Joint Commission surveyor evaluating GMH
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.
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.
"So they are all over the hospital looking that quality and safety of care were provided that we are providing to our patients right now," said Connor Murphy. The Joint Commission a few weeks ago requested information from the hospital as to how patient care is being impacted as a result of the emergency declaration. According to 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. "We have our challenges at GMH right now, but we still believe that our staffers are providing quality safe care and that's what we will be showing the Joint Commission today," he continued.
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 Joint Commission surveyor will trace the care of individual patients to evaluate whether it complies with patient care standards.
He added, "It's more about what they want to see, they ask documents, they ask to go here and there, they ask what's the schedule for the OR today and we take them we show them whatever they need and we provide them with the research they need to make their evaluation."
It's 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.