by Devon Green, Sr. Vice President of Policy & Strategy, VAHHS
On one of the warm days last week, I held open the door at my gym for the person behind me. Lo and behold, a toddler in nothing but a bathing suit and muck boots marched in. The dad and I chuckled about springtime in Vermont, but I realized that the same “muck boot and bathing suit” vibe holds true for this point in the session as legislators and advocates try to tack on last minute proposals or language from stalled bills to the bills that are moving, creating some interesting combinations.
Read below to see the latest:
Internationally Trained Physicians: The House Health Care Committee advanced with amendment S.142, which allows the Vermont Board of Medical Practice as overseen by the Vermont Department of Health to work out the bulk of the details of a pathway for licensure for internationally trained physicians through rulemaking. Implementation of the pathway will continue on the 2028 timeline.
Medicaid Miscellaneous Bill: In the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, VAHHS and the Health Care Advocate put forward a proposal for H.611 to continue OneCare’s prior authorization waivers into the Medicaid hospital global budget pilot program. The Department of Vermont Health Access, which oversees Vermont Medicaid, testified that the structure of the Medicaid hospital global budget differs from OneCare and may not be able to be implemented. Instead of adding language to H.611, both parties agreed to continue working on streamlining the prior authorization process.
Hospital Transformation: The Agency of Human Services provided a Vermont health care system transformation update to the House Health Care Committee, outlining hospital efforts in particular. AHS noted that hospitals are engaged in transformation now more than ever due to changes in leadership, financial pressures, and new funding opportunities. They highlighted hospital efforts on shared services to create administrative and clinical efficiencies, moving care out of higher-cost settings and into lower-cost settings, optimizing care coordination and resource allocation statewide, and reassessing hospital service profiles to better match population needs.
UVMH Update: Stephen Leffler, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, University of Vermont Health and President, UVM Medical Center provided an update to the House Health Care Committee. Leffler stressed that UVM Health is committed to reducing costs and operating more efficiently. Highlighted affordability efforts of 2026:
- A new sustainability team using the incident command structure to realign costs with expected decreases in revenue
- A new BCBSVT contract with a 12% reduction in commercial rates and laboratory and radiology services down as much as 25%
- Implementation of prescription drug price caps in Act 55 has resulted in a $110M reduction rather than the projected $60M reduction.
These affordability measures, along with a reduction in utilization, will require UVMH to reduce operational expenses further.
Prohibition of Non-Compete Agreements: After H.205 stalled in the House due to an amendment governing teacher’s contracts, the House General and Housing Committee is looking to add the non-compete provision from that bill crafted by a coalition of employer, labor, and health care representatives to S.230 leg, a bill that makes changes to the Fair Employment Practices Act. The Vermont Medical Society offered further reforms previously found in H.583 that the health care association coalition supports: prohibiting non-solicitation agreements; limiting the use of non-disparagement clauses; and addressing issues with staffing agency contracts.