Wednesday, August 28, 2019
But the hospital disputed those findings and criticized the office for a blindsiding public announcement that made a national example of UVM Medical Center in the Trump administration's effort to expand protections for religious objectors.
The medical center also defended its approach to balancing protections for employees' beliefs with patients' access to legal care.
UVM Medical Center could lose federal funding if it refuses to change its policies.
Tags: University of Vermont Medical Center , Office for Civil Rights , abortion , religious freedom , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 19, 2019
Health Commissioner Mark Levine announced Monday that he had notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that Vermont would stop using Title X dollars to fund Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s services at 10 clinics. Instead, the state will make up the $759,000 difference with general fund dollars set aside for just this purpose.
New rules by the Trump administration allow clinics accepting Title X funds to talk to patients about abortion, but not to give women information about or refer them to abortion providers.
“We refuse to let the Trump administration bully us into withholding abortion information from our patients in Vermont," said Lucy Leriche, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. "The gag rule is unethical and dangerous, and we will not subject our patients to it."
“These changes by HHS will disrupt one of our state’s most essential public health programs,” Levine said in a release. “For nearly 50 years, Title X has helped ensure that Vermonters have access to quality family planning and we want to make sure this continues.”
Tags: family planning , abortion , Title X , Trump administration , Web Only , Image
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Leahy was flanked by UVM President Suresh Garimella and various UVM Medical Center officials as he announced the funding in his downtown Burlington office. The officials on hand did not identify any new programs that the grant would support, but said the money will fund both research and clinical treatment for opioid addiction in hard-hit rural areas.
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Suresh Garimella , opiates , University of Vermont , UVM Medical Center , senator , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Vermont's former human services secretary and chief hospital regulator has taken a job with the state's largest health care provider.
The University of Vermont Health Network announced Tuesday that Al Gobeille will serve in the newly created role of executive vice president for operations, starting in September. In that position, he will work to align the systems, culture and services of the sprawling organization, which now includes six hospitals in Vermont and New York.
"If you think about the network as a coming together of hospitals and home health and nursing homes and clinics, the role of this position is to make that coming together smoother, better, faster and stronger," Gobeille said.
The Shelburne resident and Burlington restaurateur chaired the regulatory Green Mountain Care Board under Democratic governor Peter Shumlin and led the Agency of Human Services under Republican Gov. Phil Scott. He resigned as secretary in June.
In a written statement, UVM Health Network president and CEO John Brumsted credited Gobeille with "an uncanny ability to quickly understand and master some of the most complex health care challenges we face."
Tags: Al Gobeille , Phil Scott , University of Vermont Health Network , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 2, 2019
Though other states had more cases than Vermont's 1,089, Vermont’s total is highest when adjusted for population. Maine ranked second, with 139 cases per 100,000.
Nationally, 2017 was the worst year in the past decade for Lyme disease, with 42,321 diagnosed cases — nearly 5,000 more than the previous high in 2015.
Tags: Lyme disease , Data Dive , interactive , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 19, 2019
The figures come from a database released this week by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration detailing itemized purchases of prescription opioids in the U.S. from 2006 through 2012. The dataset offers an unprecedented window into the pharmaceutical industry's business dealings as the opioid crisis grew.
Oxycodone and hydrocodone purchases peaked in 2011 at 18.2 million pills. That same year, Vermont medical providers wrote 502,566 prescriptions for opioids in a state with a population of just under 627,000.
Tags: opioids , Vermont Health Department , Washington Post , hydrocodone , oxycodone , Data Dive , Web Only , Image
Monday, June 10, 2019
Gov. Phil Scott on Monday vetoed a 24-hour waiting period for handgun sales in Vermont and signed a bill protecting a woman's right to an abortion.
The legislature passed S.169 to create a cooling-off period to reduce acts of impulsive gun violence, especially suicides. But Scott, citing a number of other gun restrictions he has signed, said he didn't think the new bill hit the mark.
“With these measures in place, we must now prioritize strategies that address the underlying causes of violence and suicide," Scott said in a statement. "I do not believe S.169 addresses these areas."
Tags: guns , suicide , waiting period , Second Amendment , abortion , Phil Scott , veto , Web Only , Image
Monday, May 20, 2019
According to Kelley, the Republican governor "has ruled out a veto" of H.57, which codifies the right to an abortion and prohibits public entities from interfering with a woman's right to choose. "It will become law," Kelley said.
Scott has not, however, decided whether he will sign H.57 or let it become law without his signature. Though the Vermont House and Senate have both passed the measure, the legislature has not yet formally transmitted it to Scott's office.
"He plans to/wants to read the final bill in full and deliberate further from there," Kelley said in a written message. NBC5 reporter Stewart Ledbetter first reported the news earlier Monday evening.
Tags: abortion , Vermont , Phil Scott , H.57 , Web Only , Image
Friday, May 17, 2019
The governor signed S.86 on Thursday, to the delight of groups such as the American Heart Association. Because most smokers pick up the harmful and addictive habit before they are 21, fewer people will start, health advocates reason.
The law takes effect September 1, 2019.
Similar legislation failed in 2016 and 2017. This year, lawmakers cited concerns about young people being exposed to more and more products.
"E-cigarettes, vaping, Juuling are taking over," Sen. Debbie Ingram (D-Chittenden), a sponsor of the bill, warned in February. Flavored smokes appeal to kids, she added, and raising the legal age to 21 would make it harder for teens to get around age restrictions.
Tags: Vermont , smoking age , hike , 18 , 21 , e-cigarettes , Juul , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
House lawmakers voted 106-38 to approve an amendment to the state’s constitution that originated in the Senate. The Senate, meanwhile, approved a bill, known as the Freedom of Choice Act, that originated in the House and was designed to ensure protections for abortion rights to Vermonters regardless of the outcome of the constitutional amendment, which won’t be decided until 2022.
Abortion has been a legally protected right in Vermont since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. In response to the unpredictable nature of the federal government under President Donald Trump, lawmakers this year pursued a two-pronged approach to making those protections clear at the state level.
Tags: abortion , reproductive rights , reproductive health , sterilization , contraceptives , birth control , Phil Scott , Cynthia Browning , Ann Pugh , Heidi Scheuermann , Ginny Lyons , Web Only , Image