GMH board taps new hospital administrator

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - The Guam Memorial Hospital's board of trustees is one step closer to bringing on board a permanent hospital administrator. Making the final cut was Laurence Schindler. During the GMH board meeting Monday night, members voted to bring him to Guam to further discussion about taking over the administrator position permanently.

Schindler has a master's degree in health care management and a bachelor's in public accounting from Hofstra University and is currently the director of operations and business development at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. In an interview with KUAM News he said he was excited about the possibility of making a difference here. Schindler adds all the issues the hospital is dealing with sound like a challenge and it's very seldom that he walks away from one.

One of the big items he'll have to tackle if hired is addressing concerns from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, which cited GMH for several deficiencies in patient confidentiality, life safety violations and expired medicines and supplies. CMS granted GMH a deadline of December 30 to address their concerns. Schindler says he has dealt with issues like this in the past.

His previous experience was working nearly five years at the New York State Department of Health Bureau of Audits and Investigations, where his work focused on Medicaid and Medicaid reimbursements, which allowed him to understand both from the government perspective and provider as well. Schindler will be participating in a teleconference this week with the board to continue discussions. 

Meanwhile if hired he would place Rey Vega, who has been serving as acting administrator since the governor terminated the hospital's management team back in February.