The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. said it is providing the best quality healthcare in the CNMI\u2014despite recent criticism raised by members of the public.<\/p>\n
Letters to the Editor sent to Saipan Tribune by Caroline H. Aldan complained of \u201cquantity horrible care\u201d at the CNMI\u2019s only hospital.<\/p>\n
Aldan shared her frustration when her brother who had severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting was allegedly given medicine that he was allergic to when he was brought to the emergency room despite the staff being informed. Aldan was also upset when she said the hospital did not give them discharge papers for her brother\u2019s visit. <\/p>\n
On another letter, Aldan aired another complaint when this time, her mother was brought to the emergency room due to low blood sugar and was allegedly told to buy the food that her mom needs. She said her mother was discharged without waiting to see if her numbers would go back up. <\/p>\n
Aldan said she is only visiting Saipan and has now had two \u201chorrendous experience\u201d with the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope whoever the director of that hospital corrects this and advocates for the rights of every patient that walks through those doors. How are the directors and administrators of the hospital chosen and do they have a medical background? I cannot comprehend how this happens and is acceptable,\u201d Aldan writes.<\/p>\n
While CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muna declined to answer to specific complaints, she said that the hospital has a system in place to check the quality of their services. <\/p>\n
\u201cCHCC has a system of checking on our doctors, has a system to check for quality control,\u201d Muna said, \u201cWe have a system to check on our physicians whether they\u2019re doing their job, whether we\u2019re doing our job, that\u2019s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a root cause analysis. Not every review requires a root cause analysis because sometimes the review shows that the doctor did everything right. That\u2019s the process that we follow and we do it consistently. We don\u2019t cover up,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
Risk communications specialist Jason Camacho added that they have a department and processes in place to address issues raised against the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already have a department\u2014the corporate quality and performance department\u2014that addresses those patients. If we have a patient that has a complaint, that\u2019s when we go to the process of incident reporting where it gets reported to our department and then we respond to it,\u201d Camacho said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we want everyone to know is that patients do have rights and if they do have a complaint, they can go and file a patient\u2019s grievance form that\u2019s where we\u2019ll respond. That is the right way,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Muna added that patients can even go to the regulating agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, should patients be uncomfortable filing their complaints to the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can even go as far as going straight to Medicare. That\u2019s not a problem. That\u2019s how confident we are about what we do,\u201d Muna said.<\/p>\n
Muna said they check themselves and they get checked as well with regards to the services that they provide.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe check ourselves from the front end to the back end,\u201d Muna said, \u201cWe get checked; we get reviewed by the CMS.\u201d <\/p>\n
Asked if they are giving the best quality of health services to the public, Muna said \u201cyes\u201d adding that the hospital is still the best place to go to especially during emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we have a quality department to make sure that happens,\u201d Muna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCHC is the best place you go to when you have an emergency,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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