Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther Mu\u00f1a said Kagman Community Health Center\u2019s announcement last week that it has decided to become independent and separate itself from CHCC doesn\u2019t really upset her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not angry and not upset with the fact that they will be starting on their own. We were surprised but we wish them the best,\u201d she told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a, who last week also fired KCHC executive director Vince Castro and replaced him with CHCC chief financial officer Derek Sasamoto, said her immediate focus right now is on the hospital\u2019s grantor, Health Resources and Services Administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, our concern is abiding by federal rules and closing out our obligations with our grantor, HRSA, because our grant with them which started in 2013 will expire on April 30, 2018,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a gave a brief background on how CHCC and KCHC acquired the HRSA grant as co-applicants in 2013 and how this became the genesis of the latter\u2019s bid for independence.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years ago, CHCC which was still then Department of Public Health did not have a board of directors. One of the requirements of HRSA was the grantee must have a board which KCHC had. What happened was we had the infrastructure but not a board and KCHC did not had the infrastructure but they had a board and this led to us being co-applicants to the grant,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the grant was given, we were already CHCC. The grant was to run for five years and the new grant to KCHC did not include CHCC because we did not know that they applied on their own\u2026 we don\u2019t know what is in their application\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a said that this grant application led to Castro\u2019s termination because he did not have authority to deprive CHCC of the grant as he was hired by CHCC to ensure objective management and administration as a CHCC employee and as a KCHC executive director. <\/p>\n
\u201cCHCC is within its authority to act on Mr. Castro\u2019s employment. Any grantee knows that while federal rules state relationships and authority, the grantee and its employees must operate within the rules of the overarching entity. That entity is CHCC,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Kagman board bylaws even state what the Kagman board can do and cannot do with Mr. Castro\u2019s employment. As per their own bylaws, which we obtained from the first grant, the board does not have the authority to terminate the chief executive officer\u2019s employment with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
However, Mu\u00f1a conceded that Velma Palacios, KCHC board chair, was correct in her statement that KCHC has to approve the new selection of the executive director.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, she needs to understand that Mr. Castro is no longer an option as he is no longer an employee. We can bicker about who they want to replace him with, but the Kagman board has a duty to be sensible as the closing of the grant is approaching within only a few weeks,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
CHCC appointed Sasamoto last week as acting executive director to oversee closing out obligations and liquidation procedures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appointed Sasamoto to facilitate liquidation process which includes budget readjustment and inventory of assets which includes medical equipment, computers which were acquired under the grant that cannot be turned over to KCHC because the grant specifically provides that no asset from the previous grant can be transferred to a private non-profit entity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our concerns is the KCHC employees hired under the old grant because their future is unclear and this has cultivated a certain fear among them… We cannot continue the work that we do with them because our grant is expiring and we cannot use the old grant to continue working with them,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a said that CHCC has already communicated with HRSA, the granting agency, and other authorities in regards to this matter. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure, the Kagman board, on the other hand, is working on starting their project too. We wish them nothing but the best in their operations next month,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Palacios: Focus on new grant<\/strong><\/p>\n Palacios said lost in the controversy that erupted from KCHC\u2019s bid for independence from CHCC was KCHC getting a $1-million annual grant for three years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe focus should be on the grant awarded to KCHC,\u201d she told Saipan Tribune in a separate interview.\t<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been in the news and to me this is really not the news that should be reported. The focus should be KCHC Inc. applying and being awarded a three-year grant of $1 million annually to operate independently which none of the other community health centers in our region like Guam, Palau, Chuuk, American Samao, Pohnpei, Kosrae, etc. have done,\u201d Palacios added. <\/p>\n According to Palacios, KCHC is the only community health center in the region to receive a level 2 Patient Centered Medical Home standard of care certification and in fact, most U.S. community health centers are non-profit organizations.<\/p>\n The $3-million grant that was recently awarded to KCHC was from Health Resources and Services Administration. It\u2019s the same grant CHCC and KCHC applied and acquired for as co-applicants in 2013. <\/p>\n \u201cThe existing grant which expires on April 30 has KCHC and CHCC as co-applicants. CHCC in this regard maintains the human resources and financial aspects of the community center. However, all the authority to make policies, approve the annual budget, select, dismiss, and review the executive director, among other things are vested with the KCHC board,\u201d Palacios said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor this service area competition, the KCHC board voted to apply on its own without a co-applicant agreement. Any organization is free to apply for this competitive grant and it has been the KCHC board\u2019s strategic goal to run independently and it has been no secret, it was a matter of time. The KCHC board decided that it was time since CHCC has a governing board now,\u201d Palacios added.<\/p>\n Palacios also said KCHC disapproves Mu\u00f1a\u2019s termination of its erstwhile executive director Vince Castro. <\/p>\n \u201cThe KCHC board did not approve of this action (Castro\u2019s termination). As far as the KCHC board is concerned, he is [still] the executive director of KCHC,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Palacios also said that there can\u2019t be two governing boards from CHCC and KCHC making decisions. As a community health center, the KCHC board has regulations and requirements it must follow. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have many goals and the KCHC board would like to carry them out and find ways to bring the community health centers to Rota and Tinian as well. Everyone\u2019s goal should be the same which is improving health care access in the CNMI,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have not met with the CHCC board on this transition as their acting chairperson would like to meet when the CHCC chairperson gets back on-island,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther Mu\u00f1a said Kagman Community Health Center\u2019s announcement last week that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[666,140,20756,285],"class_list":["post-273678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-chcc","tag-commonwealth-healthcare-corp","tag-hrsa","tag-kchc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}