Current News

Vermont’s Congressional Delegation – Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and Representative Peter Welch (D) -- and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger Tuesday announced a US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant of $3.4 million to the Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO) for lead safety and to address home health and safety issues in low-income housing.

The CEDO Burlington Lead Program will be awarded $3 million in program funding, one of only 20 Lead-based Paint Hazard Control grant recipients in the nation. CEDO will also receive $400,000 under the Healthy Homes grant program. The funding comes from the HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, which promotes local efforts to eliminate dangerous hazards from homes, stimulate investment in lead hazard control and educate the public about the dangers of lead-based paint.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org Federal energy regulators have approved Vermont Gas’ request to construct a natural gas pipeline from Middlebury to Ticonderoga, New York, without a federal review of the project’s environmental impacts. Vermont and New York regulators now have full authority to review the the economic and environmental impacts of the pipeline. The Vermont Public Service Board this month postponed its review of that portion of the pipeline until January, in part because Vermont Gas had not obtained the waiver.

“This is really good news for the project,” company spokesman Steve Wark said Tuesday. “It clearly indicates that we have met the criteria for a waiver.”

The ban takes effect Wednesday, October 1, 2014 and covers all portable electronic devices, including, music players, laptop computers, and cellular telephones. Hands-free use is permitted under the law, and hands-free means without the use of either hand and outside the immediate proximity of the user’s ear, by employing an internal feature—such as Bluetooth, for example—or as long as the device is in a cradle or otherwise securely mounted in the vehicle.

Note that the ban is lifted when the driver needs to communicate with law enforcement or emergency service personnel under emergency circumstances.

Know the consequences.

A 500 kilowatt solar power project currently under construction on the grounds of National Life Group is expected to go on line by the end of the year and will generate a significant portion of the company’s electricity. The new project will be part of the state’s net metering program, as an existing 70 kW rooftop system on the company’s roof is, feeding power onto the electrical grid while replacing reliance on fossil fuel. The 10,000 megawatts per year that the two systems will produce represents more than 15 percent of the company’s power demand. And that represents about 3 percent of the 82,256 megawatts per year of power demand in the entire city of Montpelier.

Governor Shumlin and National Life CEO Mehran Assadi at the groundbreaking. Photo courtesy of National Life.

Winstanley Solar Development (WSD) and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) have announced an agreement to collaborate on the construction and operation of a 500 kilowatt solar power array on land owned by Winstanley Enterprises. The electricity generated by this array will serve the main BMH hospital building, and generate significant savings for BMH over the 20-year term of the agreement.

This project is part of an initiative to bring solar power and utility savings to schools, municipalities and hospitals in the Windham and Windsor County region. WSD, a joint venture partnership between Winstanley Enterprises, LLC of Concord MA, Green Lantern Development, LLC of Waterbury VT and Powersmith Farm, Inc. of Guilford, VT, hopes to develop up to five 500kW net-metered solar arrays on individual lots in the North Springfield Industrial Park.

Vermont will collect $79,878 in restitution and other recoveries as its share of a national $56.5 million civil settlement with Shire Pharmaceuticals, LLC to resolve allegations that the company unlawfully marketed five of its drugs, Adderall XR, Vyvance, Daytrana, Lialda and Pentasa, resulting in overpayments by Vermont Medicaid and other government healthcare programs. Specifically, it is alleged that Shire:

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Health care networks in Vermont known as accountable care organizations (ACOs) didn’t exceed savings targets for treating Medicare patients by enough to receive incentive payments in the first year of a federal initiative to reduce spending and improve care. Nationally, only 52 of 220 ACOs participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program were able to reduce spending by enough to get a portion of $300 million in incentive payments from the federal government, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services(CMS).

Medicare saved $652 million through the program, a key aspect of the Affordable Care Act’s efforts to reform payments to doctors and hospitals. But that’s only one one-thousandth of the $492 billion spent on Medicare in 2013.

The state’s first adult day center, Project Independence, got its start in Barre in 1975 when a nursing home activity director, Lindsey Wade, recognized an opportunity to do things better and more cost effectively. Wade encountered nursing home residents who didn’t seem to medically belong there. Others were visiting the nursing home daily for the social interaction. Wade had an idea. The area needed an adult day care and not a medical model adult day, but a social model – something that didn’t exist anywhere else in the country.

An active board and an interested city brought to life Project Independence on Washington Street and in the decades since, its model has not only flourished but expanded statewide. There are currently 14 adult day programs in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine is proud to announce the winners of its Rising Stars recognition award. The list is comprised of 40 winners under the age of 40. Award recipients were selected by a panel of judges for their commitment to business growth, professional excellence and involvement in their communities.

“We are thrilled by the response to this initiative to recognize these up-and-coming leaders,” said VBM Publisher John Boutin. “We received over 150 outstanding nominations, the most nominations since the program started in 2010. The judges had a difficult time picking the top 40. These young professionals have chosen to make Vermont home. For these young professionals it’s not just about business. It’s about them making a difference in their communities,” Boutin said.

by John McClaughry A recurring argument of those favoring a government takeover of any large sector of the economy - such as health care - is “the free market has failed!” These people are invariably oblivious to the effects of a hundred years of government intervention that has restricted what a free market might otherwise achieve.

Admittedly some of that intervention has been beneficial. Governments required would-be doctors to obtain a license before offering medical services to the public. They required infirmaries and sanitariums to meet standards for cleanliness, fire safety, and trained caregivers. After 1930, state governments required the newly-appeared health insurance companies to make truthful claims and maintain adequate reserves to pay claims.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont’s (BCBSVT) First Wednesday Wellness for the month of October will take place on October 1 from 5 to 7 p.m. BCBSVT will host the free event at their Information and Wellness Center located in the Blue Mall at 150 Dorset Street in South Burlington. BCBSVT will provide free flu vaccinations in place of the normally provided biometric screenings offered at their First Wednesday Wellness events. The flu shots are free for all participants 18 and older, regardless of their insurance status. Those without health insurance are welcome.

“I encourage you to make time in your busy schedule to get a flu vaccination this autumn. Every year, thousands of adults and children become seriously ill with influenza. Vaccination helps protect you and also helps reduce the spread of the flu virus to your coworkers, family and community,” says Dr. Robert Wheeler, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer of BCBSVT.

Last Thursday afternoon in Barre, Representative Peter Welch announced bipartisan legislation to improve Medicare reimbursements for ambulance services providers. Welch was joined at the press conference by Jim Finger, President of the Vermont Ambulance Association, Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon, and Joe Aldsworth, Deputy Chief of the Barre Fire Department. Currently, ambulance service providers around the country, especially in rural areas like Vermont, face unnecessary financial uncertainty due to the failure of Congress to annually extend, in a timely fashion, a key Medicare reimbursement program. Welch’s bipartisan legislation will make permanent in the Medicare fee schedule the special payment for services performed by ambulance providers in rural areas.

The Medicare Ambulance Access, Fraud Prevention, and Reform Act (H.R. 5460) was co-authored by Rep. Welch, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).