AmeriCorps volunteers are helping patients file for Guam Memorial Hospital assistance programs.
GMH’s 2020 payer mix has shown that patients are paying through private insurance which takes up 29%, Medicaid 21%, Medicare 29%, MIP 7%., and lastly those who are self-pay make up a total of 14% of the mix.
In a Newstalk K57 interview with GMH public information officer Mai Habib, AmeriCorps Program Director Melissa Quinata said their members help with financial literacy for GMH patients who pay out of pocket.
“A bunch of our members, they provide financial literacy information, and they basically provide that information to in-patients who are deemed self-pay. We work with registration, and with the social workers. What we do is we try to go in and see if they need assistance, they’ve already been given an application. We try to go over some unfamiliar terminology that they’re not aware of, or maybe haven’t been exposed to. Our members go in and try to talk about it and break it down into layman’s terms, and assist them with whatever additional documents they may need by giving that extra information.”
For individuals or patients who have been previously denied any medical assistance programs, AmeriCorps is reminding them that they can apply again.
“One of our biggest things is that even those who eventually do the whole process with us, they fill out the application, they take the initiative, they go out and they get all their supporting documents to submit with their application, and then they get denied, or they’re disqualified for either income or residency. Those are the people we are also trying to reach out to, making sure that they understand that they can always apply again,” Quinata said.
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