Samish Indian Health Services are offered in 10-counties throughout western Washington, except for our wellness program, where services are offered in 12-counties.  Our Health Services are dedicated to the health and well-being of our Citizens.  Our Core values include:

• Proving high-quality services
• Treating Citizens with respect, consideration, and dignity.
• Promoting improvement of professional competence, skill, and quality of performance of professional staff.
• Proving a safe and sanitary environment.

Purchased/Referred Care: Purchased Referred Care (PRC) plays a crucial role in the healthcare system of Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Communities in the United States. PRC is essential for improving access to health care, addressing health disparities, promoting tribal sovereignty, and ensuring that Native American communities receive the quality care they deserve.

Here are several reasons why PRC is important in Indian Country:

1. Access to Specialized Care:  For Native Americans that reside in rural or remote areas where access to specialized healthcare services is limited.  PRC allows these communities to access to medical services that may not be available locally, such as specialty consultations, surgeries, or treatments for complex medical conditions.
2. Supplemental Funding for Indian Health Services (IHS):  The Indian Health Service, which is responsible for providing healthcare to Native American tribes, often faces funding limitations. PRC funding supplements the resources available through IHS, helping to cover the costs of medical care that cannot be provided directly by IHS facilities.
3. Cultural Competency:  PRC enables Native American patients to receive care that respects their cultural beliefs, practices, and languages.  By allowing tribes to contract with healthcare providers who understand and are sensitive to their cultural context, PRC contributes to more effective and culturally appropriate healthcare delivery.
4. Addressing Health Disparities:  Native American communities experience disproportionately high rates of certain health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and substance abuse.  PRC helps address these health disparities by ensuring that Native Americans have access to the medical services they need to prevent, manage, and treat these conditions.
5. Emergency and Urgent Care:  In cases of medical emergencies or urgent healthcare needs, PRC provides a mechanism for Native American patients to receive timely care, regardless of their ability to pay.  This is particularly important in situations where immediate medical emergencies or attention is necessary to save lives to prevent further deterioration of health.

How to Request a Purchase Order for Healthcare Services

Understanding how to request a Purchase Order (PO) for healthcare services is crucial for ensuring efficient and effective healthcare delivery.  Here is how and when to request a purchase order:

• Pre-authorization is required for ALL non-emergency services and follow-up care.
• Acceptable forms of notification for an upcoming visit include:
• e-mailing us at: prc-shared@samishtribe.nsn.us or calling the PRC direct line at 360-899-5454.

All emergency services must be reported to the PRC program within 72 hours of when the services have been provided.

Tribal Wellness Services: Tribal Wellness Services provides a variety of services to improve the overall health and wellness of tribal citizens. Including an effort to combat the growing epidemic of diabetes in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. These services are designed to educate tribal citizens on the risk factors of diabetes while encouraging prevention and management, physical fitness, nutrition, foot care, and vision care. 

Orthodontics: Samish Indian Nation implemented an orthodontic program for children and adults, which promotes better oral health, enhance quality of life, empowers individuals through education and contributes to economic development.

Prevention / Intervention: In Prevention and Intervention, we believe that the practice of connecting individuals to their culture, language and traditions fosters a greater sense of community which in turn promotes wellness and reduces distress. We plan to build upon our current service strengths to reduce gaps in mental health needs, substance abuse needs and provide holistic, culturally appropriate wraparound services for Samish Citizens and their families. We will work to align our vision with the SAMHSA National Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda (TBHA) which “Evaluates the importance of tribal identities, culture, spiritual beliefs, and practices for improving overall wellbeing”.

Behavioral Health:  Behavioral health will address mental health and substance use disorders, life stressors and crises, and stress-related physical symptoms. Behavioral health care refers to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of those conditions.