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by Morgan True, vtdigger.org Lawmakers in Vermont got a glimpse Thursday of Maryland’s unique system for compensating hospital systems.
Maryland has had a waiver from the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) since 1977 that allows them to set reimbursement rates for those programs. In addition, state law allows a rate-setting commission to regulate private insurers in much the same way the Green Mountain Care Board does in Vermont.
Robert Murray, who spent nearly two decades working for Maryland as a hospital regulator and now consults for the Green Mountain Care Board, said Maryland has created what is known as an all-payer system, in which Medicare and Medicaid, private payers, insurance companies and self-insured employers, all compensate providers at roughly the same rate.
Photo courtesy of vtdigger.org

by Anne Galloway, vtdigger.org The House gave initial approval to a property tax rate bill that will raise rates by 4 cents for residential property and 7.5 cents for nonresidential property.
Representatives also approved a six year phase out of the $7.7 million small schools grant as part of a package of changes to the state’s education financing law. Starting in 2019, the grant program would be reduced by one-third each year for three years.
More than 100 small schools in Vermont receive a grant from the state.

The Vermont State Police issued the following information regarding the death of a subject during a Brattleboro Police investigation early Friday. VSP received a call at approximately 5:43 am from the Brattleboro Police Department regarding a shooting incident at the American Best Inn on Putney Road in Brattleboro. Detectives with the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and troopers from the Brattleboro Barracks responded immediately to begin an investigation at the request of Brattleboro Police.
Members of the Crime Scene Search Team responded to process the scene. The decedent will be transported to the Vermont Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington for a post mortem examination to determine cause and manner of death.

Senator Bill Doyle (R-Washington) has released results of his Town Meeting Day survey, with voters supporting a cell phone ban while driving, an increase in the minimum wage and labeling GMO foods, while being torn about the legalization of marijuana, wind turbines and the new health care law.
Senator Doyle has been conducting this survey for 44 years. Over 13,000 returns were tabulated from 155 Vermont Cities and Towns. It is an unscientific poll and non-binding, but it has regularly matched hard polling data and often jibed with what ultimately comes out of Montpelier.
Doyle said this is the most response he's ever had to the iconic poll. He said seven or eight of the questions are still in play in the Legislature.

Related Company: Norwich UniversityNorwich University’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies (CGCS), based in Northfield, Vermont, will present former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a keynote speaker during its 2014 residency conference on Thursday, June 19, at 10 am in Shapiro Field House.
Rice will share remarks as part of the Todd Lecture Series, and the event is free and open to the public.
CGCS will host its annual residency conferences during the week of June 16, when more than 600 students from all over the world in nine graduate programs and two bachelor’s degree-completion programs will participate in academic activities, conference sessions and commencement exercises.

Governor Peter Shumlin, with Johannes von Trapp, kicked off Vermont's 2014 maple sugar season Thursday, officially tapping a maple tree at the Trapp Family Lodge sugarhouse. The governor predicted a strong maple season despite the late start, and highlighted the maple industry’s important impact on Vermont’s economy and tourism business.
“We’re getting a late start this year, but by all accounts Vermont is expecting a great maple season,” the governor said. He said the Trapp Family Lodge, where sugaring has been taking place since the late 1800s and the roughly 300 gallons produced each year are sold in the gift shop or online, is illustrative of the link between Vermont’s maple industry and its strong tourism focus.
“Trapps draws visitors to ski, swim, hike, mountain bike, sample our locally brewed beers, go bird-watching, and take home a few containers of Vermont maple syrup,” Shumlin said.

The Northeastern Vermont Development Association, a planning and development organization serving Caledonia, Essex and Orleans Counties, has released its monthly report on economic development issues for March.
Downtown Newport
Proposed AnC Bio project continues through the permit pipeline, according to Alex MacLean, EB-5 Jay Peak Project Manager.

Related Company: Shelburne Museum, Inc.French Impressionism and American paintings highlight the new exhibitions opening in the upcoming season at Shelburne Museum, Director Thomas Denenberg announced. Throughout May and June, four new exhibitions will open, including two focused on quilts, a solo exhibition of contemporary textile art and a collection of 19th century star quilts.

Related Company: Chittenden County Transportation AuthorityThursday evening, the CCTA Board of Commissioners ratified the CCTA-Union collective bargaining agreement. As a result of ratification, all CCTA public transportation service has resumed with full weekday schedules as of Friday, April 4. The CCTA board also voted to offer free rides on most lines through April 13.
The contract was developed during a 10-hour negotiation session that began in the evening on Wednesday, April 2 and ended early in the morning of April 3. The parties worked together to develop compromise positions that resulted in tentative agreement on all contract articles. Midday on Thursday, the drivers voted to approve the contract and the CCTA Board quickly followed up with ratification at a Special CCTA Board meeting that began at 4 pm.

Related Company: Vermont Technical CollegeThe Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees on Thursday appointed Dan Smith as interim president at Vermont Technical College. At its regular meeting on April 3, the Trustees endorsed Chancellor Tim Donovan’s recommendation that Smith be appointed to that position through June 30, 2015, to provide leadership as the College seeks to recover sound financial footing in the coming year prior to any search for a permanent president.
On March 25, Chancellor Tim Donovan announced Dr Conroy’s retirement effective November 15, 2014, and his departure on a leave of absence until that time. Smith has been serving as acting president of the college since that date. Smith previously served as the director of community relations and public policy for the Vermont State Colleges system.

Related Company: Chittenden County Transportation Authorityby Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Chittenden County Transit Authority bus drivers, members of Teamsters Local 597, who have been on strike since St Patrick's Day, voted Thursday to accept a contract in a vote of 53-6, according to the Local's Web site. Buses will be back on the road Friday morning.
A tentative agreement was reached this morning between the CCTA and striking drivers. Drivers then needed to ratify the contract. Negotiations over the last couple of days between the two sides in the nearly three-week-old strike were in part brokered by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).

Joined by a contingent of Vermont mayors and Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD, Governor Peter Shumlin announced Thursday that the Health Department has issued an emergency rule to tightly restrict how health care providers prescribe certain hydrocodones such as Zohydro, a high-dose narcotic painkiller approved last year in a form without abuse-deterrent formulation, in controversial decision by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The approved drug is manufactured without an abuse-deterrent formulation (ADF) or other tamper-proofing technology. ADFs make drugs less likely to be abuse or diverted.