Public Law 16-51, or the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Act of 2008, mandates the Department of Public Health to turn the public hospital and the clinics on Rota and Tinian, including the Community Guidance Center, the Children and Women’s Clinic, and the inter-island medical referral services, into a healthcare corporation.
The corporation will be run by a board whose members are appointed by the governor.
“The situation which gave rise to CHC being an autonomous agency, some call it privatization, is pursuant to law. And that law had gone through intense public review, including hearings, and went through so many amendments. The final statute is a product of deliberations, as to the merit, that’s pretty well a settled issue,” Inos told the Variety.
“Is it in the best interest [of the CNMI]? I think like anything else we have to move forward and give it a try. The intent is noble and has merits,” he added. “I think we can do it. We’re not just going to sit back and see it deteriorate. We’ll watch to make sure that it works efficiently.”
He said CHC is not collecting enough.
“Right now, its collection rate is only about 50 percent needed to (sustain) its operations. That is a major financial issue. CHC is essentially a drain in terms of the amount of revenue being collected versus the fund needed to run its operations,” he said.
According to the 2005 audit report of the Office of the Public Auditor, which is also the latest regarding CHC and the Department of Public Health, the hospital recorded over $98 million bad debts.
These debts were described to be difficult to be collected from delinquent patients.
