[A]l Gobeille, the former secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, who oversaw a vast portfolio that includes parts of the health care sector, is taking a new post as an executive at the state’s largest hospital just two months after he left state government.
The University of Vermont Health Network, which operates six hospitals in Vermont and New York, including UVM Medical Center in Burlington, announced Tuesday that Gobeille will be starting as its executive vice president for operations on Sept. 1.
The network said Gobeille will be tasked with improving efficiencies and quality of care at the facilities.
Before he managed AHS, Gobeille served as chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, the regulatory body that regulates health care spending, including hospital budgets. Gobeille was the architect of the all-payer system and presided over the board when UVM Health Network expanded in Vermont and New York state.
The shift from government administrator and regulator to a job with the state’s largest hospital chain raised questions about whether Gobeille was violating state revolving door rules.
Gobeille says he will follow an executive order on ethics signed by Gov. Phil Scott in 2017, which for one year, prevents outgoing gubernatorial appointees from advocating on behalf of private entities before officials for financial gain.
“Gov. Scott has an ethics executive order that I signed and that I support and that I intend to honor in its intent and in its spirit,” Gobeille said Tuesday.
“Really what it calls for is not lobbying or going before boards for a period of time and in this job, I see this as a really internally focused job to improve operations.”
When he announced his resignation in June, Gobeille said his “internal clock” on the position had run out and that he would be going back to managing the restaurants he owns in Burlington.
Gobeille said Tuesday he applied for the job after telling Scott in May he was resigning, but didn’t begin interviewing for the job until July.
For the past three years, Gobeille oversaw the Department of Health, which monitors and licenses hospitals, and the Department of Vermont Health Access, which manages the state’s publicly funded health insurance programs.
Gobeille is also looking at a major salary bump. He was making about $140,000 a year working for the state. His position at UVM is new, so there’s no salary information on his predecessor. However, top network executives made between $400,000 to $650,000 in 2017.
Mike Fisher, Vermont’s health care advocate, said that even if Gobeille isn’t breaking any state ethics rules by taking a post at the UVM Health Network, he may be raising questions for consumers.
“I think that the optics of this are not good,” Fisher said.
“When consumers see a person move from either a position where they’re regulating or overseeing large contracts with a private entity and then move to that entity, people have questions and I understand that.”
Rebecca Kelley, a spokesperson for Scott, said the governor expects Gobeille will follow his executive order.
“Members of the administration are expected to adhere to the law at all times, and we are confident both former Secretary Gobeille and the UVM Health Network will honor both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
The Vermont State Ethics Commission said it does comment publicly on ethics questions. The Vermont Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on Gobeille’s move.
Gobeille says that his background in the public sector will help him strengthen the network.
“There’s just a lot of positives here, to actually apply what you gain in the public sector to the private sector — and that’s what I hope to do.”
In his new role, Gobeille says he hopes to address issues including the financial struggles of Vermont’s smaller hospitals and clinics, and the challenge hospitals have had in recruiting a robust medical workforce.
In a statement, John Brumsted, the CEO of the UVM Health Network, said that Gobeille is well-equipped to take on the challenges facing the state’s health care system.
“We are an aging and rural region and need to find innovative solutions that ensure our long-term ability to meet the needs of our communities,” Brumsted said.
“Al has an uncanny ability to quickly understand and master some of the most complex health care challenges we face.”
