Dear Editor,
With due respect to Julie Wasserman, the Green Mountain Care Board using its legal authority to regulate what has become a de facto public utility is not a bold solution. It is what the board was created to do and should be supported in doing year in and year out.
I believe the University of Vermont Health Network chose to pursue monopoly market power and has used that to force the highest payor reimbursement rates in the country (the “rescues” of smaller practices and hospitals were purely driven by revenue side economies of scale — there were no savings on the cost side).
Now there is no choice but to regulate them as such. This is authority given by the Legislature to a board charged with such regulation. That is not a bold solution.
A bold solution? Force the hospital into receivership and bring in competent operational leadership to lower costs across the network. Publicly guarantee the University of Vermont Medical Center debt rating to eliminate the need for cash reserves to hold that debt rating. Sell the hospital to a private group with ownership split between private equity, hospital employees, and the state and community.
Regulating the University of Vermont Medical Center is not a bold solution and should not be messaged that way.
But yes — this tragedy needs bold solutions and we need to start making some bold changes.
Roger Brown
Richmond
