Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury is the latest provider in the state to announce service closures in an effort to cut health care costs. The Northeast Kingdom hospital will close its occupational medicine office in October that offers physicals, vaccinations, drug testing and urgent care needs.
The office is not profitable for the hospital, according to CEO Shawn Tester, who added there are other alternatives to care available nearby. Those include a walk-in primary care center in St. Johnsbury and an urgent care center in Littleton, New Hampshire.
Money was not the only factor in the decision though, he said.
“We have other services that are also not profitable, but we’re committed to keeping them open,” Tester said. “It’s — what’s the least impact on the patients.”
Five staffers will lose their jobs as part of the change, following three additional layoffs in administrative positions at the hospital earlier this year. The hospital will also end a contract for ear, nose and throat (ENT) services from Littleton Regional Healthcare and transfer patients to their own providers.
The announcement comes in the midst of the statewide hospital budget review process overseen by regulators at the Green Mountain Care Board. The board required that every hospital keep their operating expenses below a 3% increase from last year.
“All of this helps us stay within the budget guidelines,” Tester said. “The Legislature expects us to change and be creative in how we deliver services.”
Several other hospitals in the state have announced changes to patient care over the past year:
- Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin closed their in-patient psychiatry unit in January, the only place in the region where anyone in a mental health crisis could get hospital-level care. They also plan to close family medicine practices in Waitsfield and Berlin by October and transfer patients to other locations.
- Copley Hospital in Morrisville plans to shut down their labor and delivery unit by November. At the beginning of the year, the hospital closed its sleep medicine program, aquatic therapy pool and cataract services program, according to filings with state regulators.
- Gifford Medical Center in Randolph also closed its chiropractic and urogynocology practices. In public filings, the hospital said patients were transferred within the hospital or to other providers in the community.
- The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington ended its transplant surgeries earlier this year, impacting approximately 17 patients a year. Patients will now have to go to Dartmouth Health for those operations.
At Northeastern in St. Johnsbury, Tester said that more cuts to patient services are possible as the state continues its healthcare reform efforts amid federal policy changes that could cause thousands of Vermonters to lose health insurance over the next several years.
“We don't know exactly what that impact will be, but we know it will be profound,” he said. “All of that will continue to put tremendous strain on Vermont's hospitals, our budgets and our delivery system.”
