Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bea Grause, the president and CEO of Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.
[V]ermont’s not-for-profit hospitals congratulate all of the candidates who have been elected to serve our state over the next two years. We look forward to working with each of them to advance policies essential to providing more affordable health care for every Vermonter.
Like all Vermonters, our hospitals believe in providing more affordable access to everyone, preserving quality and protecting the right patients have to choose their doctor and hospital and make their own health care decisions. If we are to get health care reform right, these principles must be at the heart of our work in the coming months.
For many Vermonters, the cost of living is a daily challenge — which includes the cost of health insurance and health care. As Montpelier has struggled with the rollout of the state health care exchange and debated what comes next, many have grown increasingly anxious about the affordability and accessibility of care. Vermont’s hospitals understand the economic issues we face in each of our communities, which is why we have been hard at work addressing the cost of care. For two consecutive years, we’ve delivered hospital budgets with historically low increases of 2-3 percent, while expanding access – and we intend to continue this important work.
As our elected officials tackle the challenges of health care reform, Vermont’s network of doctors and nurses will continue to provide the highest quality care around the clock every day, from primary care for our kids and elderly, to chronic disease management and organ transplants, to cancer treatments and cardiac care.
At the same time, Vermont’s hospitals have become deeply immersed in one of the most meaningful ways to reduce health care costs: changing the way hospitals and doctors are paid. We must convert the system from one that rewards health care providers for quantity – billing for every test, office visit or hospital stay – to one that aligns all providers and compensates them for keeping their communities as healthy as they can be. This work, underway for months, will be transformative, and will have a profoundly positive impact on the cost of Vermonters’ individual care.
Vermont’s not-for-profit hospitals are cornerstones of our local economies, providing and supporting more than 27,000 direct and indirect jobs in Vermont – about five times the state’s largest private employer and one out of every 12 workers. As we work together to improve our health care system, changes that undermine the economic value and job creation potential of the system itself would be a step in the wrong direction.
As our elected officials tackle the challenges of health care reform, Vermont’s network of doctors and nurses will continue to provide the highest quality care around the clock every day, from primary care for our kids and elderly, to chronic disease management and organ transplants, to cancer treatments and cardiac care. And we’re proud to be on the front line of Vermont’s effort to fight back against the opiate epidemic and other public health challenges.
We look forward to working with the Legislature, administration and Green Mountain Care Board to focus on what’s most important to Vermonters — lower costs, universal coverage and protecting patient rights.
