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Legislative floor approves bill requiring notice when hospitals eliminate services
Summary
The legislative floor passed draft 2.1 of S.1189, which narrows prior language to cover only elimination (not reduction) of certain hospital services and requires preliminary notice to AHS, the Green Mountain Care Board and the Office of the Health Care Advocate.
Jenny Parvyan, host of the Legislative Council, outlined changes to draft 2.1 of S.1189 and members on the floor approved the bill in a brief session.
The bill, as presented by Parvyan, removes language about “reducing or eliminating” services and instead focuses on hospitals that propose eliminating services. "So it is currently ... reducing or eliminating hospital services, but now it will just relate to eliminations," Parvyan said, describing the scope change.
Parvyan said hospitals considering eliminating any of the listed services must provide a preliminary notice of intent to the Agency of Human Services (AHS), the Green Mountain Care Board and the Office of the Health Care Advocate. "A hospital that is considering eliminating any of the following services has to provide a preliminary notice of intent to the Agency of Human Services, Green Mountain Care Board, and the Office of the Health Care Advocate," she said.
The draft enumerates covered services to include emergency department services; primary care services (including closing a site at which primary care services are provided); treatment for substance use disorder, including medication for opioid use disorder; and dialysis, including closing a site where dialysis services are provided. Parvyan also said the Green Mountain Care Board would be able to review the proposal’s impact on a hospital’s budget and related system transformation efforts.
Materials provided to AHS or the board would remain exempt from public inspection under the public records act, but Parvyan said the bill requires those agencies to provide access to materials related to a proposed elimination to the Office of the Health Care Advocate, which "shall not further disclose this confidential information." The draft updates cross-references and renumbers affected sections accordingly.
The presiding Chair moved to pass S.1189, draft 2.1, as amended; the motion was seconded and members on the floor recorded affirmative responses. The Chair summarized the result as unanimous approval by those present.
The brief session ended with a short policy update: a staff member announced that H814 passed the Senate on third reading and that the House had concurred; the measure will go to the governor. The floor then adjourned.
