The Department of Public Health in the Northern Marianas may lose up to 10 million US dollars in reimbursements if the Commonwealth Health Center fails to address issues raised by Medicare in its survey earlier this year.
The CNMI Public Health Secretary, Joseph Kevin Villagomez, says the hospital would suffer a significant loss if the situation worsened.
He says it gets up to ten million dollars a year in reimbursements from Medicare and if it fails to keep its certification, the losses will be huge.
Mr Villagomez says Medicare is trying to ensure the Commonwealth's hospital follows the latest practices so it can provide the best health care.
The agency reimburses the hospital for several services such as for dialysis, professional fees, laboratory fees, and other facility charges.
He says violations of Medicare's requirements are directly tied to the financial plight of the CNMI government.
