Cherokee Nation moves to assume Claremore Indian Hospital staff amid employee uncertainty and a federal HR impasse

Cherokee Nation health officials said they have begun outreach to Claremore Indian Hospital employees as the tribe moves to assume services and offer positions, but several questions remain about compensation, federal personnel agreements and next steps.

Tony Decker, chief operating officer for Claremore Indian Hospital, told the Cherokee Nation Health Committee that hospital and Cherokee Nation leadership have spent time walking through departments and talking with employees since the announcement, and that Cherokee Nation executive leadership has been on site to answer questions. "I make myself present to everybody as well as the rest of the leadership team," Decker said.

Doctor Steve Jones of Cherokee Nation Health Services said Cherokee Nation teams have been at Claremore and are prepared to answer questions that staff raise, but many of the immediate questions are federal human-resources issues that Cherokee Nation cannot resolve. "Unfortunately, a lot of the questions that the employees currently have are H.R. questions that fall on the federal government side. We can't answer those questions," Jones said.

Jones described the personnel-transition process the tribe will use for Claremore staff. Positions for current Claremore employees will be posted exclusively to those employees when the hiring window opens; Cherokee Nation officials said they anticipated a posting window of about five days, followed by five days for hiring managers to review candidate panels and move to interviews. A compensation review would follow for selected candidates, with Cherokee Nation staff explaining any production-based contracts or other pay supplements to employees who choose to join Cherokee Nation.

Jones also said attempts to bring some federal employees to Cherokee Nation under intergovernmental agreements encountered an impasse. He said lawyers reviewed proposed IPA (intergovernmental personnel agreement) / MOA (memorandum of agreement) arrangements and concluded Cherokee Nation could not present a negotiable offer under those terms. "We were told that we were not a federal entity ... the cost was in excess of 700% increase over what we should have been having to pay," Jones said, adding that lawyers now have the matter.

Committee members raised employee concerns about feeling "in purgatory" while awaiting clarity. Decker acknowledged the difficulty and repeated that hospital and Cherokee Nation leadership have been making themselves available to staff. Jones said the tribe will continue outreach and explained that some elements of final pay and contract terms (including production-based compensation) will be explained after candidates complete the selection process.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the Claremore staffing questions during the discussion. At the meeting's opening the committee approved minutes by voice vote; the committee also later approved the motion to adjourn by voice vote.

Why this matters: The staffing transition affects patient access at Claremore Indian Hospital and the pay and benefits of hospital employees. Several aspects of final employment depend on federal HR rules and on whether intergovernmental agreements can be reached, matters the committee said are now in lawyers' hands.

No formal timelines for final decisions were provided beyond the short hiring-window timeline described by Cherokee Nation staff, and committee members asked for continued updates as negotiations and outreach continue.