Pharmacies warned of long waits for customers and U.S. military clinics worldwide have been affected after a cyberattack against one of the country’s largest prescription processors rolled into a third day of downtime.

Once again, I am interrupting your regularly scheduled programming to write a love letter to Montpelier. Last week, the Valentine’s Day Phantom plastered the town with hearts. Just like the first snow of the year, it never loses its magic. Montpelier is everything from children getting a five-cent roll after school at Manghis Bread to running into a legislator while grabbing pizza, and I am so thankful to live and work here.

America's rural health safety net is feeling pressured, with half of all rural hospitals in the U.S. now in the red. And according to new research from Chartis, high enrollment of rural residents in Medicare Advantage plans could make the situation worse.

At the North Coun­try Hos­pi­tal an­nual meet­ing held last month Dr. Greg Walker, head of the med­ical staff, de­clared “At North Coun­try we take care of our own.”

When Dr. Trey Dobson started practicing emergency medicine in Vermont 20 years ago, he might arrive in the morning to see one patient who came in overnight still waiting to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility or rehab center.

For years, Vermont lawmakers have aimed a barrage of legislation at a seemingly intractable and impossibly complex problem: health care costs are increasingly unaffordable for residents.

A Ukrainian man pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to his leadership role in two cyberattack schemes that caused tens of millions of dollars in losses and temporarily crippled a Vermont hospital in 2020, according to the Justice Department.

Nestled between New Hampshire and upstate New York, Vermont is a quiet, mostly rural state.

For those that skim, I’m keeping the intro brief in the hope that you dedicate more brain space to the budget piece, below:

If you read no other piece today, please scroll down just below this short note and read the powerful and beautifully articulated words of several of our state’s emergency department clinical leaders.

As emergency room doctors nationwide plead for help to ease patient overcrowding, the one federal program that could fix the crisis is poised to lose funding.

Depending on your insurance provider and hospital, the cost of medical procedures can vary immensely. Hospital pricing transparency laws have attempted to lower costs by creating competition.

While the policy committees keep up their quick pace, the appropriations committees received further detail on the budget last week.

More and more health care facilities across Vermont are putting a bigger focus on mental health care accessibility.

Vermont health officials earlier this month released the results of a report on how the state’s EMS system is working.

Last year, the Green Mountain Care Board flexed a newfound muscle.

Key players in Vermont's health care system are at odds over new proposed legislation. It would create sweeping changes to how health care is handled and regulated.

For our hospitals, the core mission is simple: preserving and increasing equitable access to quality care in rural Vermont. Meeting this mission is the tricky part.

Dear reader, apologies in advance, but this session is going to be short on intros and long on substance. Hope you’re ready to dive in for week 4’s recap: