The oversight hearing of the Guam Memorial Hospital this week is still the talk in the community, even two days later. It saw a lot of back-and-forth between the Office of Public Accountability and GMH officials regarding recent audit findings. Lawmakers pressed GMH officials for answers on what needs to be done.

"I don't think anyone here is going after anyone of you individually or  personally, I don't think the auditor was either," said Senator Therese Terlaje. "I think we're all trying  together to put everything we know on the table and make it make sense." Lawmakers like Terlaje sought answers to longstanding problems at Guam's only public hospital. On Wednesday, an oversight hearing of GMH was held covering several critical topics from the OPA's audit on physicians' compensation, billing, and more.

Senator Shawn Gumataotao referred to the OPA's audit findings asked GMH for an update on their formulation of the written policy for employment agreements. "Do you not agree that a written policy would assist in insuring the guidelines for appropriate use of PSA, UEA, MOA at the Guam Memorial Hospital?" he asked, with GMH legal counsel Jordan Pauluhn responding, "Sometimes it can, but sometimes it can get in the way of the contracting of physicians. But it's what we're actually trying to study, is whether we can formulate a singular policy, that actually helps us hire physicians and streamline and reduce costs or is it to add to the administrative bureaucracy on the onboarding of physicians."

Senator Chris Duenas said that this oversight hearing was not to tear anyone down but to get to the bottom of the hospital's operational issues- something that has been recurring. He said, "For several legislatures we have been scrutinizing GMH, but we have been coming to the rescue. Time and time again. We can dream of a medical complex but right now the people of Guam are faced with a GMH that has a lot of issues."

Speaking on the lack of a written policy when it comes to hiring physicians and their pay, Senator Chris Barnett said, "It's not a good look for you to come in here and debate the findings of the audit, I think the OPA has been doing a pretty stellar job on these audits. We just spent two hours on whether there is a written policy, and there isn't one."

"I think at the end of the day, dealing with contracting, hiring, there should be consistency across the board."