Healthcare corp. urged to apply for aid via Obamacare

CNMI Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan is urging the cash-strapped Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. to seek funding support from the federal government by applying to a grant provided under the Health Care Innovative Challenge project, which is funded through President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Act.

Sablan wrote the health corporation’s chief executive officer, Juan N. Babauta, on Wednesday informing him about this funding opportunity that will help in the better delivery of services at the public hospital.

Sablan said the Health Care Innovation Challenge was launched last week, which will invest up to $1 billion in projects like hospitals, doctors, and others to achieve better health, improved care, and lower costs for beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Babauta was at a meeting yesterday when asked to comment on Sablan’s letter.

“I wanted to bring this grant opportunity which is open to the U.S. insular areas to your attention,” Sablan told Babauta in his letter, adding that preference will be given to those projects serving beneficiaries with the highest health care needs, projects that plan to hire, train, and deploy health care workers rapidly.

The healthcare corporation was allocated a seed money of $5 million for its operations under the fiscal year 2011 appropriation law. The board is now working on a $25-million budget plan for the organization’s operations within this fiscal year—all depending on projected revenues that will be collected from hospital services. Funding constraints have been adversely affecting the delivery of care at the Commonwealth Health Center for many years.

Based on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation website, the awards from the project will be announced in March 2012 and will range from approximately $1 million to $30 million for a three-year period.

Applications are open to providers, local government, public-government partnerships, and multi-payer collaboratives. Those interested are invited to propose models that provide innovative approaches to improving care and lowering costs for high risk/high opportunity patient populations.

The Challenge also encourages applicants to include new models of workforce development and deployment that efficiently support their service delivery model proposal. The enhanced infrastructure to support more cost-effective systemwide function is also a critical component of health care system transformation, and applicants are encouraged to include this as an element of their proposals.

The deadline for the letter of intent to apply is on Dec. 19, 2011, while the applications are due on Jan. 27, 2012.