A dozen health care providers gathered at a roundtable Wednesday to tackle some of their biggest challenges, including rising costs and ongoing labor shortages.

Around the country, at least 17 states have banned or limited gender-affirming care. In Vermont, the health care for transgender adults and children is protected.

A concerning shortfall in blood donations last month could stress the American Red Cross blood supply. The Red Cross collected over 26,000 fewer blood donations than needed in May to meet the needs of patients.

As of the start of June, 96 people had used a pilot transportation program launched in March that brings mental health patients from emergency rooms in Vermont and New Hampshire to inpatient treatment at the Brattleboro Retreat.

The University of California San Diego is switching its anesthesia delivery system from leaky pipes to tanks and canisters.

After years of back and forth with Vermont health care regulators, The University of Vermont Health Network now says it has a plan to spend $18 million earmarked for mental health care.

My daughter, Jillian, will graduate from high school in a week. We’ll be “sort-of” empty nesters then. She’ll head to Quinnipiac in the fall with the ultimate goal of being a dentist.

Rural hospital executives acknowledge that it’s difficult to attract clinicians and other critical workers who may prefer to live in more urban settings.

It also becomes more challenging to bring workers from minority communities to areas where most of the residents are white.

Two of the seven bills that Gov. Phil Scott signed into law Tuesday set out specific law enforcement roles in supporting emergency and mental health care providers. Two others create changes in the treatment of criminal defendants with severe mental illness or deficits and where they will be treated.

Regulators voted Wednesday not to change their expectations for the revenue side of the states’ hospital budgets for fiscal year 2024, despite sustained and ongoing cost increases that led to big reported operating losses in 2022.

While hardly any hospitals are having an easy time these days, rural health systems are facing profound difficulties.

Formerly home to Brattleboro Pharmacy, a Canal Street building is now hosting a youth stabilization program for those between the ages of 12 and 18 to help support clinical, peer and case management supports as an alternative to hospitalization and a diversion from the emergency room.

Every week, hygienist Joanne Puente sees patients at the People’s Health & Wellness Clinic in Barre who have not seen a dentist in years and come to her with severe tooth decay.

The University of Vermont Medical Center is celebrating five years of teaching Stop the Bleed.

Several Vermonters with complex mental health needs were transferred to a new locked residential facility in Essex last week, officials from the state Department of Mental Health told legislators.

The war on doctors is underway in Republican-led states, and numerous physicians are fleeing for safer ground.

A hospital in one of Vermont’s rural regions has more patients with mental health issues than they can keep.

The region is in critical need of more health care workers.

Vermonters helping Vermonters -- that’s the message as Castleton University nursing students beta-test virtual reality technology for a local entrepreneurial venture.

Just when it seems impossible, the legislative session is wrapping up according to schedule.