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Muna asks for $3.48M for medical referral
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Posted on Feb 03 2023
Esther L. Muña
Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther L. Muña has requested Gov. Arnold I. Palacios for an appropriation of $3,487,754 to ensure adequate funding for the medical referral program for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023.
In her letter to Palacios Tuesday, Muña said this projected need for $3.48 million “considers the end of the Medicaid Presumptive Eligibility on March 31, 2023, and the subsequent increase [in the number] of the uninsured and underinsured.”
She said that, as CHCC approaches the end of the first month of the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 and pending any appropriation measure to fund the medical referral program, they are fast nearing the point of fully expending all funds for the program that were appropriated from the previous fiscal year.
Noting CHCC’s report on health system network program quarterly costs, Muña said that CHCC had a cash carry-over of $2,998,647 at the beginning of fiscal year 2023 and those funds are expected to be fully expended by the end of January 2023.
She said they processed 718 referrals since fiscal year 2022, of which 32 are actively receiving services.
According to CHCC’s health system network program quarterly costs, payroll for personnel cost amounts to $347,709; rental for transiting patients and escorts and for rooms is $1,123,196; airfare is $372,738; subsistence is $330,480; oncology drugs is $1,400,000; and all other expenses is $100,000, for a total projected quarterly cost of $3,674,123.
With a projected medical reimbursement of $186,369, this brings to $3,487,754 in projected quarterly need.
