Hospital still awaiting $2.6M for its ‘immediate needs’

Hospital supplies, along with the salaries of Commonwealth Health Center employees for the next payroll, are again facing uncertainties following revelation by the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. board yesterday that no funding has been identified to meet these obligations.

CHC chief executive officer Juan N. Babauta and chief financial officer Alvaro Santos disclosed that the organization has yet to get an answer on the $2.6 million in “immediate” funds that they asked for from Gov. Benigno R. Fitial last week.

The $2.6 million “immediate funds” cover the six-week operation of the public hospital and include, among others, expenses for medical supplies and one-month worth of salary for employees.

According to Santos, the amount requested will be used during the assessment period of the CHC, which is expected to last six weeks.

The Executive Branch recently authorized the issuance of a request for proposals for the CHC assessment, with the goal of privatizing the public hospital.

Representatives of the Office of the Attorney General privately met with Babauta and CHC chair Joaquin Torres yesterday to discuss the result of the RFP that closed Monday.

Board member Anthony Raho expressed concern about the immediate survival of the hospital. “Are we going to survive in two to three months pending all this things?” he asked during yesterday’s board meeting, citing the uncertainty of the $7 million line of credit bill that’s now sitting on the governor’s table.

Santos recommended that a follow-up be made with the governor on the status of both the $2.6 million “immediate funds” and the delay in the signing of the $7 million line of credit bill.

According to Babauta, the corporation generates an average of $800,000 monthly and is still drawing down from the $5 million seed capital provided to the corporation. But he admitted that the corporation cannot just sit around and wait and must beef up its internal collection services.

Revenue plan

The corporation board approved yesterday the revenue cycle management plan developed by Babauta as a means to beef up collections at CHC.

The board also approved the hiring of 23 more personnel for the new department, upon availability of funds.

The revenue cycle management plan was conceptualized following the contract termination of International Consulting Services.

Under the new plan, the corporation has to identify and hire a revenue cycle administrator who will directly oversee the functions of four important major sections: patient financial services, billings, collections, and medical records.