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Bill would let Brattleboro Retreat keep calendar fiscal year, board seeks clarity on enforcement process
Summary
S.63 would align hospital budget deadlines to reflect the Brattleboro Retreat's calendar fiscal year and the Green Mountain Care Board asked the committee to clarify whether the board must use the Vermont Administrative Procedure Act contested-case process to enforce budget orders.
A provision in S.63 under review by the House Health Care Committee would let the Brattleboro Retreat, a psychiatric hospital not operated by the state, maintain its calendar fiscal year while keeping Green Mountain Care Board budget-review timelines aligned with that schedule. The board's general counsel told the committee the change is intended to reflect practice and avoid forcing the retreat to shift its fiscal year.
Michael Barber, general counsel for the Green Mountain Care Board, said the board has been issuing the retreat's budget decision on a December timeline to match the facility's calendar fiscal year and that the statute should be modified to reflect that practice. "Because the retreat's fiscal year starts 3 months after the fiscal year of the acute care hospitals, the board has been, for the past 2 years now, reviewing and approving the retreat's budget after it finishes reviewing the budgets of the other hospitals," Barber said.
Barber also proposed a modification to clarify the interaction between hospital budget enforcement and the Vermont Administrative Procedure Act (VAPA). He said hospitals have recently argued that the board must use contested-case, trial-like procedures under VAPA to correct a hospital that exceeds its budget cap. The board asked the committee to state in statute that enforcement of a hospital budget order does not require VAPA contested-case procedures. Barber said requiring contested-case procedures for enforcement would add time, cost and complexity and could reduce public transparency, because contested-case hearings are often in an adjudicative record rather than open deliberations.
Diane Lanfer, the board's director of legislative affairs, told lawmakers the proposed changes would bring statute into line with current practice and help the board manage workloads. Committee members asked for examples and Barber said the current argument about contested-case procedures is a recent development in enforcement disputes; he noted the board has not historically invoked VAPA contested-case procedures for hospital budget enforcement.
No committee vote occurred; Barber said the board has circulated proposed amendment language and asked the committee to consider it alongside other bill changes.
