Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), released today a new report detailing the rigged system that allows 'Big Pharma' to charge Americans the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. The HELP Committee Majority Staff uncovered how three U.S. pharmaceutical companies — Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb — profit at the expense of the American people. The report documents how these companies make billions of dollars by charging Americans the highest prices in the world. The profits they make selling some drugs in the U.S far exceeds the money they make in the rest of the world combined. 

Vermont Business Magazine With the average cost of full coverage car insurance increasing 26 percent over last year, you may be shopping around for a new policy. Bankrate has calculated the "true cost" of auto insurance in all 50 states and the top 26 metro statistical areas (MSAs). Vermont ($1,353) had the fifth lowest true cost in the nation when median income was factored in, while having the lowest overall average auto insurance premium ($1,353). Massachusetts (1.76%) had the lowest true cost while Louisiana (6.53%) had the highest. Florida had the highest average annual premium ($3,945). The national average cost for full coverage car insurance is $2,543 per year, or $212 per month. Drivers with minimum coverage pay an average of $740 a year, or $62 a month. 

Vermont Business Magazine Mack Molding, a leading custom plastic injection molder and supplier of contract manufacturing services, announced today the Company has expanded the press fleet at its Cavendish, Vermont, facility. The addition of a 240-ton Milacron Electric Roboshot E240 press with a shot size of 10.6 ounces, and a 125-ton Milacron Q110 Hybrid press with a shot size 9.6 ounces, brings the total number of presses at the Cavendish plant to 20. Mack’s investment of approximately $325,000 included the presses, robotics and essential infrastructure support.

by Mike Del Trecco, CEO of Vermont Association of Hospitals & Health Systems For our hospitals, the core mission is simple: preserving and increasing equitable access to quality care in rural Vermont. Meeting this mission is the tricky part. We are attending to older and sicker patients with fewer resources to meet the demands for health care services. This is the time for creativity and teamwork. To succeed at meeting this mission, our hospitals need a robust and ready workforce along with effective community providers including long-term care, skilled nursing, mental health and more. It is no more complicated than that. If we fall short of this, there is no bill or payment model that will magically solve the challenges we are all attempting to make progress on. From building our budgets to building new partnerships, everything we do as a hospital system, one that is fully non-profit, focuses on how we get closer and closer to meeting our core mission.

Vermont Business Magazine Rutland Regional Medical Center has been designated as a Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (Blue Cross VT) as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. The Blue Distinction Centers play a key role in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s (BCBSA) National Health Equity Strategy aimed at reducing racial health disparities across the care spectrum and improving maternal health outcomes. Based on data from the current designation cycle, facilities designated under the Maternity Care program demonstrate higher-quality care compared to non-Blue Distinction Center facilities, with overall average rates of 26% lower episiotomies, 60% fewer elective deliveries and 17% lower cesarean births—all of which point to healthier outcomes for birthing patients and their babies. 

Vermont Business Magazine VNAHSR provides training for those interested in becoming hospice volunteers. Training will be held on Friday, February 9 from 8am – 4pm in the Casella Conference Room at the Rutland office, located at 7 Albert Cree Drive. Training is free and open to individuals 16 years of age and older. Volunteers need to pass a background check. No previous hospice and health care experience is required. Pre-registration and proof of COVID-19 vaccination are required. At the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR), volunteers play a critical role in enhancing the end-of-life experiences of people facing serious illness and their families. Volunteers represent all life experiences and are drawn to hospice for a variety of reasons, but the defining characteristics that unite them are compassion and the desire to help others. Their many skills are matched to important tasks within our mission.

The Vermont State Police on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, arrested a third suspect on charges arising from the Feb. 2, 2022, homicide of 17-year-old Isiah Rodriguez in Danby. Elijah Johnson, 22, of Manchester was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant on a charge of being an accessory after the fact. Prosecutors also have filed additional charges of conspiracy to commit murder and aiding in the commission of a felony. Police arrested Johnson in Burlington following his release from federal custody on unrelated charges. He was transported to the Rutland Barracks for processing and then subsequently jailed at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility for lack of $15,000 bail.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger celebrated the official start of construction for the transformational Great Streets Main Street project. He was joined by key partners: Public Works Director Chapin Spencer whose department is managing the project, Ward 8 City Councilor Hannah King, DPW Commission Chair Peggy O’Neill-Vivanco, and Executive Director of the Flynn Theatre Jay Wahl, along with many City employees and community members, including Burlington High School students from the City-Lake semester program who had provided input during the design process, and employees of SD Ireland, the contractor for this project. 

Vermont Business Magazine Bowman Consulting Group Ltd (NASDAQ: BWMN), a national engineering services firm delivering infrastructure solutions to customers who own, develop, and maintain the built environment, today announced the acquisition of Trudell Consulting Engineers and its wholly owned Vermont Underground Locators subsidiary, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm located in Williston, Vermont. Financial terms were not disclosed. Founded in 1975, TCE works with both public and private clients across multiple sectors. Led by current CEO and president Jeremy Matosky, PE, the firm provides civil engineering, landscape architecture, land surveying, utility locating and environmental services to clients throughout Vermont. 

Vermont Business Magazine Community Care Network (CCN) in Rutland today announced its 2023 service results in conjunction with the release of its 2023 Impact Report. “CCN is pleased to share its 2023 Impact Report, which provides an overview of the key service results and areas of improvement seen at CCN during 2023,” said Dick Courcelle, Chief Executive Officer with Community Care Network. “2023 brought substantial growth and progress at CCN on a number of significant, client-focused initiatives, while the organization continued to deliver high-quality, timely services to those seeking our assistance each and every day. We are incredibly proud of the efforts our staff and volunteers, and collaborations with community partners, toward not only sustaining quality service delivery on a daily basis, but also identifying and implementing new programs, tools and processes to continuously improve client experiences and outcomes.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office has filed a lawsuit to hold a logging business accountable for violations of the Vermont Consumer Protection Act. The Attorney General’s Office alleges that Codling Brothers Logging and David, Joe, and Paul Codling have conducted fraudulent business practices in logging in the State of Vermont. In the Complaint, the State alleges that the Codling Brothers used unfair and deceptive practices with at least five Vermont landowners. The Attorney General alleges that this logging business solicited landowners at their homes, making misleading statements about their services and subsequently taking more logs than agreed, failing to compensate landowners and leaving a mess that landowners had to clean up at their own expense. 

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, VAHHS While the policy committees keep up their quick pace, the appropriations committees received further detail on the budget last week. It’s easy to assume that the Administration’s budget process is hush hush until the floodgates of knowledge open with the Governor’s speech, but the truth is, there’s usually some gaps in understanding until agencies and departments come in to testify and elaborate on the proposals. Read on for more, and feel free to visit our bill tracker. Post-acute and long-term care budget: VAHHS is keeping a close eye on the budget for skilled nursing facilities, because they have a direct impact on our hospitals’ ability to discharge patients. The FY’25 budget proposes the following base funding: $9.9M in rate stabilization funds for skilled nursing facilities along; $2.3M anticipated rate for the Bennington Health and Rehab including iCare costs; and $2.5M in special rate incentives for complex patients for the upcoming iCare facility.