Emphasizes importance of comprehensive and accurate data in efforts to make health care more accessible and affordable
Vermont Business Magazine Gifford Health Care is committed to partnering with state officials to achieve health care transformation based on accurate and comprehensive data.
“Gifford will continue to collaborate with our local and state partners to improve our health care system to ensure we’re here to serve Vermonters for generations to come,” said Gifford President and CEO Michael Costa. “For this work to succeed, it must be built on mutual trust, yet Gifford’s review of the recent Oliver Wyman report has raised serious concerns about the accuracy and future value of this data.”
The Oliver Wyman report, ordered under Act 167 by the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB), Vermont’s health care regulator, contains several significant errors in data used to make recommendations about the future of Gifford, according to the Randolph-based hospital.
Other hospitals in Vermont have also pushed-back on the results, including Grace Cottage in Townshend, the UVM Health Network (UVM Medical Center, Central Vermont Medical Center and Porter Medical Center in Middlebury), and the two northern-most hospitals North Country in Newport and Northeastern Vermont Regional in St Johnsbury. The latter two also said there were inaccuracies.
Oliver Wyman has acknowledged and apologized for some data errors, but holds firm that the overall conclusions are unchanged, that the hospitals will soon be in financial crisis and that the system needs to be radically reorganized. Those conclusions also call for major hospitals to undertake major restructuring or face financial failure: Gifford, North County, Springfield Hospital and Grace Cottage. Oliver Wyman concluded that of the 14 hospitals only one Vermont hospital (Porter) will not be suffering an operating loss by 2028.
For example, some key data points in 2022 were incorrect, according to Gifford, including:
- Acute Inpatient Admissions: Gifford data shows 1,188 admissions, whereas the report lists 742—a 37% discrepancy.
- Emergency Department Visits: Gifford recorded 7,494 visits, but the report states 5,146—a 31% discrepancy.
- Birthing Center Births: Gifford reported 412 births over two years, which was reported incorrectly as fewer than 240 births in the same time period.
The report recommends closing or repurposing Gifford’s hospital inpatient unit, renowned Birthing Center, and Emergency Department, among other suggestions.
While the report recommends the document should be the basis for further planning, Gifford’s leadership no longer believes the report has a role in future health care reform discussions.
“The report argues that Gifford’s patient numbers were too low to justify current operations, yet the consultant’s data was severely flawed,” Costa said. “Given these significant inaccuracies, Gifford’s leadership no longer considers this report a credible foundation for future health care planning.”
Moreover, given Oliver Wyman’s admission that data was also incorrect for North Country Hospital, Costa noted, “Sadly, there appears to be a pattern of errors in Dr. Hamory’s report, and a report of this magnitude cannot be full of errors.”
Overall, the broken trust created by the report makes an already challenging situation more difficult, particularly as Gifford sought to correct Oliver Wyman long before the final report was made public.
“In moving forward, Gifford will continue as we started—by being fully transparent and accessible partners, guided by accurate data, community needs, and a passion for the health of Vermont and Vermonters,” said Costa. “We will work in partnership with the Agency of Human Services and the Green Mountain Care Board—the people in those organizations are Vermonters trying to do their level best. The Oliver Wyman report is simply no longer a credible document on how to transform Gifford or Vermont’s local hospitals.”
A next step in moving forward is Gifford’s upcoming Community Forum to discuss the future of Gifford and access to rural health care in the White River Valley of central Vermont. The forum will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Judd Hall Gym, 124 Admin Drive, on the Randolph Center campus of Vermont State University (formerly Vermont Technical College). Patients and community members are encouraged to attend the forum to share their experiences with Gifford and voice their concerns.
Gifford is a community hospital in Randolph, Vt., with family health centers in Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, Randolph, and Rochester, and specialty services throughout central Vermont. A Federally Qualified Health Center and a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the country, Gifford is a full-service hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and inpatient unit; many surgical services; an adult day program; 49-unit independent living facility, and a nursing home. The hospital’s mission is to improve individual and community health by providing and assuring access to affordable, high-quality health care in Gifford’s service area.
Source: RANDOLPH, Vt., Oct. 28, 2024—Gifford Health Care
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