Federal regulators have again denied certification to the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. Lawmakers, who had assumed the hospital would get its certification back this year, learned of the decision last week as they were in the final stages of approving the state budget. The development could cause a $9.7 million deficiency in the budget.
Officials cited in-patient care, patient handling, and problems with the 70-year-old hospital building as reasons for denying certification. The certification from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would allow Vermont to collect federal health care money for patients at the hospital. Without the certification, legislators will have to find other ways to come up with those funds. The state has been trying to get the hospital re-certified for over two years.
(Source: Barre-Montpelier Times Argus)
Vermont State Hospital denied certification again
Submitted by intern
on