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Fitial to award Navy Hill property to healthcare corp.
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Posted on Jan 04 2012
The newly created Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. will receive today government property that it could use to generate revenue for the public hospital.
Chief executive officer Juan N. Babauta said yesterday that Gov. Benigno R. Fitial will formally hand to him and board members the warranty deed for a property on Navy Hill.
Babauta estimates the property to be about 38,000 to 40,000 square meters and is situated at the corner of Navy Hill Road and Middle Road. It will be designated under the corporation’s name.
“This is part of my effort and the corporation effort to widen our investment opportunity for more revenue generation for the corporation and our hospital,” he said.
Babauta said the awarding of the land title is also in keeping with the spirit of Public Law 16-51, which created the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Act. The law, he said, authorizes the corporation to engage in an entrepreneurial approach to revenue generation and stipulates that proceeds from any investment will go to hospital operations.
Babauta said the corporation may lease out the property so it could help augment the financial needs of the Commonwealth Health Center.
The corporation took over the operation of the Department of Public Health in October last year with only $5 million as seed money.
Saying the amount is insufficient to meet all hospital needs, the corporation board submitted to the Legislature last week a $38.5 million supplemental budget for fiscal year 2012, which includes the $5 million seed money. However, due to limited government resources expected this fiscal year, the request may face rough sailing at the Legislature.
Corporate records show that majority of the revenue generated by the corporation’s three health facilities—CHC, Tinian Health Center, and Rota Health Center—come from patient services. Of these three, only CHC is Medicare-certified and participates in the Medicare program. The other two, according to its budget submission, are being prepared for Medicare survey-readiness.
The corporation stated that its goal is to generate more revenue to ensure a balanced budget at the end of the fiscal year 2012.
