In an interview yesterday, the former governor said the number one goal he and the board of trustees need to achieve is to develop a five-year business plan which includes a complete assessment of the healthcare system’s current situation.
This includes the installation of information technology needed to enhance the hospital’s automated data system, billing system, financial system and medical e-record system, as well as upgrading the facilities on Saipan, Rota and Tinian.
These, Babauta said, will cost money. The challenge is to do something beyond conventional ways of generating revenues, he added.
Right now the hospital collects money from bill payments through Medicare, private health insurance and self-pay, he said.
But Babauta said the corporation can also look at investing “in our own assets.” This includes acquiring public lands in the name of the corporation.
Public Law 16-51, or the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. Act, allows the corporation to acquire real property from the Department of Public Lands and other persons, “subject to the laws of the CNMI, by grant, purchase, gift, devise, or lease, and hold and use any such real property necessary or convenient for the fulfillment of its duties, functions and powers under this Act.”
In a separate interview, DPL Secretary Oscar M. Babauta said acquiring public lands is part of the corporation’s “strategic program” in generating revenue.
The law, he said, allows DPL to transfer to the healthcare corporation all the properties used by the defunct Department of Public Health on Navy Hill and those on Rota and Tinian.
The DPL secretary said his department can “execute a document stating that those lands shall be under the custody of the corporation.”
It is an outright granting of public lands, he added.
The Fitial administration said it will support these ideas “as long as legal parameters are adequately in place.”
Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said the corporation’s plan to go beyond conventional ways of generating revenue is worth looking into.
The board has been organized, the CEO has been selected and they have now undertaken full responsibilities in running the CNMI’s healthcare system which include generating revenue and become self-sustaining, he added.
How they augment their financial resources is totally up to them, Demapan said referring to the board and CEO.
“Right now, the government has no more interference with the corporation because they must undertake the mandate of the law. We’ve learned that they are looking ways to generate revenue and we believe that is a good thing,” he added.
These days, it’s very important for everyone to think outside the box, he said. These are challenging times, he added, and the norms are not sufficient anymore.
