Primary care groups ask Legislature to fill $5.5M ACO funding gap for FY2026

Jessa Barnard, executive director of the Vermont Medical Society, told the House Committee on Health Care on Feb. 19 that primary care practices statewide face a one‑year funding cliff because OneCare Vermont’s all‑payer programs end in calendar 2025 and the state’s new AHEAD payment model will not begin until 2027.

"Primary care, I you all know, you've heard, has had challenges for years being sufficiently funded in terms of base funding and workforce initiative funding," Barnard said, adding that the timing gap will remove an estimated $15,000,000 in support for primary care in calendar-year 2026 unless the Legislature acts.

Barnard urged lawmakers to include a one‑time backfill for the second half of fiscal year 2026 — roughly $5.5 million — to hold harmless two OneCare programs that currently distribute dollars to primary care practices: the population‑health model that provides base and quality‑based payments and a comprehensive payment reform (prospective payment) program that distributes monthly payments to participating independent practices.

Nut graf: The requested $5.5 million is intended to replace the Medicare and hospital/dues components that currently flow through OneCare for the January–June 2026 portion of…