Vermont Watchdog Urges Broader Oversight Beyond UVM Health Costs
The independent liaison team overseeing University of Vermont Medical Center's finances under a 2025 settlement with the Green Mountain Care Board issued its final memo urging regulators to address healthcare affordability across Vermont's whole system, not just regulated hospitals. The team, led by Mike Smith with Nancy Kane and Stephen Gorman, noted the state's 14 regulated hospitals account for only 43% of insurers' claim costs, leaving out-of-state hospitals, private medical groups and pharmacy spending largely unscrutinized. They recommend the care board flip its rate-setting approach to start from what payers can afford rather than insurer revenue needs, and commission a study into why Vermont pharmacy costs run 13% above the New England average. The memo arrives as care board chair Owen Foster prepares to step down and a successor search is underway, with Smith sitting on the nominating committee.