Green Mountain Care Board Determines Certificate of Need Approval Conditions Met
Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center plans to begin construction of an inpatient bed building this month. Although approval of the $174.9 million project was obtained in July 2015, the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) set conditions requiring additional financial reporting, philanthropic requirements and changes to debt financing prior to the start of construction. This month, the Board determined those conditions had been satisfied. The building is expected to open in the summer of 2019. The project will begin with site work and other prep and the heavy construction likely will not begin until the fall.
“We have worked hard to meet the conditions set by the GMCB on this complex project and I am glad that we have been given the green light to proceed,” said John Brumsted, MD, chief executive officer and president, UVM Health Network and chief executive officer, UVM Medical Center.
“I very much look forward to breaking ground on this facility. It will provide patients and families in our region with a healing space that matches the high quality of health care our doctors, nurses and staff deliver every day,” said Eileen Whalen, MHA, RN, chief operating officer and president, UVM Medical Center.
Construction will take place on the west side of the Medical Center Campus above the existing Emergency Department parking lot. There will be four patient floors, each containing 32 single-occupancy, medical-surgical rooms for a total of 128 inpatient rooms. There will be two floors of mechanical space, and a first floor will provide ambulance access to the Emergency Department entrance. There will not be any increase in the number of UVM Medical Center’s inpatient beds. Additionally, UVMMC said in a statement that the project will not require any additional rate requests or increased revenue specifically to fund it.
Artist rendering of UVMMC's new inpatient building Northwest View. Top photo is of the Southwest View. Courtesy of UVMMC.
To keep the public well informed about the project, the medical center has asked to present regular updates to the Green Mountain Care Board.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a 447 bed tertiary care regional referral center serving approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together its partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, it is Vermont’s academic medical center. The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, a five-hospital system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community with a shared mission. Its partners are: