‘Govt owes hospital $62M’

The CNMI government itself is responsible for the bulk of debts owed the Commonwealth Health Center, acting Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez told a Senate committee yesterday.

Villagomez said in a confirmation hearing at the Senate that government-run programs have amassed a $62-million debt to the Commonwealth’s only hospital over the past six years.

Medicaid accounts for more than half of the hospital’s receivables from the government, with a debt amounting to $32 million. The NMI Retirement Fund owes the Commonwealth Health Center $28 million, while the remaining $2 million are collectible from other government entities.

“Some of the more pressing issues is our inability to recover costs for services rendered at CHC. The Legislature currently appropriates close to $25 million to run [CHC], yet our ability to collect is still averaging around $13 million per year for the past six years,” Villagomez told the Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Government Investigations.

Earlier, acting Attorney General Matthew T. Gregory had said that the collection of money owed the government, including the hospital, was on the top agenda of his office.

Gregory had said that the Attorney General’s Office would go after companies and individuals who have outstanding accounts with the hospital, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and other agencies to raise much needed funds for the government.

However, Villagomez said that the private sector is liable only for a small portion of the debts owed the hospital.

“Unfortunately, we can only go after a small group of payers since the bulk of the receivables to [CHC] are from government-run programs,” he said.

According to Villagomez, both the Government Life and Medical Insurance, and the Medicaid programs prioritize off-island vendors and private on-island vendors when making payments.

Off-island and private on-island entities, he noted, have the ability to stop medical services for Retirement Fund and Medicaid members if payment is not received.

Villagomez attributed the Medicaid account to the government’s inability to fullysettle its share of the payments.

Medicaid is a 50-50 insurance program for the indigent population that hold U.S. citizenship. There is a $2.4 million cap that the U.S. government will pay under its 50-50 arrangement with the Commonwealth regarding the Medicaid insurance program. Anything above this cap is shouldered by the CNMI government.

Currently, the average annual expenditures for the Medicaid program is about $5 million over the allotted cap, Villagomez said.