The V.I. Government Hospital and Health Facilities Corporation’s Territorial Board meeting Wednesday highlighted financial, staffing, and project updates. Financial shortfalls were noted, but much-needed medical staff have been hired, and upcoming raises need to be addressed.

Schneider Regional Medical Center’s Chief Executive Officer, Tina Comissiong, said the department’s FY2026 budget presentation was well-received by the Senate.

“We feel the Senate really understood the large amount of uncompensated care that exists in our market,” said Commissiong.

She added that other small hospitals, like those in the territory, are facing the rising costs of health care nationally. Comissiong mentioned that Schneider Medical Center has fully dispersed $6.5 million the facility received on May 28 of this year from the government, but has not yet received an August allotment, which creates “difficulties.” She added that payroll will continue to be prioritized for the hospital but due to limited cash on hand, timely vendor payments continue to fall short.

“Collections are improving, and they look a lot better in July than they did in previous months as we continue to build back from the effects of the cyberattacks,” she said.

In addition to configuring and installing multi-factor authentication due to the recent cyberattacks, Comissiong said the health department is working to onboard First Source, a revenue cycle partner to handle tasks such as billing, collections, and coding.

“We have now also issued the payment to the company that will be assisting us with updating our pricing, our chargemaster,” said Comissiong. “We‘re planning to work on that and share the results of our initiative with JFL.”

Though the health facilities continue to grapple with tight budgets, the Schneider chief executive officer noted that there will be up to $6 million in upcoming salary increases over the next fiscal year due to minimum wage legislation, step raises, and union negotiations.

Additionally, Comissiong added that additional staff have been recruited to accommodate the lab staff shortage, and positions for a speech therapist, OBGYN, ER physicians, and nurses.

Board member, Christopher Finch, congratulated Comissiong on “the success of finding CRNAs.”

More so, facility issues are being addressed at both the Schneider and the Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center. Air conditioning systems and boilers need repairs. There is also a medical waste backlog that needs to be reduced; however, the waste has been secured for the current hurricane season, according to Comissiong. Lastly, during her presentation, she acknowledged that the reopening of the Charlotte Kimmelman Cancer Institute is of top priority, and is anticipating the opportunity to take care of patients starting in January.

Territorial Hospitals Redevelopment Team Executive Director, Darryl Smalls, addressed the board and provided project updates. There appeared to be no major project setbacks.

The Juan F. Luis Hospital 5 Acres project, which will have 250 parking spaces, has “no unforeseen issues at this point in time [and is] slated to be completed by December,” according to Smalls. The project’s 10,000-square-foot building will be used for ready storage, maintenance operations, medical records, and the disposal of medical waste.

According to Smalls, demolition of the main Luis facility is slated to begin in January, once operations have been removed from the building and a contractor has been selected.

Regarding Cassave Gardens, “We were able to get a payment to the vendor,” Smalls said of the building. He added that it will be move-in ready for October after completion of construction, but will announce an official move-in date during the next board meeting.

Further, the Charlotte Kimmelman Cancer Center, “project continues to move smoothly,” and the Keating Health Center had a kickoff meeting with a vendor selected for pre-construction services. Projects for Schneider and Luis facilities are currently under review. Bids were received and Smalls said he hopes to have finalization by next week for a contractor to construct both facilities.

In regards to the development of the dialysis center on St. Croix, the cost alignment for funding from FEMA was received at the end of July. The contractor was contacted and the redevelopment team is preparing to execute a notice to proceed for next month.

During the meeting, the board unanimously approved the reappointments and appointments of the following medical staff: Olajide Olawepo, Jane Bruno, Jamil El-Jacob, Katherine Willett, John Cook, and Elyse Stevens.

Board members Jerry Smith, Julio Rhymer, Christopher Finch, Frank Odlum, Greta Hart-Hyndman, Faye John-Baptiste, and Albert Titus were present.