Ms. Vyhovsky’s bill would require hospitals to report employee compensation and administrative staffing ratios to the Green Mountain Care Board as part of its budget review process.
It would also direct the board to ensure the ratio of administrative staff to direct-care employees aligns with national averages and limit executive and clinical leadership pay to no more than 10 times the lowest-paid direct care employee.
The proposal comes amid rising healthcare costs in Vermont, according to Seven Days, which reported in November that the monthly premium of a typical plan on Vermont’s insurance marketplace doubled over six years.
“The people who have the least ability to pay more are being asked to do just that to prop up a system that prioritizes profits over people,” Ms. Vyhovsky said at a Jan. 23 press conference, according to the outlet. Representatives for the American Federation of Teachers and the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, as well as a representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, also attended the news conference.
The UVM Health Network, a six-hospital and home health and hospice system, is the state’s largest healthcare provider. Vermont has 14 nonprofit hospitals total.
“Our healthcare system is not immune from the exponential widening of the inequality gap we are seeing nationwide,” Vermont Rep. Esme Cole, lead sponsor of a forthcoming sister bill to be introduced in the state House of Representatives, said at the Jan. 23 press conference, according to AFT. “We have become so complicit in these trends, in fact, that when hospital budgets get tight, the suggested remedy is not a cut at the top — but rather in the programs that affect Vermont’s most vulnerable, such as our dialysis clinics or the residential psychiatric unit.”
In a statement shared with Becker’s, UVM Health Network said senior leader pay is determined by a committee of volunteer board members, with any variable pay based on factors like financial sustainability, employee experience and patient care. It also noted that its senior leader total compensation represents only 1.08% of its total payroll expense.
“There is no question that healthcare is unaffordable for too many Vermonters, and UVM Health Network is committed to working together with our regulator, state and federal leaders and other partners to identify solutions that help people access and afford the care they need,” the statement said.
The network added that it “will continue to engage with our partners and elected leaders to ensure that we are compensating all staff, regardless of their position, at market rates that help us recruit and retain the people we need to provide high-quality care to our patients and families, while controlling healthcare costs.”
If taken up by lawmakers and passed, the Senate bill would take effect in 2026 and apply to hospital budgets for fiscal 2027 and after.
