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Senate Health & Welfare hears testimony on S.197 and models to boost primary care funding
Summary
Committee heard clinicians, Agency of Human Services staff, OneCare Vermont and an outside expert on S.197, focusing on workforce shortages, federal Rural Health Transformation timing, Blueprint payment consolidation and a Massachusetts-style primary care stabilization fund to reach a 15% primary care spend.
The Senate Health & Welfare Committee on an S.197 hearing heard multidisciplinary testimony on a bill designed to increase Vermont's primary care investment, shore up struggling rural practices and transition payments away from fee-for-service models.
Dr. Anne Morris, a family physician who said she is the "associate dean for primary care, NHAC Abilara College of Medicine," opened with patients'cost challenges and workforce concerns, saying "for every $1 spent in primary care, it saves the system $13" and noting that "As of December 2025, there were 79 open primary care positions in the state." Morris urged earlier implementation of the bill's proposed 15% primary care spend rather than a delayed timetable.
Sarah Rosenblum, interim director of health care reform at the Agency of Human Services, and the agency's executive director for health care…
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