Norton Sound Health Corp

Norton Sound Health Corp, doing business as Norton Sound Regional Hospital, is a tribally owned, tax-exempt non-profit Alaska Native Corporation that operates as a prime recipient of federal grants (74% of recent awards) and sub-recipient on federal grant programs, delivering rural Alaska Native health services and public health interventions across the Bering Strait region. The organization has no federal contract footprint; all federal work flows through grant mechanisms administered by the Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service (IHS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service and Rural Housing Service, and other civilian agencies.

Based in Nome, Alaska, Norton Sound Health Corp serves approximately 10,000 Alaska Native residents across a 22,962 square-mile service area spanning 16 communities — Nome, Brevig Mission, Diomede, Elim, Gambell, Golovin, Koyuk, Savoonga, St. Michael, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref, Stebbins, Teller, Unalakleet, Wales, and White Mountain. The organization operates Norton Sound Regional Hospital and 16 federally qualified health clinics providing acute care, primary care, dental, behavioral health, laboratory, pharmacy, radiology, respiratory therapy, maternal and child health, and village health aide services. Place of performance spans Nome and the 15 surrounding villages across northwestern Alaska.

The grant footprint reflects IHS regional and national health priorities. Recent prime recipient grants include a $150,000 Cooperative Agreement (effective January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2030) from the IHS Injury Prevention Program for American Indians and Alaskan Natives (CFDA 93.284) funding fire and burn prevention and traumatic brain injury prevention through equipment distribution and community education; a $200,000 Cooperative Agreement (awarded September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2028) under the IHS Health Management Development Program (CFDA 93.228) for dementia care coordination and clinical capacity building; and a $700,000 Project Grant (awarded October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2027) from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women under the Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Assistance Program (CFDA 16.589) funding a Rural Forensic Services Program in partnership with Kawerak Child Advocacy Center. Infrastructure and environmental work includes a $5.18 million Project Grant from USDA Rural Utilities Service (awarded May 25, 2023 through May 25, 2025) under the Community Facilities Loans and Grants program (CFDA 10.766) for community facility improvements, a $2.265 million Project Grant from the same vehicle (awarded June 14, 2024 through June 14, 2026), and multiple solid waste management grants totaling $224,000 and $176,000 from USDA Rural Utilities Service (CFDA 10.762) for landfill evaluation and closure planning.

Customer concentration is substantial. HHS (both Public Health Service and Indian Health Service) accounts for 25 awards across prime grants, while USDA Rural Utilities Service and Rural Housing Service account for 18 awards combined. The top five funding agencies account for 42% of award count. Sub-recipient relationships flow through Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the State of Alaska Department of Health, and Philanthropy Northwest, with NSHC receiving pass-through funding for Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH), the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline tribal response, opioid and substance use treatment programs, WIC nutritional services, and environmental remediation work. Two sub-awards from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (October 2022 and August 2022) supported research on multifactorial determinants of childhood hearing loss in rural Alaska.

Activity has grown from 6 awards in 2022 to a peak of 17 in 2024, with 11 awards in 2025 and 4 recorded as of April 2026. The organization reports 125 total awards (prime and sub combined) across all federal sources since 1990, with $186.7 million obligated against a combined potential value of $139 million (reflecting substantial obligated funding on multi-year cooperative agreements and project grants). Five awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure in behavioral health, dementia care, and injury prevention programs. The organization's grant posture is entirely non-competitive set-aside; all work flows from civilian health, rural development, and violence-prevention programs with statutory or programmatic targeting of rural Alaska Native communities and tribal health organizations.