Several Green Mountain Care Board members raised concerns about Copley’s finances at the meeting. Board member Con Hogan took issue with the hospital’s operating expenses, which are expected be $1 million more than the hospital’s patient care revenue in FY 2017.
“I think they’re actually to the point where they need a plan B,” Mr. Hogan said, according to the report. “I don’t think this is a workable budget, and I’m not prepared to approve it.”
Under Vermont law, the Green Mountain Care Board is in charge of controlling the rate of growth in healthcare costs. Since 2011, the board has regulated hospital budgets and the prices payers charge their members
Mr. Mathisen addressed the board’s concerns during the meeting and asked for more time to implement the changes needed to lower the hospital’s expenses.
“We’re trying to be good fiscal stewards of the dollars of all of us, and I’m starting to put those things in place because it takes a lot of time,” he said, according to the report. “You’ve gotta win the trust of your folks before you change everything.”
Mr. Mathisen was promoted to president and CEO of Copley in April.
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