Vice Chairman of the Hospital Board, Dr. Victor Tofaeono says in an email addressed to the Chairman of the LBJ board, Mase Akapo as well as Samoa News, and cc’ed to LBJ’s Chief Executive Officer, Taufete’e Faumuina, on Tuesday evening, that due to the “erroneous remarks” by board member Faimealelei Anthony Allen, this means “we as a board need to watch our backs — that our own members will stab us when we are not looking.”

He was referring to Faimealelei’s remarks informing Senators earlier this month that the travel authorization for Tofaeono was initially denied by Taufete’e, however the hospital’s board chairman overturned the decision.

The vice chair stated that the “emails from Joyetter, and the information being spread by a member of our board to the Fono and public media, are a clear indication to me of the need for a Compliance Program at LBJ and a serious education program for our Board Members on the need to protect PHI (personal health information) mandated by the HIPAA law.”

Tofaeono pointed out that it is “difficult to understand why Faimealelei could not check and familiarize himself with the guidelines for the Off Island Referral program, and check his information about Mase’s and my off-island referrals before going public with his erroneous remarks. This obviously means that we as a board need to watch our backs — that our own members will stab us when we are not looking.”

The vice chair states there is a need to be aware of the HIPAA law and what it stands for, the privacy it protects, and the penalties it imposes on anyone that violates its mandates, and said this should be an important part of their agenda for next month’s meeting.

In his email, Tofaeono also noted that there is a need for the hospital board to start looking at strategic plans within the next five to ten years — plans such as board goals, missions, policies and procedures, as well as recruiting for medical staff educated in America who are familiar with US legal medical issues.

He also stated that there is a need for insurance so the hospital budget “is consistent with our medical care needs and priorities, rather than the usual reduction of our budget, which is how we have struggled for the past several years — by drinking champagne on a beer budget.”

The vice chair further spoke of the need for Quality Assurance and guaranteed surveillance of the hospital’s medical staff (CEO, CMO, etc.), utilizing evidence-based research and results.

Tofaeono said, “They need to get off the ground and work on improving the healthcare of all US Jurisdictions and American Samoa.”