19 Jul 2011

Guam's US Congresswoman reintroduces health study bill

8:33 am on 19 July 2011

Guam's United States Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo has reintroduced a bill that would evaluate the health status and health-care needs of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders living in the US and the Freely Associated States.

A recent study found patients treated at hospitals in the United States territories have higher death rates and worse health outcomes than those treated in the US states.

The bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the standards and definitions of health care systems in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands.

Ms Bordallo says the bill will provide critical information to health care providers and organizations that work with Pacific Islanders.

The proposed legislation would also update a 1998 Institutes of Medicine report to include data regarding the statue and performance of health care systems in the insular areas and determine the effectiveness of donor aid.