Current News

by Laura Krantz and Tom Brown vtdigger.org and Vermont Business Magazine Progressive candidate for lieutenant governor Dean Corren has won the right to have his name on the Democratic ticket in the November general election. Corren, who will also appear under the Progressive label, actively campaigned as a write-in candidate for the Democratic nomination in last week’s primary. That effort paid off. According to Secretary of State Jim Condos, Corren received 3,874 Democratic write-in votes, 60 percent of the write-ins cast. Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, who did not campaign for the Democratic nod, got half that many votes (1,895) without really trying (30 percent).

Norwich University President Richard Schneider announced today that the Sullivan Museum and History Center (SMHC) has been named Vermont’s first Smithsonian Affiliate. The announcement was made at a 1:30 pm reception at the Northfield museum, in which remarks were also given by Senator Patrick Leahy, Director of Smithsonian Affiliations Harold Closter and SMHC Director Sarah Henrich.

“This national recognition of the Sullivan Museum as a Smithsonian Affiliate provides us with another opportunity to showcase the historic contributions of Norwich from our past up through today and to bring the nation’s treasures to Norwich and Vermont,” Schneider said.

Among other benefits, Smithsonian Affiliates enjoy sharing agreements with all 19 Smithsonian museums enabling exhibition of objects from the national museum collection as well as providing outlets for Norwich objects to be shown outside of Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s consumer-protection case against MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC will move forward, according to a decision released late last week denying MPHJ’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. In denying the motion, the court recognized the state’s “strong interest in protecting its citizens from consumer fraud... In balancing the burdens on both sides here, the interest of the State in protecting its citizens weighs heavily in favor of jurisdiction,” the court concluded.

“MPHJ has done everything in its power to stop the state from proceeding against it on the merits, but has not succeeded. We are pleased to be able to go forward with this litigation,” said Attorney General William H Sorrell.

by Timothy McQuiston VBM If a tree falls in the woods, will it knock out the power to my home or business that's a hundred miles away? Green Mountain Power, based in Colchester, is working with a major national energy company to reduce such power outages and enhance redundancy, while bringing new energy products to the Vermont marketplace through the use of localized technology and generation, "microgrids," analytics and data.

Demonstrating Vermont's national importance as a model for our energy future, GMP and NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG) today announced a partnership to deploy a series of new products and services for Vermont businesses and residents. The partnership, which ultimately will expand throughout Vermont, is part of an effort to establish Rutland as the Energy City of the Future, and positions the state as a leader in the movement toward cost-effective sustainable energy solutions.

Despite graduating from college and graduate school in greater numbers than men, women continue to face significant hurdles in the workplace.

· Barely five percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.

· Men are twice as likely to advance in the workplace, according to the Wall Street Journal.

· Middle-management women get promoted on performance while middle-management men get promoted on potential, according to McKinsey, the global business consultancy.

Why?

The Burlington College Board of Trustees has formed a transition team to lead the college while it searches for a new President to replace Christine Plunkett, who resigned last week. Michael Smith will serve as Interim President. He will be joined by Jane Knodell, serving as Interim Provost, and David Coates, who will serve at Interim Financial Advisor.

Christine Plunkett

"This team brings decades of management, academic, and financial expertise to the College as we deal with the challenges before us," said Yves Bradley, chairperson of the Board.

“We are fortunate to have three individuals who are committed to the college, to its vision, and to the financial plan adopted by the Board and former-President Plunkett”, he went on to say.

by Chris Graff Jim Douglas’ new autobiography offers up its share of news nuggets: We learn that in 2009 President Obama offered Douglas an ambassadorship, that Douglas stands by his veto of gay marriage, he remains a fan of George W Bush, and that he is really irked by the press. But those looking to best understand Vermont’s 80th governor will find a wealth of stories that taken together paint a very clear picture.

Take, for example, this almost throwaway comment tucked into the chapter on Douglas’ years as state treasurer:

“I noticed that the attire of our employees did not reflect the professionalism I wanted our office to convey to the public,” he writes. “I decided to insist all male staffers wear a tie… I confess to being more than a little old-fashioned in this regard… but I think how someone dresses at work suggests the level of pride he or she has in the office.”

by Morgan True vtdigger.org If hospitals are going to be paid based on keeping the people they serve healthy — one of Vermont’s health care reform goals — they need to invest in primary care services, state regulators and hospital executives say. That’s difficult when their income is still dependent on billing for each patient visit or procedure they perform — what’s known as the fee-for-service model — especially when primary care is less lucrative than other hospital services.Hospitals, government and private insurers are actively adapting payments to meet that goal, but for the state’s smaller community hospitals the change can’t happen quickly enough.That’s because many are seeing a decline in the demand for their services, even as state regulators are pushing them to invest in the “population health” model of care.

Five New England Governors, including Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, this week called on the federal Health and Human Services Department “to prevent easily abused and highly addictive painkillers, such as Zohydro ER, from entering the market.” In addition the group also wrote Canadian health officials to support their efforts to require abuse-deterrent measures for pain medications that too often lead to addiction.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org A lack of leadership at Vermont Health Connect left the tech firm CGI unaccountable for work it was supposed to complete on the state’s health care exchange, according to a consultant’s report released August 22. The state “ceded” responsibility for the project’s success to CGI, says the report written by Optum — the firm now in negotiations to take over the project — and as a result, “CGI has not met its commitments.”

There are “several critical functional requirements” that CGI did not complete, according to the report, but the firm will still walk away with $67 million of its $84 million contract.

The report is a snapshot of the project as of June, state officials said, and many of the issues it raises have been addressed.

by John McClaughry Six months ago Governor Peter Shumlin hailed the state’s progress on launching an essential ingredient of single payer health care: Accountable Care Organizations. ACOs are the device for moving Vermont from traditional fee-for-service medicine into the new era of “payment reform”. Under fee-for-service, the providers generate their revenue by adding up billable services (X-rays, EKGs, catheterizations, inpatient days, office visits, etc). The payers, whether governments, insurance companies, or self-pay patients, can end up paying for lots of services that may swell the providers’ income and protect them from malpractice suits, but which do the patients little good.

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh and his office asked Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) to release the following statement on his behalf after Leahy visited him Friday at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. Freeh was involved in a one-car accident in Barnard on Monday. See the Vermont State Police report below.

Freeh statement: "I wish to thank Senator Patrick Leahy, my close friend of 24 years, as well as my dear friends Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Tom Carper, Attorney General Beau Biden, former Senator Joe Lieberman, former Attorney General Mike Mukasey, and so many others, for their outpouring of concern following my automobile accident.