Decision on who will sign for hospital loan delays drawdown of MPLT funds

The Marianas Public Land Trust is in a wait-and-see mode as the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. board dithers on who should sign for the $1.8 million loan that it will use to upgrade its electronic health record system.

The MPLT board approved in principle last month the corporation’s loan proposal. The amount is assigned a 5-percent interest annually and must be paid in an 18-month term upon receipt of the amount.

But MPLT board chair Alvaro Santos disclosed that as of last week, no sufficient information has been provided by the corporation on who will be the signatory of the loan agreement.

The promissory note, he said, can be signed by either the corporation’s chief executive officer, Juan N. Babauta, or by Gov. Benigno R. Fitial on behalf of the central government.

In a visit to the corporation on Tuesday, both Babauta and Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos confirmed with Saipan Tribune that no decision has been reached on the matter and that it is still on the table for discussion.

“We’re taking the position of wait-and-see until they [corporation and central government] get themselves together. But I know one thing: this project is time-sensitive and they are already losing out on the first year for fiscal year 2011, when stage one [of the project] is supposed to start. So if they postpone it, I don’t know what kind of signal they want to show to the federal government,” said Santos.

The board instructed MPLT executive director Bruce McMillan to talk with Babauta to get the decision and plans for the project once and for all. The members deferred making any decision on the matter and gave the parties more time to make a definite decision.

Although the board understands that there are more pressing matters at the hospital as a result of the corporation’s recent transition on Oct. 1, Santos said the corporation and its board should also be mindful about the importance of the electronic health record project, which will help them generate revenues.

Santos earlier said that because the central government has no capital to fund the project, MPLT was approached by both the administration and the corporation to provide the loan, which will be paid using reimbursements from the federal government. The $1.8-million loan will be used to complete stage 1 of the project and, once completed, the CNMI will get reimbursed the amount.

Under the American Recovery Reinvestment Act, about $19 billion is set aside to build health information technology systems nationwide and the CNMI is qualified to receive over $5 million incentives and bonus, provided it will show meaningful use of the new system.

The electronic health record system project aims to modernize the health information technology of the Commonwealth Health Center and the Tinian and Rota health clinics.