27 25 Years of community-driven transformation: remarkable clinical, cost, and happiness achievements
Year: 2024
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Description 25 years ago, Alaska Native people chose to assume responsibility for their own health care, breaking away from a federally run system that did not meet the needs of the community. Southcentral Foundation (SCF), an Alaska Native-owned and operated system, now provides health care and related services to approximately 70,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people in southern Alaska. SCF’s relationship-based Nuka System of Care was built from the ground up by and for the community it serves, creating a system where patients (called “customer-owners” at SCF) are active partners in their care. At SCF, providers build strong relationships with customer-owners, which enable them to understand each customer-owner’s unique story and better support them in achieving wellness. After establishing the Nuka System of Care, SCF saw a 44% decrease in Emergency Room (ER) visits for customer-owners, as well as a 63% decrease in hospital discharges. 97% of customer-owners are satisfied with the care provided by SCF, and SCF has also achieved 91% employee satisfaction. SCF’s experience shows that when the community owns and operates the health care system, health outcomes and satisfaction can improve significantly.
Authors: Doug Eby, Karen McIntire
Institution: Southcentral Foundation
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4404895212