Montpelier
The board, in making its annual determinations on hospital budgets, slightly decreased the total amount of patient revenue that had been requested by the state’s 14 hospitals.
The care board also cut hospitals’ requested rates — the amounts they charge insurers — by 0.4 percent overall. That will mean millions of dollars less in hospital revenue, as board members argued that some hospitals were leaning too heavily on big rate hikes.
“I think that we rightfully were looking at rates and what the impact is on Vermonters,” board Chairman Kevin Mullin said. “That’s not anything new. That’s something that is threaded throughout everything we do at the Green Mountain Care Board.”
The state hospital association is “concerned” about the board’s actions. But some say the regulatory body didn’t go far enough.
Health care costs “continue to grow at an unsustainable rate, and that means people are getting priced out of the care they need,” said Mike Fisher, Vermont’s chief health care advocate.
The care board regulates hospital revenues in two ways: It approves budgets and also reviews the previous fiscal year’s financial performance, with the option of taking regulatory action if hospitals have diverged too far from their state-approved financial plan.
The budget decisions issued this week by the board are for the hospital fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1.
A key measurement used by the board is net patient revenue, which is revenue from patient care before expenses are figured in. For fiscal 2019, the care board has approved a 2.1 percent growth rate in net patient revenue systemwide. That represents about $52.66 million more in hospital revenues than the current year.
Prior to the budget-review process, the board set a 3.2 percent growth target for patient revenue in fiscal 2019. But regulators approved some growth rates that exceed that target, including a 5.2 percent hike for Mount Ascutney Hospital and Health Center and a 5 percent increase at Central Vermont Medical Center
The lowest patient-revenue growth rates approved by the board were 1.1 percent for University of Vermont Medical Center and 1 percent for Springfield Hospital.
One hospital –— Gifford Medical Center — was approved at a 6.1 percent reduction in patient revenue for next fiscal year.
The Randolph hospital is trying to work its way back from financial shortfalls largely caused by physician vacancies.
The care board’s decisions on hospital rates also varied, but members took more aggressive action on that front: They reduced rate-hike proposals for eight hospitals, and the average 2.7 percent rate increase is down from 3.1 percent in hospital requests.
The biggest rate hikes approved by the board were for Springfield Hospital (5 percent), Copley Hospital (4.5 percent) and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (3.9 percent). Each of those hospitals are having financial issues.