A working group convened under Section 28 of last year’s transportation bill recommended that Vermont focus near‑term coordination efforts on long, high‑frequency medical trips — particularly dialysis — to create more shared rides and reduce pressure on the Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities (O&D) program.

Steven Falbel, the consultant who led the Section 28 report, told the House Transportation Committee that the working group (VTrans, AHS, transit providers and health systems) met five times from October through December 2025 and identified dialysis trips as the top near‑term target because patients typically travel multiple times per week to distant facilities. "The primary target we identified are long trips with high frequency; the best example of that are dialysis trips because these patients have to go three times a week every week," Falbel said.

The working group collected provider data showing roughly 188 statewide dialysis riders in October 2025, of whom about 57 were already in shared rides. Falbel said modest scheduling adjustments could convert roughly 30 additional riders into shared trips with minimal clinical impact, and that a further 52 riders might share rides if more significant appointment changes were possible.

Falbel highlighted a Tri‑Valley Transit pilot with Porter Medical Center that paired four dialysis patients into shared trips and saved about $1,300 a month while freeing volunteer drivers for other tasks. The working group’s near‑term recommendations include outreach to major regional facilities (including Dartmouth and UVM Health), pilot coordination with dialysis providers, and volunteer sharing between hospitals and transit providers.

Health system witnesses supported the approach. Karen Bastine, senior community relations officer at UVM Health, said the system’s expanded social‑needs screening already identifies transportation barriers and she urged broader adoption of screening and referral practices. Dr. Natasha Withers (family physician at Porter and AVP medical director) said collaborations between dialysis units and transit providers have been "a really positive experience," and that clinical teams are identifying patients who could reasonably alter appointment times to enable shared rides.

Longer‑term recommendations include making the working group permanent with quarterly meetings, setting a non‑mandatory target of three new shared rides per quarter per provider (equivalent to roughly one new shared ride per provider per month), rolling out enhanced paratransit scheduling software with portals for medical offices, and annual reporting to the legislature on progress and barriers. The report also flagged potential limits: dialysis capacity constraints, HIPAA and patient comfort after treatment, and outreach challenges with for‑profit dialysis clinics that may be less responsive.

Next steps: the working group recommended quarterly reporting to the Public Transit Advisory Committee and an annual legislative update. Committee members and providers also discussed pilot projects for scheduling software and volunteer recruitment through hospital volunteer pools.