Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) today approved FY 2018 budgets for Vermont’s 14 community hospitals. The Board provided the hospitals with instructions this spring that outlined budget parameters and guidelines for their submissions, and targeted a net patient revenue (NPR) cap of 3.0% over FY 2017 budgets, and an additional 0.4% allowance for new health care reform activities. The 14 hospitals’ initial July 1^st requested increase in NPR was 3.6%, or a roughly $87M increase to health care costs within our state. After a thorough review and public discussion, the Board approved a system-wide increase in NPR of 3.01%, and a weighted average rate increase of 2.08%.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business MagazineThe state of Vermont has virtually eliminated the waitlist for those needing to receive opioid treatment, but officials admit that victory over substance abuse is far from at hand. Still, the politicians and health care administrators and providers who gathered at the Howard Center in Burlington agreed that today’s announcement was significant.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont will once again share its culture and heritage with more than one million attendees at the Big E, New England’s largest agricultural fair, which commences this week in West Springfield, Massachusetts. The fair will run from September 15 – October 1.An already popular Big E attraction, the Vermont Building has added some new key features to help showcase Vermont products. The Journey’s End patio has been constructed in the back of the building, complete with a new performing stage, additional vendors and elegant landscaping, all replicating Vermont’s charming beauty.

Vermont Business Magazine In a report released earlier this summer, Vermont did relatively well among all states in data innovation. Vermont was 14th overall, fifth in STEM degrees, 10th in Broadband (very high Internet use but relatively slow connection speeds), 46th in Electronic Health Records, and predictably low (35th) in e-Government. Across the United States, data scientists, civic leaders, educators, and business leaders are laying the groundwork for using data to grow the economy and address a range of societal challenges.

Vermont Business Magazine The 12^th Annual Kelly Brush Ride powered by VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations, drew 810 cyclists and40 adaptive athletes who raised over $521,000 to empower those with paralysis through sport and recreation and to prevent ski racing injuries. The event was held Saturday, September 9 in Middlebury, Vermont.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Members of the Burlington Education Association went on strike Thursday morning as a last-minute call by a former federal mediator and Mayor Miro Weinberger failed to find a resolution Wednesday evening. Burlington public schools were cancelled for the day for the approximate 3,600 students. The union and teachers have been at odds for more than a year, primarily over wages, health insurance and staffing levels. The board and union barely averted a strike exactly one year ago.

by Karen Glitman, Director of Efficiency Vermont When people think about their local electric utility, their first thoughts are likely of poles and wires, and the electric meter on the side of their house. We think of them as energy producers: regulated businesses that provide us with reliable electricity – an enormous, complex, and critical task. For the past 17 years, however, Vermont has had a different kind of energy producer, one that doesn’t generate power at all. It saves it.

Vermont Business MagazineAs national environmental protections are deregulated and challenges presented by climate change become more widely recognized,Vermontpositions itself as the state where climate change and resource renewal can spark business growth and economic development.A national climate economy innovation summit held in early September inBurlington, Vermontwelcomed entrepreneurs from acrossNorth Americainterested in building an economy inVermontthat embraces the opportunities presented by climate change challenges.Vermontis a leader in both sustainability and self-sufficiency, and multiple stakeholders with diverse perspectives are working together to build capacity for transformative climate change solutions that create jobs forVermontcommunities.

Vermont Business Magazine The Public Service Department has announced the next meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will be held on Thursday, September 28, 2017, from 6 pm to 9 pm in the multipurpose room at Brattleboro Area Middle School, 109 Sunny Acres Rd, Brattleboro. Scott State, CEO, NorthStar Group Services will outline NorthStar’s proposed site restoration standards. The Panel will also receive a presentation on the rubblization process, a technique NorthStar plans to use at the VY site, by a representative from Geosyntec Consultants.

Representatives from Entergy and the State of Vermont will provide updates on the decommissioning activities at Vermont Yankee.

Vermont Business Magazine Edmundite Deacon Michael R Carter, a native of Burlington and a 2012 Saint Michael’s College graduate, will be ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, September 16, at the Chapel of St Michael the Archangel on the Saint Michael’s campus in Colchester. Burlington Bishop Christopher J Coyne will be the presider and homilist for the 11 am Mass, and will ordain Carter. The Society of Saint Edmund, or “Edmundites,” founded Saint Michael’s College, and they are based on campus.

Edmundite Deacon Michael R Carter. Photo: Lauren Read/St Michael’s College.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Mental Health (VDMH) has been awarded a $9.9 million federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The grant, which will be disbursed over a five-year period, will fund the Vermont Family Centered Healthcare Home Project (VFCHP) in its facilitation of a comprehensive approach to health – including mental, emotional and physical health – for children and their families.

VFCHP will provide services that are family-driven with care coordination that incorporates evidence-based mental health services, and will support coordination and service delivery improvements between Vermont’s Community Mental Health Centers and the Federally Qualified Health Center in two regions of the state.

Vermont Business MagazineSenator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and 16 of his Democratic colleagues introduced legislation Wednesday to guarantee health care to every American by expanding and improving Medicare. “Today, we begin the long and difficult struggle to end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all its people,” Sanders said. “At a time when millions of Americans do not have access to affordable health care, the Republicans, funded by the Koch brothers, are trying to take away health care from up to 32 million more. We have a better idea: guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege, through a Medicare-for-all, single-payer health care program.”