Senate hears urgency on Act 167: report warns Vermont hospitals at financial risk, urges statewide transformation

At a Feb. 4 meeting of the Senate Committee on Health & Welfare, Green Mountain Care Board members and Agency of Human Services officials told legislators that Vermont’s hospital system faces a mounting financial and access crisis and that Act 167 work — including an Oliver Wyman community engagement — points to the need for rapid, statewide transformation.

Jessica Holmes, a member of the Green Mountain Care Board, told the committee “our healthcare financing and delivery systems are in trouble,” and said the board’s analysis and the Oliver Wyman report indicate most hospitals will run deficits under a status-quo path unless large changes occur. Holmes urged a coordinated state response that brings together the governor’s office, AHS, the Green Mountain Care Board, payers, hospital leaders and key legislators.

The Oliver Wyman engagement, led by consultants who also worked with Mathematica on analytics, gathered input from more than 3,000 Vermonters across 14 hospital service areas through virtual and in-person meetings. Hillary Watson, senior health policy analyst for the Green Mountain Care Board, summarized that community feedback and read comments from residents, including: “Many individuals don't go to care because the premiums and out of pockets are too high.”

Why it matters: presenters said Vermont pays among the highest hospital prices in the country while many hospitals operate at or below break-even; insurers’ reserves are depleted and wait times for specialty care are long. The Oliver Wyman report recommended a statewide, intentional redesign that…