GMH board meeting over TakeCare negotiations

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - The Guam Memorial Hospital's Board of Trustees is meeting this evening in executive session to determine the status of negotiations with TakeCare Insurance.  Beginning next Tuesday, the provider's 30,000 members will be considered self-pay patients at the hospital unless the board reverses its decision to terminate the direct payer agreement with TakeCare.

While hospital management had worked out an agreement on the company's denial of coverage but still needed to negotiate the provider's rate of paying the hospital.  For the last several years, TakeCare has been paying $0.50 on every dollar. The board has said it would make a decision on TakeCare's request to rescind the direct payer agreement before next Tuesday.