This story by Aaron Calvin was first published in the News & Citizen on Aug. 21, 2025.
A Morristown lawmaker last week called on state health care regulators to block or delay the planned closure of Copley Hospital’s birthing center until the decision could be further analyzed by the state.
Rep. Dave Yacovone, D-Morristown, made his pitch Aug. 13, during Copley’s budget presentation to the Green Mountain Care Board.
Copley, one of the smallest critical access hospitals in the state, was the last to present its annual budgetary plans to the board. A team of administrators led by CEO Joe Woodin and Kathy Demars, vice chair of the hospital’s board of trustees, provided an explanation of the high profile and controversial decision to close the birthing center, and asked the board for support.
Woodin presented data from a consultant’s analysis that paired a declining birthrate with the expense of operating the birthing center, which ultimately swayed most of the trustees to vote to close the center by Nov. 1. An analysis that Copley presented to the Green Mountain Care Board claimed that maintaining birthing center operations would have resulted in the hospital running a $3.7 million loss, based on 2023 data. Also according to the analysis, the hospital would see a $2.9 million gain by only providing pre- and post-natal care.
Woodin’s presentation also emphasized the emotional toll the process had put upon the administration and volunteer trustees, with several slides dedicated to criticism the hospital had received during the process. Woodin claimed last week, as he had previously, that the nurses’ union had collaborated with community members to protest the closure.
“It was more than anything I’ve ever seen, and it made it really hard. But at the end of the day, it came down to a discussion of, ‘Can we afford this?’ and ‘Do we have enough volume to justify a direction towards growth?’” Woodin said. “That’s hard to say, and people really fight over those issues.”
Demars said the trustees had received hundreds of letters at their homes, some of which were unkind.
“We’re a volunteer board, and we really appreciate any support we can get from the Green Mountain Care Board in making tough decisions,” she said.
‘Defer, delay’
Yacovone, in the public comment portion following the presentation, urged the state board to prevent the hospital from closing its birthing center as planned on Nov. 1, so that its full effects on Vermont’s health care landscape could be considered and the decision could be made in accordance with the Agency of Human Services’ ongoing analysis of how to make Vermont’s health care system more efficient and less expensive.
“My request to the board is that you work to defer, to delay any decision on the Copley birthing center until the (Agency of Human Services’) strategic health plan is developed to see if this kind of decision would even comport with the strategic health plan as envisioned,” Yacovone said. “I would also ask that Copley revise their community health needs assessment to see how a community without a birthing center would be impacted and what would need to be done.”
Yacovone, a former Copley trustee, commended the current trustees for attempting to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the hospital, but said the birthing center’s closure would make health care more expensive for Vermonters, even if it helped Copley’s bottom line.
He added the travel time for residents of Morrisville and other areas of Lamoille County would be dangerous for expecting mothers.
Yacovone was not alone in his request that the birthing center be delayed. Vicki Rich, a local lactation consultant and birthing coach, asked the board to give maternal health care providers more time to respond.
Other meeting attendees, including a nurse-midwife at Copley and former birthing center patients, emphasized the importance of the birthing center in maternal health care in Lamoille County.
Yacovone contends that the Green Mountain Care Board has the ability, in setting Copley’s budget, to dictate the hospital take a specific action and require it to work with the Agency of Human Services to under Act 68, a law passed earlier this year meant to help stabilize and reform Vermont’s health care system. However, Kristen LaJeunesse, a spokesperson for the care board, said that it was beyond the board’s authority.
“Decisions about whether to continue or close specific service lines, such as birthing centers, are made by the hospitals themselves,” LaJeunesse said. “The Green Mountain Care Board’s responsibilities include hospital budget regulation and review of certain projects through the certificate of need process, but we do not have the authority to direct a hospital to keep a department open or to close one.”
Communications previously obtained by the News & Citizen between Woodin and care board chair Owen Foster show that the Copley CEO had sought the board’s endorsement of the birthing center decision. Woodin ultimately received a statement acknowledging that “transformational efforts will require hard decisions and trade-offs.”
Foster, during last week’s meeting, endorsed the idea that Vermont hospitals shouldn’t decide what services to cut purely based on their financial burden following tearful testimony from a mother who had suddenly gone into labor but was able to make it to Copley due to its proximity.
“With some of the budgets we’ve seen, there’s often a request for finances for services that lose money,” Foster said. “As we go forward with transformation, we definitely don’t want to see cherry picking and lemon dropping. It has to be consistent with the transformation plan that the Agency of Human Services is leading.”
Modest request
While the birthing center closure decision continued to be the center of attention, Copley’s actual spending proposal was more modest than in years past.
The hospital requested a 3.7% decrease to net patient revenue, a 1.6% increase to operating expenses and a 4.2% increase to commercial insurer reimbursement rates. Woodin previously asked the board for double-digit percentage increases to its commercial reimbursement rates after complaining of financial issues and a cost for services that are far lower than other hospitals in the state.
Copley also asked for spending exemptions for its financial support of the beleaguered Lamoille Health Partners and for the construction of a fourth operating room at the Morristown hospital.
The hospital gave Lamoille Health Partners a $150,000 lifeline last year after the federally qualified health care center suddenly found itself in a financial crisis. The hospital also took back some of the laboratory diagnostic work the health center had previously outsourced to a different company and provided additional services following the closure of the partner’s Stowe office.
The hospital said the construction of a new operating room was necessary to meet the demand for more space from across the hospital.
“The addition of a fourth OR is in direct response to increased demand across multiple service lines. This expansion is essential to meeting our growing patient care needs, improving financial stability, and keeping care local,” Copley’s presentation to the care board said. “The additional capacity will directly reduce patient wait times for surgical procedures, improve overall patient experience and provide surgeons with additional block time availability, supporting both provider satisfaction and recruitment efforts.”
Woodin touted the cost savings of the New England Health Care Collaborative he announced last year, and Foster encouraged hospital staff to lean into its status as a relatively low-cost health care provider and more aggressively compete with larger hospitals like the University of Vermont Medical Center.
“I think as Vermonters become more aware of the affordability challenges we have as a state, I think they probably are more sensitive to the fact that your prices are lower,” Foster said. “We would like to see you be a competitor and would like to see others compete on your prices.”
