Alaska Native Medical Center

The Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) is a non-profit health center based in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, which provides medical services to 158,000 Alaska Natives and other Native Americans in Alaska.[1] It acts as both the secondary and tertiary care referral hospital for the Alaska Region of the Indian Health Service (IHS).[2] Established in 1997, ANMC is jointly owned and managed by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Southcentral Foundation as well as tribal governments, and their regional health organizations.[1]

The hospital is a 380,635 sq ft, 167-bed facility which opened in May 1997.[3][4] It has a staff which includes over 250 physicians. ANMC is one of only two level II trauma centers [3] in Alaska. The center is part of the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network that provides telehealth services to 180 Alaska Native community village clinics.[5] ANTHC opened a 202-bed patient housing facility connected by skybridge to ANMC on January 2, 2017. Ronald McDonald House occupies the 6th floor of patient housing for families and expectant mothers with high risk pregnancies. This is the first tribal partnership between Ronald McDonald House Charities and a tribal organization. ANMC had previously achieved magnet status but was unable to maintain it as of 2019. [1] [1] The largest hospital in United States Public Health Service history, the center was built with 168 million in federal funds secured by Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska after a thirty-year congressional battle.[4] The design architects were assisted by a Native Alaskan design committee with the goal of integrating their traditional values, design esthetics, lifestyles, and environmental concerns into a state of the art hospital. This resulted in a modern facility with an atmosphere comfortable to Native Alaskans by using natural lighting, expansive views to the outside, traditional finishes and textures typical of Native Alaskans, as well as Native crafts and artwork displays.[4] Construction was completed by a team of contractors and architects headed by Public Health Service professionals.

Quyana Hospitality Services is a complimentary service available to patients. Services include assistance with Medicaid extensions, housing upon provider referral, and patient travel within the Anchorage service area or following patient medevac to ANMC upon provider referral.

The old ANMC facility, built in 1953 as a tuberculosis sanitarium, was seriously damaged in the 1964 Alaska earthquake, and had been slated for replacement for many years.[4] The five-year construction project for its relocation culminated on June 2, 1997, in a one-day move of all programs, patients and departments from the old facility in downtown Anchorage to the new building six miles away.[2]

References
  1. "Alaska Native Medical Center". ANMC. 2010. Archived from the original on 7 December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  2. Berwick, Donald Mark (2004), Escape fire: designs for the future of health care, John Wiley and Sons, p. 134, ISBN 978-0-7879-7217-2
  3. Vanasse, Deb (2009), Insiders' Guide to Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska: Including the Kenai Peninsula, Prince William Sound, and Denali National Park (2 ed.), Globe Pequot, p. 205, ISBN 978-0-7627-5071-9
  4. Rife, James (2009), Caring and curing: a history of the Indian Health Service, PHS COF, p. 118, ISBN 978-0-9773149-2-8
  5. "Telehealth Improves Access and Quality of Care for Alaska Natives". Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2013-05-22.

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