Stakeholders Tell Senate Health & Welfare to Prioritize Primary Care; Raise Data and Oversight Concerns

At a Senate Health & Welfare Committee hearing, lawmakers heard detailed testimony on a proposed committee bill to create a statewide health-care framework, with witnesses pressing the panel to prioritize primary care funding for 2026 and raising concerns about data integration, payment reforms and new regulatory duties.

The testimony centered on three recurring points: an immediate funding gap for primary care after the end of the current all-payer arrangements, technical and privacy limits to proposed statewide data integration, and caution about expanding regulatory reviews of hospitals and adding staffing without redirecting funds to care delivery.

Devin Green, of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, said hospitals “want to be a part of the solution” but warned against some proposals in the outline. “We do not support the Green Mountain Care Report review of hospital strategic plans,” Green told the committee, saying detailed review of individual hospitals’ strategic plans would “have a chilling effect on our volunteer boards” and add administrative costs to an already lengthy budget process.

Jessa…