Wednesday, February 8, 2017
The pilot program could determine whether the state adopts an all-payer system, in which health care providers are paid based on the quality of care they provide rather than the quantity of services.
“At the end of this pilot, if it’s effective, we’ll expand it,” Gov. Phil Scott said at a press conference Wednesday. “If it’s not meeting these goals and we cannot address operational concerns, we will not move forward.”
Scott’s predecessor, Peter Shumlin, received permission from the federal government last year to implement an all-payer model, and selected OneCare last June to try out the model with Medicaid patients.
Tags: Phil Scott , all-payer , OneCare , accountable care organization , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 5, 2017
GMCB chair Al Gobeille is leaving the board to become Agency of Human Services secretary. Board member Betty Rambur is resigning effective January 15 to move out of state. “This is a completely personal decision,” she told Seven Days. “My husband-to-be lives in Rhode Island, and I have an opportunity for a position there. The stars just lined up.”
Indeed, she’d thought about resigning in September, but “we wouldn’t have had a quorum” because Dr. Allan Ramsay had just resigned and Con Hogan was on medical leave. “A lot of health care decisions are made in September, and the board would have been unable to do its work,” she said.
Tags: Green Mountain Care Board , Al Gobeille , Betty Rambur , Phil Scott , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 2, 2017
“I’m becoming increasingly concerned,” Rep. Don Turner (R-Milton), the House minority leader, says of GOP governor-elect Phil Scott’s burgeoning administration. “I wanted to see a Republican governor who wanted to make changes.”
Turner is specifically “concerned” about the large number of extended cabinet members Scott has retained from the outgoing administration of Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin. And Turner says he’s not alone.
Tags: Phil Scott , Don Turner , Rob Roper , Ethan Allen Institute , Peter Shumlin , Ken Schatz , Monica Hutt , Mike Pieciak , Louis Porter , Andrew Pallito , Al Gobeille , Chris Cole , Bradley Ferland , Joe Flynn , Vermont Health Connect , Mike Smith , WDEV , Jim Douglas , Rebecca Kelley , Ted Brady , Patrick Leahy , Peter Walke , Jaye Pershing Johnson , Bill Sorrell , Martha Maksym , Thomas Anderson , Michael Schirling , Alyson Eastman , Image , Web Only
Friday, December 9, 2016
The hospital partnered with Champlain Housing Trust to purchase a Burlington motel that will lodge patients who are homeless or need temporary housing. On Friday, CHT announced its agreement to use donated UVMMC dollars to buy the Bel-Aire Motel on Shelburne Street in Burlington’s South End. The purchase is expected to be finalized this month.
CHT plans to refurbish the motel to create eight apartments that can house 12 people. Permitting and renovations on the property will begin this winter, and the space could ready for tenants by April, CHT officials said.
Tags: University of Vermont Medical Center , Champlain Housing Trust , Chris Donnelly , Peter Shumlin , housing , image , Image , Web Only
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Three-plus years after a Vermont end-of-life law went into effect, the legal challenge unfolding in Rutland could decide how involved medical professionals have to be in informing patients of the law.
The suit was filed last July by opponents of the 2013 law. It has revealed that the state Attorney General’s Office disagrees with advocates of the law over whether a doctor is obligated to inform patients of the option.
U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford ruled last week that two terminally ill Vermont patients and two advocacy groups may be heard as interveners in the case.
Tags: Patient Choices Vermont , Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare , Bridget Asay , Linda Waite-Simpson , Act 39 , Image , Web Only
Monday, December 5, 2016
Now based in Grand Rapids, Mich., Sholler’s continued work is the subject of a heart-wrenching five-part series in the Boston Globe titled “The Power of Will.”
I wrote about Sholler’s neuroblastoma research in Burlington in a 2008 article for the Burlington Free Press. Her upbeat bedside manner and her unrelenting willingness to try new treatments made her a magnet for desperate parents of neuroblastoma patients from around the country and abroad.
“It had been quite big news in the neuroblastoma world as to what’s
happening here,” Richard Brown, a father who’d brought his son from London for treatment, told me then.
Tags: Dr. Giselle Sholler , neuroblastoma , Fletcher Allen Health Care , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
In 2010, 8.6 percent of Vermonters lacked health insurance. Last year, the number had dropped to 2.7 percent, the governor said. Vermont has the second lowest rate of uninsured people in the country overall, according to his office.
Vermonters who receive subsidies for their health coverage get a median of $300 per person per month, said Sean Sheehan, director of outreach and education at the Department of Vermont Health Access.
If Trump eliminates the health insurance programs enacted under President Barack Obama, as he has said he will, Vermonters would lose at least $100 million a year in subsidies, Shumlin said.
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Vermont Health Connect , Donald Trump , Obamacare , Image , Web Only
Thursday, November 17, 2016
say that since Donald Trump was elected president, they’ve received an outpouring of support.
The Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program holds volunteer orientations twice a month. More than 100 people showed up at Wednesday night’s event, community partnership coordinator Laurie Stavrand said.
“We’re just getting a lot of positive energy coming our way, which is great because it’s good when people take action,” she said Thursday. “It helps them, and it helps everybody else.”
Tags: Donald Trump , Election , Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program , Laurie Stavrand , Planned Parenthood , James Lyall , ACLU , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Robin Lunge will join the five-member Green Mountain Care Board on November 28, Shumlin’s office announced Wednesday.
She will replace Dr. Allen Ramsay, whose term on the board expired September 30.
Tags: Robin Lunge , Green Mountain Care Board , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The so-called All-Payer Accountable Care Organization Model would reimburse participating providers for health outcomes, rather than for every procedure they perform. Advocates argue that it would slow rising health care costs and improve patient care.
Gov. Peter Shumlin's administration spent years working with Vermont's medical community and negotiating with the federal government to obtain an all-payer waiver. In September, Shumlin reached a verbal agreement with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell to more forward with it.
The GMCB, which regulates the state's health care system, held several public meetings in recent weeks to discuss the draft agreement. Wednesday's vote empowers the board's chair, Al Gobeille, to sign off on the plan. The other required signatories are Shumlin and Burwell.
Tags: All-payer waiver , Green Mountain Care Board , Al Gobeille , Peter Shumlin , Image , Web Only