Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Primary Care Workforce topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Vermont medical groups press Senate for primary care workforce funding and residency slots
Summary
Physician groups and primary care associations told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee they need targeted budget money to sustain the state’s primary care reforms, preserve community-based “blueprint” services and launch new rural family medicine residency positions.
Primary care physician groups and community health organizations told the Vermont Senate Committee on Health & Welfare on Monday that the state risks losing gains in primary care access unless the Legislature funds workforce and pilot programs now.
The Vermont Medical Society’s executive director, Jessa Barnard, told the committee the state is “on the precipice of losing that progress” in its primary-care reforms and flagged two expiring ACO/All-Payer Model programs and two Blueprint programs that help wrap services around primary care practices. “We know we are currently 115, primary care clinicians short,” Barnard said.
Barnard and other speakers asked the committee to preserve three kinds of funding: (1) continuing Blueprint community health team and behavioral-health pilots that are only partly funded in the House budget; (2) scholarships and incentives that bring medical students back to Vermont; and (3) new graduate medical education funding to stand up rural family medicine residency positions.
Dr. Belanski, who said he is running a consortium to launch a family medicine training program, told senators the program “is ready to go right now. We can start in July. We need bridge funding of less than a million dollars for four years.” He estimated that once trainees are in place the program will “break even because they see Vermonters” and that about half of residents trained in rural programs stay to practice locally.
Mary Kate Coleman of Bi-State Primary Care Association asked the committee to back funding that would bring Medicaid payments for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) closer to the cost of care, to continue family planning rate increases and to preserve payments for community health teams and medical home payments in the Blueprint for Health.
Speakers noted four distinct funding gaps: a third-year pilot carryover request of about $1.385 million in general funds, workforce programs (scholarships and training pipeline supports) not included in the House budget, FQHC payment increases, and the mental-health pilot within the Blueprint not yet funded. Testimony emphasized that training clinicians in rural settings is the most reliable way to recruit them to serve those communities.
The committee chair and staff said materials are posted on the committee’s web page and that request details will be consolidated for appropriations staff. Senators repeatedly asked for written cost sheets and confirmed some items are already included in the House fiscal plan, while others would require additional appropriation.
If the Legislature wants to preserve Vermont’s primary-care reforms, witnesses said, it needs specific funding for scholarships, residency start-up and pilot continuation rather than general directions. “Train them where we need them the most,” Dr. Belanski said when describing the rationale for rural residencies.
