Randolph community pans report calling for major changes at Gifford Medical Center
Valley News
A report presented last week to the Green Mountain Care Board makes sweeping recommendations for restructuring Vermont’s health care systems and some communities and hospital leaders fear the loss of emergency rooms and inpatient beds, and the diminishing of other services.
The 144-page report, produced by the New York-based consulting firm Oliver Wyman, called for lowering health care costs, reducing inefficiencies, increasing access to primary care, and improving housing and transportation in an effort to make health care in Vermont more equitable.
The report identified Gifford Medical Center in Randolph as one of four medical centers — along with Springfield Hospital, Grace Cottage Hospital in Brattleboro and North Country Hospital in Newport — that are at risk of insolvency and in need of “major restructuring.”
“Must do” recommendations for Gifford include closing its emergency room and converting all of its inpatient beds into a long-term mental health, geriatric psychiatry, or memory care unit. Inpatient and emergency services can be shifted to “other organizations,” the report states.