Vermont Business MagazineThe Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) approved Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budgets for Vermont’s 14 regulated hospitals. This past March and April, the Board provided the hospitals with instructions outlining budget parameters and submission guidelines that included a target of 2.8% for growth in net patient revenue (NPR) from the FY 2018 base to FY 2019 budgets, and allowed hospitals to invest an additional 0.4% in approved health care reform activities.
Following a thorough review that included budget presentations by hospital leadership and GMCB hospital budget staff, discussions among GMCB members at a series of public board meetings, and input from the Office of the Health Care Advocate and concerned Vermonters, the Board reduced the system-wide increase in NPR from a requested 2.9% to 2.1%. In addition, the Board approved an estimated weighted average rate increase of 2.7%.
“I am very pleased that we were able to continue to limit hospital budget growth at historic lows, translating to lower costs for Vermonters,” said Board Chair Kevin Mullin. “The hospitals’ investments in our State’s health reform efforts and their growing participation in, and commitment to, the goals of the All-Payer Model are very encouraging. We now have a majority of Vermont hospitals signed on to move from a fee-for-service system to a system that focuses on high quality, value-based payments. This will be a great benefit to all Vermonters.”
The Board will issue written hospital budget decisions and orders no later than October 1st. Information about the hospital budget review process and materials submitted by each hospital are available on the GMCB website at http://gmcboard.vermont.gov/content/fy-2019-hospital-budget.