The financial burden of injury-related hospitalizations to an Alaska Native health system

Author: Chandler, B. A. / Berger, L. R.
Publication: Alaska Med
Link to Published Abstract
Topics: Accidents/Unintentional Ethnicity Local Medical Suicide
Keywords: Alaska Firearms Health Care Costs Suicide Violence
Bibliographic information +

The authors evaluated how much the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Interior Alaska, a Native Alaskans’ health care system, paid for injury-related hospitalizations from 1994-1998. They identified 511 cases which cost a total of more than 4 million dollars. The most frequent and costly causes were suicide attempts, falls, and violent acts. Specifically, unintentional firearm injuries and snowmobile/all terrain vehicle injuries were the most expensive per capita.