicide prevention in 15 villages
Of 122 youth referred to Tanana Chiefs behavioral health last year, 76 were admitted. A new federal grant funds suicide prevention in 15 Interior villages.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
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
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
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
Bethel health fair screens 48 for diabetes and promotes same-day services
Forty-eight people got diabetes screening at a three-hour Bethel health fair aimed at showing what YKHC can offer the same day a patient walks in.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
A Kodiak Native corporation's federal-contracting arm wins medical-billing work in Oklahoma
A subsidiary of Kodiak's Koniag corporation won a $1.26 million federal contract for medical-billing work in Oklahoma — the kind of business that funds dividends and scholarships for 4,300 Alutiiq shareholders.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Week of Aug 10
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
Most of Alaska's $272M rural health award remains unawarded
Alaska won a $272.2 million federal health award and nearly 1,800 applied, but most is still unawarded — and unspent funds risk being clawed back.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago2 min read
UAA students to train inside ANTHC facilities under new workforce partnership
UAA students will train at Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium facilities under a new partnership, routing graduates toward one of Alaska's largest employers.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago2 min read
Federal funds for gender-transition care for Alaska minors on Medicaid end in October
A federal rule ends Medicaid matching funds for Alaska minors' gender-transition care Oct. 13. It's not a ban; whether the state keeps covering it is unknown.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Medicare claws back money from Petersburg's hospital as the island's new MRI takes off
Medicare cut Petersburg's hospital outpatient rate and clawed back funds — but the island's brand-new MRI is already beating projections and driving revenue.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Week of Aug 3
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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Week of Jul 27
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 News3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo 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 AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
