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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Tuesday that it has awarded $2,007,100 in grants and loans to expand municipal sewer and drinking water to parts of West Rutland. Two grants totaling $723,100 and two loans totaling $1,284,000 will be used to extend West Rutland’s municipal water and sewer service 1 ¼ miles along Business Route 4 between West Rutland and Rutland Town. This well-traveled corridor has needed municipal utilities for decades. Landowners have inadequate on-site water and wastewater systems, preventing property improvements and business development. The water main will also provide fire protection to this area.

Vermont’s 2014-15 ski and snowboard season is already abuzz, according to Ski Vermont, as the early forecast calls for a snowy and cool New England winter. Vermont will also add to fresh snow from mother nature with a huge statewide snowmaking upgrade that will not only make the slopes more enjoyable to ride, but will extend the season, decrease emissions and allow for quick turnaround if Mother Nature gets fickle with us. After one of the most successful ski seasons in Vermont history last year, Ski Vermont is anticipating a strong year given the equipment upgrades, new deals, eateries, and other amenities and events many of the resorts are offering.

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by Morgan True vtdigger.org The state’s second-largest hospital says high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for some health insurance plans sold through Vermont Health Connect are contributing to its rising bad debt. Rutland Regional Medical Center is projecting that its uncollectible accounts will grow by $729,151 this year over last, an increase of close to 10 percent in the first year of the state’s health exchange marketplace. A portion of that is due to the increase in people choosing health plans with high out-of-pocket costs, according to the hospital’s budget presentation to state regulators last month. Hospitals’ bad debt is the portion of revenue for medical services that is lost when people receive care, but can’t — or don’t — pay for all or part of those services.

Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) announced today that it will pay the $17.5 million bond amount ordered by the Court to ensure the resort will open as planned this season, scheduled for November 22, 2014. Park City is the sister resort to Killington, Vermont. They are both owned by Powdr Corp. Through an admitted mistake by Park City, the Utah resort failed to renew a 50-year lease in 2011, which turns control of the top of the mountain over to rival Vail. The legal squabble, if it continues to play out, could be a financial disaster for both Park City and Vail.

"Our goal has always been to keep PCMR open for the upcoming 2014/15 season and beyond," said Jenni Smith, President and General Manager of PCMR. "Paying the bond ordered by the judge will provide our employees, thePark City community and our many guests the certainty they've been waiting for about our upcoming ski season."

At a press conference at Fletcher Allen Health Care Monday morning, Representative Peter Welch unveiled bipartisan legislation to build upon the progress of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in shifting the reimbursement of health care providers away from the traditional “fee for service” model to a focus on improving the health outcomes of patients. Joining Welch at the press conference were Fletcher Allen Health Care CEO John Brumsted, MD, and OneCare CEO Todd Moore.

Welch is the author of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that created a nationwide Medicare ACO program. An ACO is a collaborative of health care providers working together to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care, rather than increase the number and type of services performed. The goal of ACOs is to drive down health care costs and improve patient health outcomes by creating financial incentives to provide better, more cost-effective care.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org State regulators gave preliminary approval to eight of Vermont’s 14 hospital budgets Thursday. The Green Mountain Care Board voted unanimously on all eight budgets without making adjustments to spending plans submitted by hospital managers in July. The approved budgets won’t be final until a formal order is issued to the hospital. Before the order goes out, the board can revisit the budgets it has voted on and make adjustments.

All budgets must be finalized by September 15 for the start of the hospital budget year October 1. The board is scheduled to meet September 11, but can convene additional meetings as necessary to complete its work.

In the hospital budgeting process, the board approves patient revenue and the rates a hospital can charge for services in the coming year.

The Samara Fund, a component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, announced awards of $66,700 in grants and scholarships in its third annual competitive grant round at the Foundation. The fund awarded $56,700 to 14 nonprofits, including support for the PRIDE Vermont Festival on Sunday, September 14th, and $10,000 in scholarships to five high school seniors.

This year’s grantmaking was made possible in part by contributions from Vermont Community Foundation fundholders as well as dozens of gifts to the Samara Fund from supporters of Vermont’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community.

The awards support a variety of programs that address LGBTQ needs, including the Area Agency on Aging for Northeastern Vermont’s LGBT Elders Advisory Council, Common Ground Center’s Camp Outright, and Vermont CARES and other HIV/AIDS service organizations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new state awardees for the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). CDC's $7.5 million in funding will expand NVDRS from 18 to 32 participating states and enable greater collection of critical data on violent deaths. Vermont is one of the 14 new states.

"More than 55,000 Americans died because of homicide or suicide in 2011. That's an average of more than six people dying a violent death every hour," said Daniel M. Sosin, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., acting director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. "This is disheartening and we know many of these deaths can be prevented. Participating states will be better able to use state-level data to develop, implement, and evaluate prevention and intervention efforts to stop violent deaths."

Lola Aiken, wife of the former Republican US senator and legendary Vermont governor, died in Montpelier Monday morning. She was 102. She and Aiken married in 1967. He retired from the Senate in 1974 and was succeeded there by Patrick Leahy.

Leahy sent this tribute of Lola Aiken: "Marcelle and I were sorry to learn of the passing of Lola Pierotti Aiken. Her great partnership with her husband, a former Governor and then a US Senator, is an important piece of the fabric of Vermont history. The daughter of a stonecutter, she never forgot her Vermont roots. She was well known for welcoming Vermonters whenever they stopped by his office in Washington to visit Senator Aiken – or, as she called him, “the Governor.” She was a close friend of my mother, Alba Zambon Leahy, and for a time 75 years ago these two Italian-American Vermonters worked together at National Life in Montpelier."

Vermont will collect $81,708 in restitution and other recoveries as its share of a national $16.5 million settlement with Omnicare Inc., the nation’s largest provider of pharmaceuticals and pharmacy services to nursing homes. The civil settlement resolves allegations that Omnicare offered improper financial incentives to skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”), in the form of commercially unreasonable contracts to supply pharmaceutical drugs, in return for the SNFs continued selection of Omnicare to supply drugs to Medicaid recipients.

The whistleblower, a former nursing home owner, and the federal government alleged this incentive arrangement violated the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and analogous state statutes, which are intended to ensure that the selection of health care providers and suppliers is not compromised by improper financial incentives but is instead based on the best interests of the patient.

Source: Vermont AG. 9.8.2014

SEI/Aaron’s, Inc, a leasing company, has agreed to enter into a consumer protection settlement that will require the payment of $45,000 to the State of Vermont and $2,000 to each of three Vermont consumers whose leased computers were remotely monitored for online activity. Vermont Attorney General Sorrell stated that the settlement “reflects my commitment to protecting the privacy rights of Vermont consumers, and to enforcing our consumer laws to achieve that goal.”

The most recent survey of businesses by a Williston accounting firm has found that businesses seem to have a guarded optimism in expected sales growth, expect a steady increase in capital spending, while also feeling that property tax reform and healthcare costs will continue to be issues vital to the success of the economy. The Certified Public Accounting firm of Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs located in Williston, Vermont, conducted its semi-annual economic survey in July regarding the outlook of Vermont-based businesses. The survey, customized by the Firm to evaluate small- to medium-sized business, was completed by nearly 100 businesses located throughout the state, primarily in Chittenden (52%) and Washington (11%) counties, but also in Addison (7%) and Lamoille (6%), among other counties.