GMCB public hearings to focus on future of rural hospitals
WCAX
Vermonters will be able to weigh in on the future of rural health care at hearings starting Tuesday. Most of Vermont’s 14 hospitals are in some form of financial trouble and state regulators want to hear from people about what’s working and what isn’t.
“The whole system is really on the financial razor’s edge,” said Green Mountain Care Board Chair Owen Foster.
The meltdown and eventual bankruptcy of Springfield Hospital several years ago set off
alarm bells in the rural health care community. And the cost of health care continues to skyrocket, driven by inflation, staffing shortages, and commercial insurance rate increases.
Foster and other leaders are concerned the cost of care is reaching a tipping point and people are forgoing care altogether or taking on medical debt. “You need to make sure you have sufficient primary care, mental health care, and long-term care. The system all works together and when there are weaknesses in any part of it, it puts pressure on the other pieces,” Foster said.