The Medical Referral Program seeks to secure over $12 million in funding for its operation in fiscal year 2018.<\/p>\n
Speaking before the Ways and Means Committee on Friday, the Medical Referral Program asked for over $12.7 million, some $10.6 million over the governor\u2019s proposed $2.1 million budget for the office.<\/p>\n
The parity is currently under discussion by the committee. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a significant difference. For the current year, fiscal year 2017, we are already looking at an expenditure of $6 million, so obviously $2 million is low,\u201d said committee chair Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan), who said the high expenditure may mean one of two things: that the program needs more funds or it \u201cneeds to be managed more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of medical referrals go to Hawaii, the Philippines, or Guam. However, Demapan said these locations lack utilization reviewers, or URs, a staff that acts as a safeguard against unnecessary and inappropriate medical care.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a UR, there is nobody in the medical staff that can actually be a part of the management of the care, the tracking of the patient\u2019s progress, or both. In one aspect, that is what\u2019s lacking,\u201d said Demapan.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe we need to revisit that and provide funding to provide URs to be a part of the management for each case,\u201d Demapan added. <\/p>\n
He agrees that budgeting for medical referral is tricky to predict because \u201cwe can\u2019t tell what the cases can be and the extent of treatment.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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