The UVM Medical Center in Burlington, Vt., the largest hospital in the state, is asking for a 24 percent increase in the size of their net patient revenue after inflation increased its costs by more than $100 million, CBS affiliate WCAX3 reported Aug. 21.
Staffing shortages, rising and more complex patient care and inflation are contributing to requested budget increases from between 7 percent and 24 percent across the state.
"We're doing more complex care. We are seeing more complex patients, more staff and costs are going up for staff. Equipment is also more expensive," Stephen Leffler, MD, an emergency physician at UVMMC, told WCAX3. "If we're starved in our budgets, it makes it harder to make investments to make people healthier."
The beginning of the bi-annual budget process comes as nine of Vermont's 14 hospitals ended 2022 in the red.
Vermont's hospital budgets, which have been subject to state review since 1983, have been regulated by the Green Mountain Care Board since fiscal year 2013. The board's review is guided by Hospital Budget Rule 3.000 and by its policies on net patient revenue, community needs assessments, physician transfers and enforcement found in hospital budget reporting requirements.
Decisions on Vermont hospital budgets will be made this fall.