by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - The Healthcare Committee chair is hoping a legislative resolution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will result in an increase of the Medicare reimbursement rates. For more than a decade, the Guam Memorial Hospital has been requesting exceptions to the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act rate based on actual costs of service.

GMH has been paying significantly more to treat Medicare patients losing millions each year due to low reimbursement rates. Resolution 433 seeks to address the large disparity.

Senator Dennis Rodriguez, Jr. said, "We're trying to support GMH's effort to get their rate reimbursements revisited so that the actual cost of them providing services how much is going to be reimbursed by Medicare, so that's what we're working on."

According to the Guam OPA supplemental audit, Medicare has not adjusted the TEFRA rate in over 20 years because the hospital is unable to provide the patient and medical records they want to prove their entitled to additional compensation.

The lack of documentation is due to a computer overhaul that was implemented in the mid 90's that resulted in records being wiped out.