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CHCC gets funding boost
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. got a much-needed funding of $2.75 million from the $24-million supplemental budget bill Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed into law yesterday.
The supplemental budget is from the Special Casino Gross Revenue Tax Account.
Broken down, the supplemental budget for CHCC gives $2.5 million for indigent care and the remaining $250,000 for the Electronic Healthcare Records System.
CHCC CEO Esther Muña said the funding would assist CHCC to defray its costs. They plan to use the funding to bring in specialists and acquire an advanced technology CT scan, with the hope that people will eventually not fly out for medical referrals.
“We have a commitment to this community to have quality services and we hope to eventually receive all the funding we originally asked for,” she said.
In April 2017, CHCC asked the Legislature for $15 million “for improvement of services, advancement of services, hiring specialty care,” she said. “We have some specialists coming in the summer so this funding will help pay for those services so it’s definitely going to be helpful for us. There’s going to be some more funding and we are looking forward to that.”
Muña said that any additional funding that CHCC receives always go to patient care.
“We were already entering the fiscal year with the idea that whether we receive the funding or not, we were going to improve our services no matter what and so that was one of the reasons why we looked into increasing our rates…At the end of the day, it’s about taking care of the people that cannot be helped financially,” she said.
“This funding eases up the hospitals needs. We are accountable for the funds that we receive and again, the idea is to bring it to patient care,” she added.
