Alan Ulrich starts as hospital CFO

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Monday marked the first day on the job for new Guam Memorial Hospital chief financial officer Alan Ulrich. And his arrival is set to not only clean up GMH's financial mess, but help in its transformation as well. "The transformation of any hospital is a team effort," said an optimistic Joseph Verga, GMH's administrator, adding, "and the transformation of GMH continues and I'd like to introduce Mr. Alan Ulrich our new CFO."

Verga says Ulrich will play a key role in the transformation of healthcare of island. "I'm looking forward to becoming part of the community, part of the island and helping the hospital meets its objective," he said.

Ulrich's arrival couldn't have come at a better time as GMH faces an over $20 million debt along with issues with its billing and collection. It was just last month when an OPA audit found weak management oversight of compensation as thresholds were not established, the Safe Hours Policy was not enforced and timekeeping and payroll controls were not implemented. Ulrich is aware of some of the hospital's challenges having done some homework himself, but intends to learn more as he meets with staff and management and shadow acting CFO June Infante this week.

He said, "Healthcare is very complex these days and whether it's GMH or another hospital, issues related to reimbursements, care provided, all of those things and the costs of providing services is very expensive so I look forward to learning about that when I work with Joe."

Ulrich's experience includes most recently serving as interim chief financial officer for Gila River Health Care, a comprehensive care provider serving federally recognized tribes in Central Arizona. Prior to that, he held the position of vice president at Matrix Medical Networks, a provider of managed care services in Phoenix. "I have a strong foundation and that's why I want to work with Joe and the members of the team to understand what are the processes, what are the procedures that are there at GMH and look for ways to improve that if needed," he said.

Ulrich is on a two-year performance based contract getting paid an annual salary of $145,000.