Saturday, December 21, 2024
12/21/2024
When Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) opened the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC in 1997 as a 158-bed hospital, the user population was 105,540. ANMC now serves nearly 73,000 more patients than it did in 1997, with essentially very little medical center growth space than it did in 1997. ANMC provides nearly as many hospital inpatient days as all the Indian Health Service (IHS) inpatient hospitals combined (46,014 hospital days vs. 57,551 hospital days for all IHS inpatient hospitals). ANMC inpatient occupancy levels are routinely above 90%, while the industry standard for hospital occupancy is closer to 65%. The population growth trend has increased the number of ANMC Emergency Department (ED) visits from 15,517 in 2000, to 63,048 visits in 2019. To assist in keeping up with the increasing clinical demand, ANMC has added beds, increasing the size to a 183-bed facility. Due to the growth of the state’s user population, the migration of AI/AN people to the road system communities of Alaska, and the significantly changing needs of AI/AN user population, especially an inclusive need for improved behavioral health treatment, the current ANMC ED is undersized by approximately 67%. This is detrimental to providing quality services to meet current demand and when considering capacity needs for anticipated future growth. In 2022, ANTHC began to address this issue by expanding emergency services at ANMC. The project, Emergency Services Expansion (ESE), will allow ANMC to provide the needed Emergency Department (ED), Behavioral Health (BH) Crisis Now Center, and a Clinical Decision Unit (CDU), and services for the current and projected patient population. The expansion and renovation will accommodate increased clinical service and patient capacity, while improving patient care quality and the efficiency and effectiveness of the providers and staff Need of a Critical Decision Unit With ANTHC expanding emergency services, a dding a Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) will help address the crowded hospital conditions at ANMC. The CDU will also assist in increasing the functional capacity of existing and renovated space to address ANMC needs without the increased time and expense associated with physical expansion. The CDU will provide space in the ED for clinicians to closely monitor and observe patients that may need admission to the inpatient floors, as presented in Table 1. As for patient flow in the new expanded space, the CDU location will allow providers and staff to mitigate some significant challenges in the flow of ED patients. The CDU will allow providers to safely transfer longer stay patients out of the ED into an appropriate space, allowing the ED providers to better manage ED care. The HRSA grant will be used for construction costs of the CDU. The project is located in ANMC, 4315 Tudor Center Drive, Anchorage Alaska, 99508. The property is owned by ANTHC. The CPF/CDS funds would be used solely on construction. The new unit will be a newly constructed area, located on the second floor, south-west area of ANMC. Patient care space is approximately 5600 sq. ft. and designed with 12 exam rooms. The construction was a bid by a 3rd party at a flat rate proposal. The construction is expected to begin in May 2025, with expected to be operational by April 2027.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).