Current News

The Brattleboro Retreat will present the hospital’s 2014 Anna Marsh Award to Vermont State Representative Bill Lippert of Hinesburg at the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus event to be held on Saturday, November 1 at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro. Representative Lippert has served in the Vermont Legislature since his initial appointment by Governor Howard Dean in 1994.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Executives at Vermont hospitals faced with paying back hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in some cases millions, to Medicare say the repayments weaken their financial positions, but won’t have a direct impact on patient services. The repayments are the result of Medicare enforcing a 2012 policy change that many hospital executives say was unexpected. The policy change has been applied retroactively to 2010. The Vermont Association for Hospitals and Health Systems estimates the total impact on 10 Vermont hospitals at $12 million to $14 million.

Most affected hospitals have been aware of the possible Medicare repayments for some time and accounted for them in their recently approved 2015 budgets, according to the 10 hospital chief financial officers who were interviewed for this story.

But the repayments will leave hospitals with less cash on hand to deal with unexpected costs.

UHC has announced the winners of the 2014 UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award, UHC Supplier Diversity Leadership Award, and UHC Sustainability Award at the UHC Annual Conference 2014 in Las Vegas. Fletcher Allen Health Care, based in Burlington, was one of six awardees from across the country.

2014 UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award

Honored for excellence in supply chain management, the UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award winners are:

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: BHLB) reported a 5 percent increase in core earnings per share to $0.46 in the third quarter of 2014 from $0.44 in the prior quarter. Berkshire Hills is the parent company of Berkshire Bank, with offices in southern Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. Third quarter core EPS advanced by 7 percent year-over-year. Berkshire continues to generate higher revenue as it builds business volumes across its regional markets. GAAP EPS was $0.48 in the third quarter of 2014 and $0.46 in the prior quarter, reflecting the $0.02 per share quarterly benefit of a lower GAAP tax rate that resulted from non-core branch acquisition related costs in the first quarter.

THIRD QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (comparisons are to prior quarter):

The Vermont Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities (GCEPD) has announced the first employer award recipients for the “Spirit of the ADA” Awards to commemorate National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The Vermont “Spirit of the ADA” Award is given to employers who reflect the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act in their employment practices. Successfully meeting any of the following criteria qualifies employers for eligibility to be nominated:

Attorney General William H Sorrell has joined the Attorneys General of New York and Connecticut in a petition challenging the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) over its recent rule on the continued storage of spent nuclear fuel. There is no federal repository for the highly radioactive fuel. All the spent fuel at every US nuclear plant is still stored on-site, even at those that have been closed.

Governor Peter Shumlin joined Mayor Chris Louras, transportation officials and legislators at the Ripley Bridge to highlight the latest in a series of transportation improvement projects in Rutland City. In a year that has seen major infrastructure projects involving close cooperation between The Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and municipal teams, the Ripley and Dorr bridges are the latest example of the state working with downtowns to provide the infrastructure needed to sustain commerce and quality of life. The Ripley and Dorr bridges are estimated to cost $5.5 million and $8.3 million respectively. This pair of bridges, combined with the $10.5million in paving and other downtown improvements are just part of the $685.7 million Transportation Bill that makes up one of the biggest construction years in the history of VTrans.

by Bill Schubart We can’t keep doing things the way we are in education. The costs are unsustainable and results are questionable, especially as connectivity, content distribution, and career options evolve. It’s not just about the money. While we must have a discussion about educational goals and measurements, educational architecture must also be simplified. The terms nursery, kindergarten, grade school, middle school, junior high, and high school need to be abandoned along with their dubious graduation ceremonies. They’re outmoded and distract from the natural continuum of childhood development.

We must start by pushing educational investment down in age and understand the transition to college differently. The catch-all term “college” no longer imparts any meaning to that educational period in a young person’s life.

The agreement between The University of Vermont and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Local 267 (“UE”) has been ratified by the UE membership, according to a statement released Friday evening by UVM. The union represents service and maintenance workers at UVM. The new deal includes an overall pay increase of 8 percent over three years.

“The new contract between the UE and UVM is a fair and mutually satisfactory one, and we are pleased that the membership has now completed the ratification process,” said Wanda Heading-Grant, Vice President for Human Resources, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. “As I have said before, our service and maintenance workers are essential to the successful operation of the University. Completing the bargaining process represents yet another positive step in our relationship.”

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont were up again last week and surpassed 500 claims for the first time in several months. Levels this year have been running consistently lower than those of last year, but this week were ahead of last year's numbers. For the week of October 18, 2014, there were 540 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 53 from the previous week's total, and 45 more than they were a year ago.

Vermont's first Bitcoin ATM will be unveiled at this year's Tech Jam by Blu-Bin and its partner, PYC. The machine, will be on display for the public at Tech Jam, and then will after the event will be set up at Blu-Bin's Burlington location. Tech Jam was a two-day event held October 24 and 25 in Burlington. According to Blu-Bin, the machine’s new location is an increasingly popular destination for bitcoin enthusiasts.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Burlington College plans to sell 25 acres of its 32 acre lakefront property to real estate developer Eric Farrell next month for $7 million in an effort to keep the school open, officials said Monday. Interim President Mike Smith this month took a “deep dive” into the college’s finances and concluded the school’s status quo is not financially viable. It has $11.4 million in long-term debt and $300,000 in past-due bills, he said. Two-thirds of that is more than 90 days late, he said.

“This is the only way that I can see to give this college some stability,” Smith said.