![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/muna-manglona.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019re trying as much as we can to try to have them work especially to fill the gaps of the touchback,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The CEO said they did hire less than a handful as some of them are pursuing their NCLEX.<\/p>\n
In fact, one of the staff that works for CHCC as a graduate nurse actually recently passed the NCLEX and is going to be promoted to a registered nurse, Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
She said the Commonwealth Health Center, which is the CNMI\u2019s only hospital, is not immune to the crisis of staff burnout and staff shortages.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a said CHCC healthcare workers at were working 2.5 times longer during the COVID-19 pandemic response to meet the demands of the community, at a wage that was 3.5 times lower than their counterparts among travel nurses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was, therefore, necessary to make an unprecedented investment in our workforce as recruitment and retention continue to concern us to this day,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
She said adequate patient care staffing is required to comply with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u2019 conditions of participation, which hospitals like CHC must obtain to get paid by Medicare and Medicaid.<\/p>\n
As a reminder, Muna said, CHCC continuously provides services to the uninsured and deals with several financial gaps as a safety net healthcare provider.<\/p>\n
She said the Legislature has the power to help them with these gaps by providing CHCC with funding for the CNMI government\u2019s responsibility to match the cost of providing care for Medicaid patients, and funding for the medical referral program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aggressively working with patient assistance programs to provide access to critical medications for our patients treated at the hospital and beyond,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
The CEO said creating a hospital foundation, which is in development, will have a board\u2019s governance soon.<\/p>\n
However, it is not enough, Mu\u00f1a said, and they need the CNMI government\u2019s funding support.<\/p>\n
She said receiving cost reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid is never adequate for any healthcare provider, and is certainly inadequate for the largest provider in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
The CEO said that, with cutbacks and funding shortfalls in the Medicaid program, CHCC is experiencing nonpayment and underpayment for the cost of services provided to Medicaid patients in fiscal year 2023.<\/p>\n
That is a $12-million shortfall before the end of fiscal year 2023, she said, and that it is why CHCC cannot take the additional financial burden of the cost of the Health Network Program, the government\u2019s medical referral program.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a said there are many more priorities that are considered in the fiscal year 2024 budget, and these are from behavioral and mental health issues that are plaguing the community, to lead poisoning, and the lack of policies that encourage healthy behaviors and lifestyles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the financial situation of the CNMI government. But please help us ensure that every resident in the CNMI has equitable access to healthcare and in an environment that helps them achieve that,\u201d Muna told the committee.<\/p>\n
CHCC chief financial officer Perlita Santos said they are requesting $9.6 million for the Health Network Program operations excluding payroll; $1.5 million for subsidy for operation; $4.5 million for capital expenditure; and for the government to fund a local match for Medicaid of $7.1 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe total ask for CHCC then is $13 million and for HNP, $9.6 million,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n
Gov. Arnold I. Palacios had proposed a $1 budget for CHCC subsidy and HNP.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a said their budget proposal builds on the organization\u2019s success over the last 13 years since CHCC became a semi-autonomous agency with the intent to align with what the Legislature and Gov. Arnold I. Palacios want for the health of CNMI residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis budget provides a strong and resilient health system that will serve our people\u2014an available workforce, affordable treatments and services, and access to healthcare needs for all,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As with many other entities in the CNMI, the workforce shortage at the Commonwealth Healthcare…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":395980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-395976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-chcc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395976","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}