Medical travel services being expanded in NMI

Over in the Northern Marianas, the Medical Referral Program is now back in the hands of the island’s only hospital, and not in the Executive Branch. KUAM New spoke with Esther Muna, CEO of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, on how they’re expanding access to care.

The CNMI Medical Referral Program is back in the hands of CHCC after being housed in the executive branch through an executive order by the late governor Eloy Inos in 2013. "Those were rough years for CHCC because of the financial aspects of it," Muna admitted. "I think it was only budgeted $5 million a year for a hospital to run, so there were a lot of things that were concerning. I guess the EO was to ensure that the process of referral was not hindered by the financial situation of the hospital at the time."

Now, the hospital CEO says they've been unpacking the package and regulations and how best to address the concerns of the public, looking back at audit reports, and adjusting the services.

"One of the things that we did is we tried to remove the barriers. Before when somebody needs to go on referral, sometimes they need to wait a week, it might take more than that because of the packet that needs to be prepared, and then it has to be presented to a committee then the committee makes that decision. The members of the committee are CHCC providers. So we decided why to go through that if you have your providers already being seen at the hospital. So there are two options: you can get it through the committee or you can actually get seen by our hospital," she continued.

And that need is not going away - they’ve seen an influx of patients in recent weeks.

"We are seeing a lot lately. It has been probably 50 a week we process. 50 a week is a lot," she said.

The hospital now looks to hospitals in South Korea with the return of direct flights from Saipan. Options also include virtually any hospital in the states that they’re able to ink an agreement with.

Muna says they’re also waiting on action on House Bill 22-77, HS1 which would create the Medical Travel Assistance Program, updating regulations that would give the hospital the ability to shift to a network system that would create a two-way street for patients to seek care with more providers and allow doctors to provide care on the island.

When it coems to cash, Muna says they hope to not just use ARPA funds to send patients to get care, but give local doctors the tools they need to provide the best care on island first.

"We want to be able to try and have these services done here and try as much as possible to take care of our patients here," she said.