About CRIHB Membership
The California Rural Indian Health Board, Inc. (CRIHB) has two types of membership from which Tribal Health Programs may choose. Any Tribe or Tribal health organization in California providing direct health care and health related services to Indians in California, and which is governed by an Indian governing body, and which makes timely payment of such dues and fees as this Corporation may impose, is eligible to designate two Directors and one Alternate Director to the CRIHB Board from its own governing body. CRIHB related travel expense and honorarium is paid by CRIHB.
CONTRACTING MEMBER:
Direct Contract
A Tribe that designates CRIHB through Tribal resolution which jointly authorizes both CRIHB and the local Tribal Health Program to receive IHS funds for P.L. 93-638 contracting purposes. This relationship allows CRIHB to represent the Tribe/Consortium in negotiations with IHS for the direct services contract. It would allow the Tribe/Consortium to have non-federally recognized Indians sit on their Health Board. CRIHB does not use any direct care health dollars to fund these activities, but relies solely on non-recurring contract support cost dollars.
The scope of said P.L. 93-638 contract shall include comprehensive health care services for the Tribe’s members, which shall include services described in Tribal Specific Health plan and such other health related services for which Federal funding may in the future become available, monitoring, advocacy, technical assistance and information sharing. The Tribal Health Programs are considered 638 contractors under Federal law.
Area Office Functions
A Tribe that designates CRIHB through Tribal resolution for P.L. 93-638 contracting purposes authorizes CRIHB to apply for, negotiate and contract with the Indian Health Service for contracts, grants and cooperative agreements for programs, functions and services provided by Indian Health Service area office and/or headquarters level, as well as monitoring, advocacy, technical assistance, information management and sharing. This level of membership allows the program to access consultant services (T&TA) free of charge and attend trainings without paying a registration fee. In addition, some travel expenses may be paid for some health program staff to attend specific training workshops – currently these include the CRIHB Annual Training Workshop, (which includes Billing & Compliance Workshop, Human Resources & Leadership Workshop); Coding Audits and Trainings, THNC/NextGen Trainings, HIPAA Trainings, Pharmacy Trainings, Information Technology Support, and Compliance Support & Training.
Associate Member
An Associate Member pays annual dues of $12,000 – A Tribe or Tribal Organization joints CRIHB through Tribal resolution and at this level of membership, the Tribe or Tribal Organization’s/Consortia’s relationship is one of networking and advocacy. The Health Program receives a discount on registration fees. If the program wishes to access consultant services, the program must negotiate a fee-for-services contract with CRIHB. The program receives a 10% discount on CRIHB’s fee-for-service rates. Any fee-for-service contract is contingent upon the time constraints of the CRIHB staff; there is no guarantee that CRIHB will be able to enter into the contract.