The Joint Guam Program Office has identified a significant hospital bed shortage on Guam. For the past two years, the Guam Healthcare and Hospital Development Foundation has engaged in research and fostered collaborations in the mainland, Japan and the Philippines for the development of a privately financed, privately owned and privately managed hospital in Guam. Property for the project is now subject to a land Purchase Agreement with the sale expected to close on or before November 5, 2010. They have worked to gather data on critically short medical specialties to include those services in the hospital design/build. The demand for services is great and is evident by the number of patients that out-migrate from Guam to hospitals in Manila, Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. One thing that Guam has going in its favor for physician recruitment is that Guam is designated by the United States Public Health as a "Physician Shortage Area" and also as a "Medically Underserved Area." These designations are helpful in that physicians that choose to work in Guam can apply for a student loan repayment. The average medical school graduate has $200,000 in student loans when they complete school. This program allows up to 25% of their debt to be forgiven for each year they work on Guam. There is now a development team in place for this project which includes a developer, investors that have pledged $75 Million for the project, an architect, investment banking firm and DCK Guam which is a large DOD contractor on Guam and Hawaii with over $1.6 Billion in hospital construction management and construction experience. The design will include physician offices within the hospital complex and the ability to expand up to an additional 100 extra beds.  POC is Peter R. Sgro, Jr., President & Chairman, Guam Healthcare & Hospital Development foundation, Suite 102, 116 Chalan Santo Papa, Agana, Guam 96910 (Telephone: (671) 477-4772 or email: psgro@ite.net).

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