16 Oct 2008

Guam hospital care rates go up

2:13 pm on 16 October 2008

Guam Memorial Hospital has raised patient care rates, some by as much as 100 US dollars.

The new fees include a bill of $492 for pediatric critical care transport and a charge of just over 1200 dollars for initial day hospital neonatal care for premature infants.

The hospital's acting chief financial officer, Jane Flores, says the fees haven't been updated since 2000.

She says they won't affect people's access to medical services.

"Let's face it, if you need medical treatment, regardless of how much it's going to cost, you're going to go seek that treatment. The hospital's only doing this because, as everywhere else in the world, the cost of business is going up. And again, we have not raised these fees for over 7 years. We need to be able to continue to, a provision of our mission statement, which is to provide quality care for all."

Guam memorial hospital's Jane Flores.