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DPH saves $1 million from medical referral
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Posted on Nov 26 1999
The Department of Public Health has saved a little over $1 million from its medical referral program in Fiscal Year 1999 after it brought in six specialists to treat patients on the island.
According to Health Secretary Kevin Joseph Villagomez, the medical experts include a dermatologist, neurologist and urologist, who mostly came from Honolulu. He said the department has been working closely with Queens and Sta. Francis Hospitals in Honolulu to find ways on how to save more money on health care.
Air fare and housing costs took the biggest chunk of the medical referral budget, said Mr. Villagomez. To pare down expenditures, DPH has outlined restrictions although it still allows a medical escort in extreme cases.
Mr. Villagomez has earlier asked legislators to spare DPH from budget cut to avoid possible disruption in the department’s Medicaid and medical referral program.
Although a huge amount of money for medical referral program has been saved, some of the patients recently sent by the Commonwealth Health Center for treatment in U.S. hospitals have been afflicted with serious illnesses which ate up a big chunk of the funds. For example, one recent medical referral cost the department $250,000.
The $33.9 million budget for FY 2000 is the same amount which the department received this year with the 13.4 percent budget cut carried out by the Office of Management and Budget due to shrinking revenues.
Rep. Karl T. Reyes, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, is looking at the possibility of providing greater flexibility to each department and agency to allow them to handle their own finances.
Amid limited budget, the Legislature is also likely to grant full reprogramming authority to Cabinet members to allow them to realign funds for the immediate needs of each department. (LFR)
