<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0Cyb4d_1Ch47TJ700" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0Cyb4d_1Ch47TJ700" width="1500" height="994" ><figcaption>Oklahoma media attends a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Cherokee Nation’s takeover of Claremore Indian Hospital in October 2025. Like many IHS-run facilities across the country, Claremore Indian Hospital had been neglected, according to the tribe, without plans for repairs or upgrades anytime soon.&nbsp; CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX</figcaption></figure>CLAREMORE – As the Indian Health Service digs out of a decades-old construction backlog for medical buildings, the Cherokee Nation is moving forward with its own plans to replace an aging hospital it took over from the government last fall.The Cherokee Nation’s takeover of the decades-old Claremore Indian Hospital, deemed in “deplorable shape” by the tribe, officially took place on Oct. 1, 2025.“There was very little likelihood that the facility would receive the level of funding necessary to bring it up to today’s standards under the leadership of the federal government,” CN Health Services Chief Operating Officer Brian Hail said. “The federal capital project waitlist is extensive, and major renovation or replacement projects can take many years to receive approval and funding, leaving aging facilities with limited opportunities for meaningful modernization.”An estimated $11 million was immediately spent by the Cherokee Nation on emergency improvements with plans to eventually build a new facility. A report from IHS itself suggested a cost upwards of $120 million to repair and upgrade the hospital. “To simply meet minimum standards for in-patient care, $58 million was the estimated cost for repairs and upgrades,” Hail said. “Sinking tens of millions of dollars into a hospital building that is 50 years old and located such that future growth is impossible was not an economically viable decision.”Four months after the Cherokee Nation’s takeover in Claremore, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged $1 billion toward long-delayed IHS projects. The federal agency estimates $8 billion is needed to tackle all remaining projects on a 1993 list that, under federal law, must be complete before the IHS can address other major construction needs.A.C. Locklear, CEO of the nonprofit National Indian Health Board, told the Associated Press that $1 billion is the single largest financial investment by any administration in addressing the aging facilities. Yet, he said, it also shows the federal government has neglected its legal duty to provide adequate health care to tribal nations.“It’s a drop in the bucket in terms of what’s needed to modernize these facilities,” Locklear said.Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the tribe acted in Claremore because the government failed to commit either to upgrading or replacing the IHS facility. Since the Cherokee Nation acquired IHS’s hospital – now called Claremore Outpatient and Emergency Health Center – the patient load has grown by an estimated 500 per month.“Improvements include a new 6,000-square-foot addition to expand access for cardiology, women’s clinic and podiatry services,” Hail said. “Additional enhancements include a second audiology sound booth, major physical environment and life safety upgrades, a new emergency power generator and facility-wide improvements designed to enhance patient flow, operational efficiency and the overall patient experience.”Tribal lawmakers green-lit the administration’s recommendation to spend up to $400 million on a new healthcare facility in Claremore. The health campus, scheduled to open in the fall of 2029, will feature an outpatient unit, wellness center and emergency room with space designated for a future hospital unit.The Cherokee Nation is also opening a new $500 million hospital in Tahlequah in July to replace an aging facility the tribe took over from IHS in 2008.“We have over the past five years dramatically expanded access to health care,” Hoskin said. “We’ve gone from over a million patient visits a year to over 2 million patient visits a year.”Cherokee Nation Health Services is the largest tribally-operated health care system in the United States with nearly 160 full-time providers and more than 2,200 employees. The tribe’s system services citizens of every federally recognized tribe.The IHS serves 2.8 million Native American and Alaska Native patients at more than 20 hospitals and nearly 80 smaller health centers nationwide. The average age of those facilities is around 40, and one third are in “poor” physical condition, according to a 2023 U.S. Government Accountability Office report.That isn’t lost on Theresa Nelson, a 62-year-old Navajo Nation citizen who started relying on the Albuquerque Indian Health Center after retiring and losing her health insurance.“It felt like going back in time,” she told the AP, describing everything from the X-ray machines to exam rooms and waiting room furniture as outdated.Senior HHS adviser Mark Cruz urged Congress to make a special appropriation to complete the remaining projects that are in various stages of planning and design. Without that funding, he said, it could take another 40 years to get through the priority list.“It’s really unacceptable that we’re still working off of that 33-year-old construction list,” Cruz said.Federal law requires the Indian Health Service to complete that list before replacing clinics and hospitals that have fallen into disrepair since 1993.</div></body>

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CLAREMORE – As the Indian Health Service digs out of a decades-old construction backlog for medical buildings, the Cherokee Nation is moving forward with its own plans to replace an aging hospital it took over from the government last fall. The Cherokee Nation’s takeover of the decades-old Claremore Indian...

Cherokee Nation sidesteps IHS backlog

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CLAREMORE – As the Indian Health Service digs out of a decades-old construction backlog for medical buildings, the Cherokee Nation is moving forward with i

Cherokee Nation sidesteps IHS backlog

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