‘Deliberate on Senate-substitute bills and move on’

Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos urged House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) yesterday to have the House “deliberate” on the $11.58 million Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. line of credit bill and the $5 million Medicaid state share measure so that all concerned parties will be able to move on.

“If they can pass it, okay. Deliberate, meaning discuss, approve it, or reject it, put it in conference, or start all over again,” Inos told Saipan Tribune in a brief interview.

Inos met with lawmakers and CHC medical staff on Thursday to discuss House Bill 17-278, Senate Substitute 1, and HB 17-261, SS1. The meeting wrapped up without senators and House members agreeing on what to do with the bills.

But Cabrera has yet to call a House session, almost two weeks since the Senate passed the substitute bills on Feb. 23.

It’s also been almost three months since Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan) pre-filed the original CHC line of credit bill, even as CHC has been asking for immediate passage of the bill so that the corporation will be able to timely pay its employees and vendors and buy hospital supplies while the hospital works to improve its billing and collection system.

Basa said yesterday there will be a meeting today on the CHC bills and those expected to be there are Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, CHC chief executive officer Juan N. Babauta, House Committee on Health chair Sylvester Iguel (Cov-Saipan), and Cabrera, among others.

“We need to hear from the man running the show,” Basa said, referring to Babauta.

Babauta was present at the Senate session when they passed the substitute bills.

“But we also need to hear directly from the CEO what he thinks about the Senate bills before the House takes up these bills,” Basa said.

Both Fitial and Babauta just came back from a trip to the U.S.

“Make no mistake. I support bills that would give much needed support to CHC. If the House is willing to accept the Senate bills, then be it. I am only one of the 19 members of the House,” Basa said, adding that a session may be called this week.

Basa said besides constitutionality questions, the Senate-substituted loan bill also allows the Senate to interfere in the affairs of CHC, particularly on where they should use the money they are going to draw down from the Marianas Public Land Trust and repay.

“The corporation is also in charge of the two islands – Rota and Tinian. But having the Senate telling the corporation where the money goes, like to Rota and Tinian, is micromanaging. Let CHC decide where the money goes. It’s their line of credit anyway,” Basa added.

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota), for his part, said yesterday the Senate is ready to go into conference committee if the House rejects the substitute bills.

Manglona said the Senate would rather work with the House on the substitute bills, than to entertain once again Basa’s newly pre-filed bill which is the original version of the line of credit bill that the Senate substituted.

The Senate will have a 4pm session on Wednesday.

Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota), chairman of the Rota Legislative Delegation, separately said the restoration of free meals to Rota and Tinian guest house patients also hinges on the passage of the $11.58 million line of credit bill for CHC.

Since Feb. 1, CHC stopped providing free meals to medical referral patients from Rota and Tinian, citing financial constraints.

Ayuyu said Rota, as well as Tinian, lawmakers have been donating food and water to patients to make up for the lost free meals.

Babauta, in a Feb. 16 letter to Ayuyu, said CHC’s decision to stop supplying free meals was not implemented without care and thoughtful consideration for alternatives.

Resuming the food service to Rota and Tinian patients would cost $7.50 for each lunch and $7.50 for each dinner, Babauta said.

“The cost of the meals will have to be paid in full one month in advance for expected patients receiving services,” he told Ayuyu.

Babauta said while he appreciates lawmakers’ concerns and efforts to provide meals to Rota and Tinian patients, CHC must first pay its vendors for past due amounts, as well as pay them upfront to start supplying the hospital again.

Babauta recommended a funding plan that would call for special appropriations or some kind of payment plan so that CHC would be able to resume the meal service to Rota and Tinian patients.

But Ayuyu said the law that created the corporation gives CHC the obligation to take care of the patients from Rota and Tinian too.

“We were given assurance by the CEO that once the loan bill is passed, they will resume the meal service to Rota and Tinian patients. We are just waiting for the House to act on the bills,” he said.

Almost three months had passed since Basa pre-filed his original $10 million line of credit bill.

CHC management and medical staff have been looking forward to the bill’s passage to infuse fresh funds into the hospital to timely pay employees and vendors for supplies, while the corporation improves its billing and collection.

Basa pre-filed the bill on Dec. 23 and formally introduced it during a session in January. Basa’s original bill was to provide a $10 million line of credit to CHC from the Marianas Public Land Trust.

However, on the day it was to be acted on by the House on Feb. 13, Basa withdrew the original bill and replaced it with a new one that incorporates a separate bill that also tries to source $1.58 million from MPLT for CHC’s electronic health information initiative, thus the total $11.58 million.

The House passed Basa’s House Bill 17-278, House Draft 2 on Feb. 13, and at the time, CHC’s Babauta said its passage would avert further crisis at the hospital and would help prevent hospital staff from walking out of their jobs over delayed wages and other financial problems at the corporation.

That House session was held on the eve of three House members’ visit to Taiwan at the invitation of the Taiwanese government.

At the time, three senators were already in Manila and were to join the three House members in Taiwan for an official trip from Feb. 14 to 19.

The Senate didn’t hold a session until Feb. 23. Prior to the session, there was no mention of a Senate substitute bill.

Senators, CHC’s Babauta, MPLT officials and acting governor Eloy S. Inos held a lengthy discussion on the substitute bill, and the Senate ended up passing HB 17-278, Senate Substitute 1 early that night. The substitute bill ended up giving CHC $5 million, plus $1.5 million which CHC was supposed to pay CUC for its outstanding utility debts and another $3.5 million was for PSS’s debt to CUC.

The Senate also passed a substitute version of HB 17-261.

The Senate amendment to HB 17-261, which was known only to senators until that day, amends the fiscal year 2012 budget law to make the $5 million “seed” money appropriated to CHC as the state share of the required matching funds for Medicaid reimbursements to the corporation and would therefore yield a reimbursement of $5 million that is expected to also help CHC.

Senators, along with some House members, met with CHC medical staff and Inos on March 1. That meeting gave CHC medical staff and lawmakers an opportunity to share their concerns about the Senate-substituted bills.

Amid the bickering and information-sharing, the House and Senate members failed to agree on the fate of the bills which the acting governor was ready to sign should they come to his desk.

Sen. Ralph Torres (R-Saipan) said the Senate is waiting for the House’s action on the bills.