American Indians/Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) across the U.S. experience a disproportionate burden of disease. Contract Health Service Delivery Areas (CHSDAs) are counties including or adjoining American Indian reservations; they are commonly used when calculating AI/AN health statistics using national or state datasets. This panel will 1) describe the AI/AN population and the role of Tribal Epidemiology Centers in serving AI/AN communities, 2) examine the validity of using CHSDA counties as a proxy for race when estimating asthma burden, and 3) explore alternate methods for estimating asthma morbidity for AI/AN populations when hospital discharge data do not include race/ethnicity.