Today the Governor's Office and the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority shared updates on their growing collaboration with Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California -- a partnership they say is already opening doors for local patients.  The partnership launched earlier this year aims to strengthen Guam's healthcare system through education, clinical collaboration, and workforce development. 

Following a site visit to Keck's facilities in California, GMHA is now working to stream to streamline off-island medical referrals -- especially for patients needing specialty care not available on Guam.

But delays are common.

Interim GMH administrator Dr. Joleen Aguon says many patients arrive at keck only to have treatment postponed due to unmanaged conditions like diabetes. She said, “Guam patients experience delay when they get there because sometimes their medical morbidities are not optimized. So, if your diabetes is out of control and you’re there for some kind of surgery, they’re not going to do it.”

These delays not only affect health outcomes, but they also cost families time and money in extra lodging, rescheduling, or being sent home without receiving treatment. To remedy that, GMH is developing a pre-consultation process with screenings and telemedicine visits happening before a patient travels.

Dr. Aguon continued, “So what we’d like to build is a pre-consultation at GMH where patients are referred to Keck through our hospital, their records are evaluated by the international team at Keck, and then a pre-consultation via telemedicine with the physician who’s going to be caring for them there.”

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero says these efforts and the partnership lay the groundwork for a modern hospital and a smarter healthcare system for the people of Guam.

And as for long-term goals, Dr. Aguon hopes to expand local specialty care -- including oncology services at GMH through Keck, as well as improving follow-up care for patients returning to Guam.