Vermont witnesses back bill’s intent to curb corporate control of medical decisions but warn language could burden small practices

Jess Barnard, executive director of the Vermont Medical Society, and Susan Ritson, executive director of Vermont Health First, testified to a legislative committee that they broadly share the goal of preventing corporate investor practices from controlling medical decisionmaking but urged lawmakers to narrow the bill’s language to avoid harming small independent providers.

Barnard said the bill’s stated aim—to stop private equity and other investors from stripping assets or interfering with clinicians’ judgment—is one the Society supports. She cautioned, however, that several provisions in the draft (referred to in testimony as H.583) are written so broadly they could prohibit routine financing, partnerships, and other transactions that independent practices use to survive and expand. "There are 49,546 licensed health care professionals in Vermont," Barnard said, citing an Attorney General’s Office spreadsheet, and asked how the state would educate or process reporting obligations for so many providers.

Both witnesses criticized a provision Barnard identified as the…