by Mindy Aguon

GUam - The Guam Memorial Hospital's Board of Trustees voted to continue negotiations with TakeCare. During a meeting on Tuesday night, the board decided to hold off on making a decision on whether to rescind an earlier decision to terminate the direct payer agreement with the insurance provider.

As we reported, hospital management and TakeCare had come to an agreement on the company's rate of refusal to pay hospital bills and denial of coverage for their members. The two parties still disagree on the insurance carrier's rate of paying the hospital. GMH Chief Financial Officer Siva Karuppan has said the company has a history of paying only$0.50 on the dollar. The board adjourned the meeting until March 15.

The direct payer agreement is set to expire on March 20 and if the termination of the agreement is not rescinded, TakeCare's 30,000 members will be considered self-pay patients at the hospital.