Joint Commission official on island
The organization last summer granted full accreditation to the Guam Memorial Hospital but months later though GMH was declared in a state of emergency by former Governor Felix Camacho.
By KUAM NewsGuam - A representative from the Joint Commission is on island. The organization last summer granted full accreditation to the Guam Memorial Hospital but months later though GMH was declared in a state of emergency by former Governor Felix Camacho.
The Joint Commission wanted information from the hospital as to how patient care is being impacted. According to GMH spokesperson Connor Murphy the visit was unannounced as is all Joint Commission surveys. The hospital has been struggling to keep medications and supplies in stock and has been receiving donations from organizations like the Guam Healthcare and Hospital Foundation.
The visit by the Joint Commission representative comes on the heels of an audit released Wednesday by the Guam Office of Public Accountability that found that for every dollar owed by patients GMH is only able to collect $0.24. Murphy says the JC member will trace the care of individual patients in the hospital to evaluate how the hospital is complying with patient care standards.
He adds its unknown how long the Joint Commission representative will be conducting the evaluation but Murphy says hospital management will be presented the findings once the evaluation is completed.