WHAT:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Deputy Chief Bryan Warner, and other Cherokee Nation leaders will celebrate the tribe’s assumption of the former Claremore Indian Hospital from the Indian Health Service.
WHEN:
Wednesday, October 1 at 11 a.m.
WHERE:
Cherokee Nation Claremore Outpatient and Emergency Health Center
101 S. Moore Ave.
Claremore, OK, 74017
WHO:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Deputy Chief Bryan Warner
Council of the Cherokee Nation
Claremore community members
Cherokee Nation Health Services
Indian Health Service officials
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Deputy Chief Bryan Warner, and other tribal leaders will join members of the Claremore community Wednesday to celebrate a historic milestone in tribal self-determination as Cherokee Nation officially assumes operations of the former Claremore Indian Hospital from the Indian Health Service.
The celebration marks the culmination of more than a year of negotiations and planning, making the Claremore facility the final federally operated Indian Health Service center within the 7,000-square-mile Cherokee Nation Reservation to transition to tribal operation. Now known as the Cherokee Nation Claremore Outpatient and Emergency Health Center, the facility will be integrated into Cherokee Nation’s health system, which delivers more than 2.6 million patient visits annually across 11 health facilities.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. participated in a historic signing ceremony Sept. 23 with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to formally acknowledge the transfer of operations of the Claremore Indian Hospital from the Indian Health Service to Cherokee Nation, effective October 1, 2025.
The ceremonial signing took place at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, while both parties were attending an HHS Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee meeting, marking a significant milestone in tribal self-determination and health care sovereignty.