Current News

Governor Peter Shumlin and most of the state’s mayors today called on Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to withdraw the FDA’s approval of Zohydro ER, a drug which the governor says is significantly stronger than traditional hydrocodone. “We remind you that our state, and many others, are currently battling an opiate and heroin addiction crisis, doing everything within our power to prevent and treat the dangerous disease of addiction, and strengthen laws to keep these deadly drugs – and the crimes they bring – out of our communities,” the group said in a letter to Commissioner Hamburg. Those joining the Governor on the letter are St. Albans Mayor Liz Gamache, Montpelier Mayor John Hollar, Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon, Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras, Newport Mayor Paul Monette, Winooski Mayor Mike O’Brien, and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger.

In a Viewpoint published in the March issue of JAMA, Researcher Jeremiah Brown of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice and colleagues, Hal Sox and David Goodman, question whether the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ use of financial penalties is the right tack for changing the behavior of hospitals.
The researchers examine the pros and cons of the hospital readmissions reduction policy in the Affordable Care Act as an example of similar CMS initiatives.
“Using financial incentives to change practice is a tried-and-true CMS strategy,” the researchers said. And the penalties worked – more than half of U.S. hospitals reduced their early readmission penalty in less than a year.

Federal regulations for reporting toxic chemicals in consumer products have not changed in decades, but Vermont is poised to join other states to label – and possibly ban – products containing chemicals considered harmful to public health.
Vermont has passed legislation to regulate the use of certain chemicals one at a time, including flame retardants, Bisphenol A (BPA), mercury and lead. But a new proposal would allow the Vermont Department of Health to expand this list every other year without legislative approval.
The bill, S.239, asks the department to create a list of potentially harmful chemicals and require manufacturers to label or remove toxic chemicals from their products – a proposal that has alarmed businesses across the country.

In an analysis by the Public Assets Institute released Monday, Vermont didn’t create as many new jobs in 2013 as reported earlier, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Each February, the BLS revises its data, which are based on statistical surveys. The new numbers show Vermont ended 2013 with 306,300 non-farm payroll jobs. That was nearly 3,000 fewer than originally reported and just 200 more than Vermont had at the end of 2012.
A Growing Workforce
While job growth was essentially flat last year, 2014 got off to a better start, at least as indicated by preliminary figures. According to the BLS, Vermont employers added 3,000 jobs in January, half in the private sector and half in the public sector. Meanwhile, Vermont’s unemployment rate dropped to 4 percent, down from 4.2 percent the previous month. The labor force—people working or looking for work—grew for the first time since late 2011.
Fewer Unemployed

by Morgan True vtdigger.org
Several Vermont Legal Aid projects that rely on state dollars could have to scale back operations if the Legislature doesn’t find money to cover their growing costs, the organization’s director says.
Eric Avildsen, Legal Aid’s executive director, has spent time at the Statehouse recently lobbying for additional money. Those efforts are touch-and-go, he said Monday.
The alternative, he said, is downsizing or shifting resources away from other projects.

by John McClaughry Returning from a meeting with President Obama in Connecticut a week ago, Governor Peter Shumlin made a not-so-startling announcement: “I feel very strongly that it’s imperative to raise the minimum wage in Vermont to what the President has recommended.” He went on to suggest that a higher government-mandated wage would “give a boost to the state’s economy.”
The President’s proposal that won Shumlin’s enthusiastic support would raise the Federal minimum wage from the present $7.25 per hour to $10.10 in 2017. Two bills in the legislature (S301 and H550) propose to increase the Vermont minimum wage (now $8.73) in stages to $13.20 in 2017, when, if Obama is successful, the Federal minimum wage will have risen to $10.10. Thus, the Vermont minimum wage would go from 120 percent of the Federal wage to 131 percent.

Related Company: Copley Hospital, IncCopley Hospital is one of New England’s top 50 hospitals based on patient satisfaction according to a recent report published by GoLocalProv. Copley was rated #33 of New England’s Best Hospitals, recognized for its “stellar communication.”
For their first annual ranking of New England Hospitals Rated by Patients, GoLocal analyzed results from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, also known as HCAHPS Survey. The report was based on more than 50,000 patient surveys in 176 hospitals in New England. Highlights of Copley’s report include 87% of patients who said their doctors communicated well, and 85% of patients who said their nurses did.

Related Company: Renewable NRG Systems Inc.Renewable NRG Systems, a designer and manufacturer of decision support tools for the global renewable energy industry, has been recognized with a Worksite Wellness Silver Level Award by the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness & Sports and the Vermont Department of Health. This award acknowledges the company’s fitness facilities and initiatives that encourage employee health and wellbeing.
“Worksites that promote healthy eating, physical activity, tobacco use cessation, and breastfeeding contribute to the overall health and wellness of all Vermonters, and they are one of the key reasons we are routinely rated the nation’s healthiest state,” said Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD.

Related Company: Choice StrategiesChoice Strategies, a division of WageWorks, Inc. (NYSE: WAGE), a leader in administering Consumer-Directed Benefits, will be honored by the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness & Sports and the Vermont Department of Health with the Worksite Wellness Silver-Level Award in recognition of Choice Strategies’ commitment to workplace wellness and employee wellbeing. The award will be presented on March 27, 2014 at the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center in South Burlington, VT.

Campaign for Vermont today called upon Governor Shumlin to provide legislators and the public with information and analysis of single-payer health care financing options as required by law.
“There is a fundamental right of voters to know the financing options under consideration for Green Mountain Care so they are fully informed when discussing options with legislative and statewide candidates for office during the coming election season,” said Campaign for Vermont Board Member Tom Pelham.
Campaign for Vermont sent the attached request to the Council asking them to “advise the Governor to provide to the public the information and analysis of funding options” the Council is currently considering before the conclusion of the 2014 legislative session.”
Click here to view CFV’s letter to the Governor’s Business Advisory Council on Health Care Financing.

The Vermont Department of Economic Development has issued its Winter Newsletter to highlight recent developments.
Vermont ranked first overall in the nation in the latest Scorecard published by the Corporation for Enterprise Development. The Assets & Opportunity Scorecard is a comprehensive look at Americans’ financial security today and their opportunities to create a more prosperous future.
It assesses the 50 states and the District of Columbia on 133 outcome and policy measures, which describe how well residents are faring and what states can do to help them build and protect assets. These measures are grouped into five issue areas: Financial Assets & Income, Businesses & Jobs, Housing & Homeownership, Health Care, and Education. (Photo: North Woods Joinery, Jeffersonville)
For Solar Jobs, Too

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org In an email blast Monday, the Vermont GOP blamed manufacturing layoffs on Gov. Peter Shumlin and tied the pink slips at Plasan and IBM to the governor’s jaunt to the Caribbean this week. The Republicans say Shumlin is responsible for 700 job losses.
David Sunderland, the new chair of the Vermont Republican Party, says the governor isn’t focused on creating jobs for Vermonters, instead he says Shumlin is more interested in “jetsetting around the nation raising millions of dollars so he and other politicians can keep their jobs or setting sail to the Caribbean island where he owns property.”