Top 3 firms named for hospital assessment

A special panel has narrowed down to the top three its list of companies that will do the planned assessment of the entire operation of the Commonwealth Health Center.

Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Juan N. Babauta, who is a member of the special committee, confirmed with Saipan Tribune that five companies responded to the request for proposal. He said that two were eliminated on Friday and the final contractor will be named soon.

Besides Babauta, the other member of the special committee are hospital administrator Karen Buettner, the governor’s adviser for Medicaid Esther Muña, and the governor’s legal counsel, James Stump.

Saipan Tribune learned that five proposers included The Medical City from the Philippines, Sanigest International, Soyring Consulting, HealthTech, and TMGI Companies Inc., all from the U.S. mainland.

After a careful and through selection process, the four-member committee decided to eliminate The Medical City and the Sanigest International for not meeting the set criteria.

Babauta said the remaining top three-Soyring Consulting, HealthTech, and TMGI-have been scheduled for 30-minute interviews by the panel. The interview will focus on four areas: the approach the company would use to quickly evaluate the CHC system, identifying problems and strengths; the standards each company would use; the plan that would be produced for correcting any deficiencies; and the company’s experience in working with small hospitals like CHC.

Soyring is a small company that does selected studies of hospital operations while HealthTech is a large company that specializes in broad hospital operations and has operated hospitals. TMGI, meantime, is a small company of independent consultants that does health studies as well as other consulting work.

Babauta disclosed that the government-initiated study will be funded by an Office of the Interior grant amounting to roughly $150,000. Once finalized, the assessment period will take about six weeks to complete.

Babauta believes the assessment of the hospital’s operation is not intended to privatize the establishment but to get a clear picture of the facility’s efficiency, staffing, and financial standing.

“It’s good to have specific knowledge about the overall condition of the hospital, specifically in operation, staffing needs, and revenue enhancement capability,” he said. “I don’t think the objective is privatization but to be able to look at specific areas of the needs of the hospital.”