Senate committee reviews bill to raise Vermont certificate-of-need thresholds

Representative Marie Flores introduced H.96 to the Senate Health & Welfare Committee on March 26, asking lawmakers to raise monetary thresholds that trigger Vermont’s certificate-of-need (CON) review and to add several targeted exclusions.

The bill would increase several dollar thresholds that determine when health-care projects must obtain a CON from the Green Mountain Care Board, Representative Marie Flores said. Flores said the intent is to reduce ‘‘regulatory burden’’ on providers and help the board focus on larger reviews while speeding projects that affect rural access to care.

Jen Harvey of the Office of Legislative Counsel walked the committee through the bill’s statutory changes and transitional rules. Harvey said the bill converts the statutory thresholds into a mandatory indexed standard and described how applications already in process would be handled after the bill’s July 1, 2025 effective date: ‘‘If one or more persons have been granted interested party status, then the jurisdictional thresholds and exclusions in place at…