Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In his State of the Territory Address to lawmakers on Monday, Gov. Lemanu P. S Mauga revealed that the Administration “will invest in preventative care that cannot be done locally.”

He explained that the American Samoa Medicaid program will administer the “Health and Wellness Amerika Samoa” initiative to provide comprehensive wellness visits in New Zealand and Hawaii — for employed individuals in the public and private sector.

Additionally, permanent residents will also be included for eligibility in the program.

The Administration is expected to provide more details on this initiative in the future, including as to when it will be launched.

The governor, who delivered his address in Samoan, also told lawmakers, during the opening of the 38th Legislature that the Off-Island Medical Referral program data shows that much of the costs of MedEvacs — or medical evacuations — and referrals could have been avoided if patients had engaged in consistent medical check-ups, early detection and staying in compliance with following doctors’ orders.

“To help manage our limited local match, we must invest in strategies that, if executed timely, will decrease the need for costly and unplanned emergency services”. He also revealed the Administration’s “Health and Wellness Amerika Samoa” initiative.

Summary data in the Governor’s State of the Territory Comprehensive Report shows that between October 2021 and Sept. 30, 2022 - a total of 40 referrals were send to the U.S thru the Off-island Medical Referral program, while 51 referrals were send to New Zealand.

The data also shows the number of flights and costs for MedEvacs transportation between October 2021 and Sept. 30 2022 was for a total of 23 flights at the cost of more than $1.65 million.

There were six MedEvacs flights to the U.S at the cost of $605,750, while there were 17 flights to New Zealand costing more than $1.05 million.

The report also states that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) issues $89 million in annual Medicaid funding for American Samoa.

“With federal Medicaid funding of $89 million, we need approximately $35- 40 million in the local match to more effectively expand Medicaid services to develop a more comprehensive healthcare delivery system for our people,” the report states. 

“Collectively as a government, if we want to expand Medicaid services to provide coverage for diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases, we must find a new source of local revenues to fund the Medicaid local match,” it says. 

“But we must also take the lead to build the capacity of our medical facilities and personnel to reduce our reliance on off- island medical referrals,” according to the report.

The governor acknowledged the efforts of Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata Radewagen and her colleagues for passing federal legislation increasing the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) of Medicaid for American Samoa and three other territories from 55% to 83% coverage.

(This means the federal government pays 83 percent by federal statute of all Medicaid expenses in the territory, and ASG pays the remainder, which is referred to as the ‘local match’.)

The report also provided summary information on updates pertaining to the Medicaid program, overseen by the American Samoa Medicaid State Agency, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Governor’s Office.

The following is the summary information:

NEW HAWAII PROVIDERS

•        Medicaid opened new opportunities for non-urgent referrals in Hawaii for the first time in more than 20 years. It enrolled two clinics for general practitioner services — Kalihi Palama and Ekahi/Kuakini Medical Center — to do referrals to specialty care.

•        Medicaid successfully contracted with two budget hotels in Hawaii to provide accommodations for referral patients.

•        Medicaid enrolled Orthopedics Associates of Hawaii for orthopedic services.

•        Medicaid is nearly completing a contract with Advent Castle Hospital in Kailua better to 
serve referral patients at one comprehensive hospital facility.

•        Medicaid is nearly completing a contract with Hawaiian Airlines to provide air  transportation services for Medicaid referral patients.

NEW VISION SERVICES

•        CMS approved the Prescription Eyeglasses State Plan Amendment (SPA) in May 2022.

The program was rolled out to the public in September, starting with all children under 21 (including non-US. Nationals who legally reside in American Samoa as their primary residence and as a permanent resident.) In October 2022, the program was opened to adults – U.S Citizens, U.S Nationals, and U.S Permanent Residents (Green card holders).

•        The My Vision Eye Care Center is the primary provider of the Vision Program services. Since the program launched, Medicaid has registered the following numbers.: Of the 1,537 registrations, 32%, or 491, are lawful or American Samoa Permanent residents.

HAWAII SATELLITE OFFICE

•        A Medicaid satellite office has been opened at the ASG Hawaii Office location. This office currently has one Medicaid Hawaii Patient Navigator to help deliver logistics and administrative support to Medicaid referral patients in Hawaii.