by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Governor Eddie Calvo is standing by and ready to assist the GMH board should they need help to address deficiencies cited by the centers for Medicaid and Medicare. After a visit in May, the CMS saw several violations of patient confidentiality and safety, as well as expired medicines and supplies.

GMH is requesting for an extension to secure contractors to complete the major projects to bring the facility in to compliance. "I feel very confident in the management team and the board in place at the hospital, some of these issues are very longstanding," he explained. "What I intend to do in this administration is use whatever resources we have in either the talents we have here or some of the other agencies that we may have under the governor's purview to assist the hospital in whatever the requirements may be."

GMH hopes to address all the deficiencies by the end of the year and has asked for a temporary waiver of the findings, but they haven't received a response to their request yet. CMS has threatened to pull the hospital from the Medicare program putting at risk millions of dollars in funding.