Fond du Lac's Pharmacy On-Line Billing Initiative

Year

In 1995, faced with rising pharmaceutical costs, limited Indian Health Service (IHS) funds, and an inability to bill and collect from third party insurers, the Human Services Division contracted with a private sector firm to design and implement a computerized pharmacy billing system. The first of its kind for Indian Country, Fond du Lac’s on-line system not only increases the Division’s revenue stream, but also updates prices automatically, interfaces with the Indian Health Service’s Resource Patient Management System for health record-keeping, and warns of drug interactions. This initiative and its spin-offs at Fond du Lac (in dentistry, for example) demonstrate the Tribe’s capacity to direct complicated technological innovations that significantly improve existing management information systems. The initiative is also noteworthy for the changes it augured in IHS policy and for the partnership it created between the Band, the IHS, and the private sector in searching for monetary support that went beyond the sources of tribal health care funds.

Resource Type
Citation

"Pharmacy On-Line Billing Initiative". Honoring Nations: 2000 Honoree. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2001. Report.

Permissions

This Honoring Nations report is featured on the Indigenous Governance Database with the permission of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.

Related Resources

Thumbnail

White House Native American Affairs Senior Policy Advisor Jodi Gillette discusses a new era of governmental reform, the result of a new executive branch administration in the federal government. She elaborates on how this change in administration will effect Native nations, particularly with…

Thumbnail

Harvard Project Co-Director Joseph P. Kalt provides a general overview of the Honoring Nations program and illustrates how people all over the world are learning from the nation-building examples set and the lessons offered by Native nations in the United States.

Image
Muscogee Creek Nation Meets Growing Pharmacy Needs Through Bilingual, Self-Refill App

A new, automated prescription refill system has made time management much easier for Muscogee Creek pharmacy staff. Nearly a year ago, the tribe tapped Enacomm, a leader in interactive voice response technology, to help the Muscogee Creek Nation Department of Health manage their increasingly high…