In defense of ICS

I have the highest regard for blogger/activist Wendy Doromol and usually strongly support her causes, but in the case of the ICS contract with the Commonwealth Health Corporation, I think she happens to be wrong. See http://www.unheardnomore.blogspot.com/2012/05/ics-leaves-cnmi.html. It’s all a question of what kind of spin is put on things, and who one thinks has more credibility.

The public perception, thanks in large part to the media coverage, is that ICS, which is trying to work out a contract with CHC for management services, is a money-hungry, illegitimate fraud. Much has been made of its proposed fees, its lack of documentation, the failure to follow procurement regulations, etc., etc.

The fact that 23 doctors at CHC have publicly stated that ICS’ assistance is so critical to the well-being of the hospital that they will resign if a contract with ICS is not honored, though it made headlines, does not seem to carry any weight in the controversy.

Yet who would know better whether ICS can help CHC? The CNMI Office of the Attorney General, which appears to be doing every thing in its power to derail the contract, or the doctors who work at CHC, who have met with ICS personnel, and who, I’ve been told personally, have already been helped by suggestions and advice proffered by ICS?

Based on a story in a local Idaho newspaper (see http://www.localnews8.com/news/30990052/detail.html), where ICS’ Louis Kraml serves as CEO to the local hospital, Kraml came to the CNMI to see what kind of help CHC needed. Only after that did he and Dan Cochran, COO of the Idaho hospital, decide to form ICS. That would explain why they did not have readily available the many documents that the CNMI AG’s office had demanded of them.

Kraml, moreover, has a reputation for turning rural hospitals around. From the May 2, 2012, issue of the Blackfoot Morning News of Blackfoot, Idaho: “When Kraml started at BMH [Bingham Memorial Hospital], ’the hospital was broke,’ said Bingham County Commissioner Cleone Jolley. ’The hospital couldn’t make payroll. Now the hospital is making money; the hospital has improved and it offers excellent care. He’s done a lot for our hospital,’ he said. ’He’s done things that are best for business. Kraml has expertise to help a hospital,’ said Jolley.” See http://www.am-news.com/content/bmh-administrator-moonlighting.

It is said that Kraml seemed arrogant during interviews with the media. It is also said that he had not expected the skeptical reception he was given. Regardless of how he came to the CNMI, regardless of the seeming irregularities in the contract, regardless of his seeming uncooperativeness, the bottom line is that the professionals with whom Louis Kraml’s ICS would be working find him credible, respect his knowledge and expertise, and want to work with him.

The CNMI will never get out of its slump if every entrepreneur who offers help is met with hostility, ridicule, criticism. We should welcome his/her assistance and, in turn, assist him/her in providing it to us. In this case, additionally, we should respect and support the professionals in our midst-the doctors upon whom our lives depend.

Ruth L. Tighe
Tanapag, Saipan