Hospital association head calls on Care Board to retract health care report and apologize
The executive director of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systemshas called on the Green Mountain Care Board to retract a report it commissioned on Vermont's health care system, acknowledge that "grossly inaccurate data underlies the hospital recommendations made," and apologize for the whole thing. VAHHS represents all 14 hospitals in Vermont.
Michael Del Trecco said the GMCB needed to "repair the damage caused to our patients, providers and communities by assuring them that care will be protected in their communities."
"On behalf of our doctors, nurses and staff, we ask for a public apology from the Green Mountain Care Board to our provider community who are on the frontlines of providing health care in our aging and rural state," Del Trecco said. "They have been disrespected and disrupted by this work and they need to know they are valued."
The report, by consultant Dr. Bruce Hamory of Oliver Wyman Life Sciences, identified four hospitals − Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, Springfield Hospital, Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend and North Country Hospital in Newport − as facing the greatest risk of closure because they don't have the volume of patients to support their operations.