Alaska reinstates disease tests, but funds still are short

Then on Monday, state officials higher up in the health department said the notices sent three days earlier were premature and that the free testing will continue.

But the state Division of Public Health, of which the laboratories are a part, still needs to figure out how to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from its spending, said deputy division director Kerre Fisher. It just hasn't decided where to cut yet.

Until the cuts are finalized, testing of samples will continue, she said.

One of the people who got the notice Friday -- Dr. Bruce Chandler, chief medical director for Anchorage -- said it came "out of the blue." Chandler also is a pediatrician at the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center, which serves all comers including those who have no insurance.

After receiving a second letter rescinding the first one, he said, "I don't know what's going on except I'm glad they reinstated the testing. It's good for the people of Alaska."

Both the city and the neighborhood health center would be affected if the state quit analyzing their test samples.

At the health center, "I see lots of refugee kids," who have no insurance and can't pay, said Chandler. The recommendations are to test those children for hepatitis A, B and C and for the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, he said. If state public health quits doing those tests, they'll still need to be done and someone else will have to pay, Chandler said.

Joan Fisher, director of the neighborhood health center, says if patients have Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance, their samples go to private testing laboratories and are all or partially covered by insurance.

It's mostly the poor and uninsured whose test samples go to the state labs, which often are slower to return results than private labs, said Fisher. She estimated the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center alone sends 200 to 250 samples a week to the state labs.

If that service disappears, she said, "It really will make us have to refigure our business. It's kind of scary."

Fisher, from the Division of Public Health, said the division must cut spending because its federal grant money is dwindling; the agency did not get a cut in operating money from the state general fund.

The division is several hundred thousand dollars short of money needed to continue providing the same level of services, she said. "The lab is definitely a big share of it."

She could not be specific about the shortfall.

In a letter to state lab clients Monday, Dr. Ward Hurlburt, state public health director, said the Alaska State Public Health Laboratory has been operating about 7 percent over budget, "and the need to correct that situation remains, as does our need to continue to provide essential public health laboratory services."

Fisher said the public health division will look at other sections besides the lab to find ways to reduce spending.

The false alarm Friday was prompted by the state laboratory directors' attempt to stay within budget, said Fisher, the deputy division director. "But for a decision this big, we need to pull back and reassess."

The state has a virology lab in Fairbanks, and a microbiology lab in Anchorage, said Fisher. The Fairbanks lab tests for viruses such as HIV and herpes. The Anchorage lab tests for tuberculosis, salmonella, food poisoning and the like, she said.

No one has proposed cutting testing for TB, gonorrhea, chlamydia or flu, Fisher said.

Find Rosemary Shinohara online at adn.com/contact/rshinohara or call her at 257-4340.