Alaska Native medical center a model for curbing costs, improving health

    The fifth and final story in my series, "Invisible Nations, Enduring Ills," on health disparities affecting Native Americans in the Portland area ran today on the front page of The Sunday Oregonian. Today's story focuses on the dramatic success and efficiency of an innovative Native American health organization in Anchorage, Alaska, called Southcentral Foundation. The system run by and for Alaska Natives offers promising practices not only for other Native American health systems, but for all  health care systems.See the story at this site. 

    By coincidence, The New York Times today ran an editorial about Southcentral Foundation and how it has "achieved astonishing results in improving the health of its enrollees while cutting the costs of treating them."  You can read it here.