Green Mountain Care Board

Regulators do not typically encourage hospitals to increase patient traffic, but this is an unusual case.

The sudden reversal came as the Green Mountain Care Board was preparing to use its newly-enhanced regulatory powers to vote on whether or not to allow the closure to go forward.

The news came as the hospital resubmitted its budget this week to regulators, which rejected the hospital’s prior spending plan earlier this year on the grounds that its numbers didn’t add up.

The Green Mountain Care Board will review the Rutland Regional Medical Center’s decision to close its inpatient pediatric unit under a new law that gives it special oversight powers.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital CEO Chris Dougherty will not return after taking an unexplained leave of absence last month, the hospital announced.

If all goes according to plan, the new facility will open in the fall of 2027.

"If you demand top dollar, maybe this isn't the right environment for you," said Owen Foster on Vermont Edition.

The Green Mountain Care Board last week set the 2026 budgets for Vermont's 14 hospitals.

The Green Mountain Care Board has ordered UVM Medical Center to level-fund its net patient revenue next year and also reduce its commercial insurance rate by 16%.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has lost money for the past five years, and expects to lose almost $3 million next year. The hospital's proposed budget for next year was inaccurate and incomplete, according to state regulators, and now the hospital might get an independent observer to get its financial reporting together.