The Nuka System
of Care
Southcentral Foundation’s relationship-based wellness model. We replace transactional appointments with sovereign, long-term healing partnerships.
A philosophy of connection, not transaction.
The Nuka System of Care is the name given to the unique whole-system redesign undertaken by Southcentral Foundation in partnership with the Alaska Native community. It is completely co-owned, co-designed, and co-managed by customer-owners themselves.
Instead of waiting for illness to manifest, our co-located primary care clinics, nutritionists, traditional tribal doctors, and behavioral health consultants coordinate seamlessly to keep customer-owners healthy on their ancestral lands.
Global Benchmark Outcomes
The Nuka model achieves world-class healthcare quality improvements, recognized nationally for its performance, cost efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
ER & Urgent Care Decrease
System-wide reduction in emergency and urgent clinic visits via primary care empanelment.
Hospital Admissions Decline
Decrease in overnight hospitalizations due to robust preventive and integrated case management.
Customer-Owner Satisfaction
Consistent top-tier customer rating for clinical quality, relationship-centered care, and trust.
National Baldrige Honors
First tribal health organization to receive the presidential Malcolm Baldrige Award twice (2011 & 2017).
Co-Located Clinical Team Explorer
Click the care team roles below to see how they collaborate in the same suite to treat you as a whole person, sharing charts and eliminating medical silos.
Primary Care Provider (PCP)
Medical Partner & LeaderCore Therapeutic Focus
Clinical diagnosis, preventative treatments, and coordinated long-term health planning.
Your designated family physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant. Rather than treating you as a checklist of symptoms, your provider co-develops personalized wellness goals and builds a lifelong health partnership with you.
Clinical & Wellness Benefits
- ✓ Conducts thorough annual wellness physicals
- ✓ Co-manages complex or chronic clinical profiles
- ✓ Coordinates immediate co-located pediatric and behavioral therapies
The Only Two-Time Winner
"Southcentral Foundation has established a national benchmark for healthcare quality and delivery. By empowering their community, listening to their customer-owners, and emphasizing integrated team care, they have created a global standard of performance excellence."
Four Pillars
Core Principles of Nuka
Relationships
Care begins with the relationship between customer-owner and provider. Trust is our primary clinical tool to effect lifelong wellness.
Wholeness
Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness are fully coordinated as a single, beautifully integrated whole rather than fragmented systems.
Sovereignty
True self-determination through Alaska Native tribal ownership, leadership, and operational independence across all clinical spaces.
Story
We listen first. We learn the whole person's path, traditional identity, and history, never restricting care to a cold diagnostic chart.
Self-Determination
A Short History of Our Sovereign Journey
- 1982
Incorporation
Southcentral Foundation was established under CIRI tribal authority to bring health self-determination to Cook Inlet Region Native people.
- 1984
Sovereign Transition
Passage of Public Law 92-638 enables the systematic transfer of health care management from federal Indian Health Service control to local tribal sovereignty.
- 1994
Sovereign Compact
SCF enters the landmark Alaska Tribal Health Compact, assuming direct management and funding of its sovereign health care programs.
- 1998
The Nuka Redesign
Renamed 'patients' to 'customer-owners' to signal sovereign equality, while completely restructuring primary care clinics into integrated co-located teams.
- 2011
First Malcolm Baldrige Award
SCF receives the United States' highest presidential honor for organizational performance excellence and customer-focused quality.
- 2017
Second Malcolm Baldrige Award
SCF becomes the first and only health care organization in the world to be awarded the prestigious national quality honor twice.
- Today
Global Model of Care
Nuka is studied globally by ministries of health, universities, and clinical systems across six continents looking to replicate relationship-based wellness.
Learning Programs & Events
Request speakers, custom strategic consulting, virtual learning sessions, or interactive tours of our Anchorage primary care integrated clinics.
Annual Nuka Conference
Gather with healthcare leaders, policymakers, and system architects from six continents to study the Nuka framework, operational logistics, and data transformation.
Core Concepts Workshop
SCF's signature three-day experiential training focusing on relationship-building, self-story reflection, and communication strategies for health care organizations.
Site Visits & Custom Consulting
Request virtual consulting or on-site tours of the Anchorage primary care clinics, integrated medical suites, and pediatric facilities tailored to your organization.