The AHS Index is a new way to look at data that illuminates a snapshot of our world today. It is intended to highlight health inequities and spark conversation, debate, outrage, and wonder.   

Number of square miles traversed by Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American to receive a medical degree, in order to serve more than 1,300 people on the Omaha reservation around the turn of the 20th century: 450 

Number of silver dollars that Carlos Montezuma, who would later become the second Native American with a medical degree and a fierce advocate for Native American rights, was sold for after he was abducted in 1871 and enslaved at age 5: 30 

Year that the United States first formally acknowledged and apologized for the death, abuse, neglect and assimilation forced upon Native American people at boarding schools across the country throughout the 19th and early 20th century: 2024 

Amount of money the National Institute of Health put toward a 2024 initiative that enables Native American leaders to research substance use disorder, mental health, and Native American health disparities: $268 million 

Amount of money the U.S. allots for one patient to receive care at the Indian Health Service: $2,834 

Amount of money the U.S. allots for one patient to receive care on Medicare: $12,744 

 Additional amount of money the Indian Health Service would need in order to meet Native American patients’ needs and provide equitable health services, according to a report from the Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup: $44 billion  

Average life expectancy of Asian Americans, the highest of any race or ethnicity : 83.5 

Average life expectancy of Native Americans, the lowest of any race or ethnicity: 65.2