by Mindy Aguon

Guam - The Life Safety Code violations that nearly put the Guam Memorial Hospital in jeopardy of losing federal funding have been corrected to the satisfaction of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Following a surprise survey in may of last year, the CMS found various violations of patient confidentiality and safety as well as expired medicines and supplies, among other things.

Hospital management say a representative from CMS's Region IX Office made a one day visit to GMH and was satisfied and impressed with the corrections. Interim administrator Rey Vega says he is confident the hospital is no longer in jeopardy of having federal funding pulled.

Meanwhile, GMH is waiting on the Joint Commission to return to Guam for a survey following its decision to change the accreditation status of the hospital to accredited with a follow-up survey.