Muña: CHCC does not need a governing board

A Senate bill to transform the public hospital’s “advisory” board into a “governing” one that was shelved four months ago is being revived, and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. said it still disagrees with the bill’s intent.

Senate Bill 18-52, authored by Sen. Joaquin Borja (Ind-Tinian), seeks to amend some sections of Public Law 16-51 to strip the governor of the power to appoint the corporation’s chief executive officer and give that power to the board.

According to Sen. Pete Reyes (Ind-Saipan), who is vice chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, the committee is now reviewing the bill.

Corporation CEO Esther Muña said she wants a board that understands the importance of quality care and that they cannot restrict a budget to such an extent that adequate care could not be provided to patients.

“A governing board should consist of members who actually have experience in health administration and health care finance administration. They must also understand that quality care is for every single person that walks in the doors of [the Commonwealth Health Center], no matter what race, skin color, religion, or even political affiliation,” Muña said.

She said that CHC does not want to go back to the quality of care it had back in 2011 to 2013.

“As leaders, governing or advisory, we must take responsibility for the care of the people and work with the CEO to bring a higher standard of care and support the employees who work so hard to make health care better for our people,” she said.

As it is right now, the advisory board’s level of experience is in private sector management while the master’s level education in health administration and actual health care management experience is with Muña.

“It makes sense that they remain an advisory [board],” she said.

Muna said that if the Senate is moving forward with Senate Bill 18-52, “I hope they allow CHCC personnel to comment and hold a public hearing.”

Reyes clarified with Saipan Tribune last week that CHCC board chair Joaquin Torres met with him last month and that Torres asked him if he could push the bill. Reyes declined to comment whether he supports the bill or not.

“I am waiting for the bill to be debated on the floor and why people would support and not support it and reserve comments when the bill is on the floor,” he said.

According to Reyes, Torres told him that the hospital is a large corporation and it needs to be accountable for all the actions it does and it is too large to not have a governing board.

Torres was sought for comment but could not be reached as of press time.