BACKGROUND: In 1996, amid growing concern about the lack of adequate public health surveillance and data for disease control for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations, Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs) were established under the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA). There are now 12 Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs) across the United States with a common mission to improve the health of AI/AN populations by identifying and understanding health problems and disease risks, strengthening public health capacity, and developing solutions for disease prevention and control.
METHODS: This presentation will highlight the unique, twenty-year relationship between the Tribal Epidemiology Center (TEC) program, established via core funding from the Indian Health Service (IHS), and American Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the urban AI/AN population. TECs play a critical role in building public health capacity among AI/AN communities. Working with tribal entities and urban AI/AN communities, TECs provide a variety of public health services including: data dissemination, surveillance, applied epidemiologic studies, training, responses to public health emergencies, technical assistance, disease control and prevention activities. These activities are often coordinated and implemented in partnership with other public health authorities.
RESULTS: Results will focus on the twenty year progression and milestones of TECs in terms of geography, policy, and programs. The presentation will also summarize the seven core functions of TECs and the public health authority status of TECs, as mandated in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, permanently reauthorized in 2010, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This status directs the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to grant each TEC access to use of the data, data sets, monitoring systems, delivery systems, and other protected health information (PHI) in the possession of the Secretary. It also requires that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide technical assistance, and that CDC work closely with each TEC in strengthening AI/AN disease surveillance.
CONCLUSIONS: The presentation will conclude with a brief discussion of the TECs newest collective initiative, the establishment of the Tribal Epidemiology Center Consortium (TEC-C) and its novel website which launched in 2016 to commemorate the TEC 20th anniversary.