Lawmakers, Green Mountain Care Board Chair and UVM Medical Center clash over network oversight, loans and costs

University of Vermont Medical Center President Steve Leffler and Green Mountain Care Board Chair Owen Foster laid out competing concerns about proposed state oversight of the UVM Health Network during a legislative hearing focused on Section 6 of a health affordability bill.

Leffler, who identified himself as president of the UVM Medical Center, said the medical center and the network have accepted a set of commitments negotiated with the Green Mountain Care Board intended to reduce health-care cost growth and improve transparency. "I fully acknowledge that right now Vermont is facing a health care affordability crisis and that I am here on behalf of the medical center in the network to be part of the solution," Leffler told the committee.

The agreement Leffler described includes funding commitments and operational limits intended to slow price increases: a one-time $11,000,000 primary-care bridge for non‑UVM primary care providers for 2026; a prior $12,000,000 payment to resolve 2022–23 budget disputes with Blue Cross Vermont; and a commitment to submit compliant budgets for 2026 that hold network revenue growth to 3.4 percent, commercial rate increases to roughly 3 percent, and expense growth under 3 percent. The network also agreed to form a five‑member work group — described by Leffler as two Green Mountain Care Board members, a network board member, a medical center board member and an independent liaison — to review network efficiency; the independent liaison named in the hearing was Mike Smith.

Leffler said the network supports several elements of the bill, including new reporting on staff ratios and executive…