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DPH wants regs for patient escorts eased
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Posted on Nov 12 2006
The Department of Public Health wants to ease regulation for escorts traveling with medical referral patients.
DPH has proposed an amendment to the medical referral regulation that would eliminate the requirement for escorts to fill out a travel voucher within 10 days after they return from the referral location.
“The main objective of the proposed amendment is to remove the burdensome task of preparing and submitting a travel voucher for each and every escort that accompanies a medical referral patient,” DPH said.
“There are currently adequate internal controls to ensure proper payments are made that substantiates and verifies expenditure of public funds,” the department added.
For one, travel and subsistence payments for patient escorts are verified through an official travel authorization on Saipan before departure. Additional subsistence and or travel allowances requested by the liaison office are also pre-approved by the Medical Referral Office before disbursement. Furthermore, total subsistence, travel allowance, and hotel accommodations issued to an escort as provided in the exit report prepared by the liaison office is reconciled by the Department of Finance for liquidation of encumbered funds. The Finance Department also reports to the Medical Referral Office any overpayments and underpayments.
“These internal controls allow for close monitoring and documentation of expenditures that essentially substitute the function of a travel voucher,” DPH said.
The proposed amendment appears in the latest Commonwealth Register, published Oct. 30, 2006. DPH will accept public comments on the regulation for 30 days.
