The Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington plans to build an expanded cancer center next year, with a goal to break ground on the facility in the spring. If all goes according to plan, the new facility will open in the fall of 2027.
The existing center at the Dartmouth Health-affiliated hospital currently serves about 1,200 patients annually across southern Vermont as well as border counties in New York and Massachusetts. SVMC officials say their center is undersized and should serve more patients, particularly given the Bennington area’s high cancer rates.
“There's Vermonters that currently out-migrate to get their cancer care,” said James Trimarchi, SVMC’s director of planning. “They typically go across the border, over to the Albany region, over to the Saratoga region to get care, simply because we can't get them in.”
The hospital has fundraised aggressively to offset the cost of the $21 million project, which involves building an 11,300-square-foot addition onto the current center. More than $11 million has been raised so far, Trimarchi said.
Regulators at the Green Mountain Care Board signed off on the plans in July. The Bennington hospital generally charges less for cancer care than others in the region, and GMCB officials wrote at the time that the expanded facility would “decrease healthcare spending, improve access to care, and enhance quality and patient outcomes.”
SVMC’s expansion comes at a difficult time for Vermont’s health care system, as regulators adopt a more aggressive approach to moderate soaring prices.
But while a landmark report delivered to regulators last year warned that many local hospitals should prepare for a reduction in services — or risk closing outright — it also argued that regional “centers of excellence,” should double down on certain specialties. SVMC, the report said, could serve as one such “center of excellence” for non-complex cancer surgery and infusion therapy.
A new state law, enacted earlier this year, will cap what some Vermont hospitals can charge for certain pharmaceuticals, including oncology drugs. The measure “dramatically changes the financial picture of this project,” Trimarchi said, adding that the new cancer center remains necessary.
“Yes, some of the decisions that are made, both at the Legislature and at the Green Mountain Care Board, create challenges for us, but we're also committed to the overall health care transformation in Vermont,” he said.
SVMC is also planning expansions elsewhere: It wants to nearly double capacity at The Learning Tree, its in-house child care center. Ron Zimmerman, vice president of support services for SVMC, said there was a “wild, unmet need” for child care in the area.
“At last look, our waiting list is about two years,” he said.
