April 22, 2025

NEED TO KNOW

VMS Supports Senator Welch’s New Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill to Expand Telehealth

Anne Morris, MD, VMS Board Member and past-president of the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, joined U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) on Monday at the Thayer House in Burlington for a press event to highlight Senator Welch’s new Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation to expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare. The Senator’s legislation would make COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities permanent, improve health outcomes, and make it easier for patients to connect with their doctors. Current Medicare telehealth flexibilities will expire on September 30^th, 2025, without Congressional action. Senator Welch and Dr. Morris were also joined by Cathedral Square Supports and Services at Home (SASH) clinicians and patients. Dr. Morris shared stories of older patients who can now with telehealth access her care more regularly regardless of the weather, transportation or mobility issues. See coverage of the event here.

Senate Works to Finalize Budget Recommendations; Policy Bill Development Continues

Thank you to all of the VMS members who have kept up the advocacy regarding the SFY 2026 primary care budget needs. The Senate Appropriations Committee is closing in on a vote on final budget recommendations. While not addressing the full extent of the 2026 funding gap, the recommendations do currently fill important gaps, and your advocacy helped keep primary care front and center as the Committee weighed many competing priorities. The Senate proposal currently includes:

$4.4m GF/$10.8m GC for the Blueprint for Health Community Health Team CHT, Primary Care Medical Home (PCMH) and SASH program (filling the full need);
$3.12m GF for the OneCare Vermont Population Health Management (PHM) Program for all participating primary care practices (out of $4.6 m need);
$835K GF for the Comprehensive Payment Reform (CPR) for independent primary care practices (filling full need).

VMS will continue to advocate for these funds to remain in the budget as it gets debated on the Senate floor and any differences are hashed out with the House.

VMS priority issues continue to move through the legislature:

The House Health Care Committee continues to dive into the Senate-passed health reform bill, S. 126, and VMS offered additional testimony last Friday emphasizing that work needs to be done to develop primary care payment models and that GMCB-led hospital budget and payment reform efforts should include incentives for the types of care the state needs more of, such as primary care, mental health services and OBGYN services. The Committee is taking more testimony this week, including a joint hearing with the Senate Health & Welfare Committee on Wednesday regarding hospital and health care sustainability, hearing from hospitals, the Agency of Human Services and the Green Mountain Care Board.
Last week, the full House voted in support of a bill to strengthen and update the State’s shield laws protecting access to reproductive and gender affirming care services (S. 28)
Today, the full House voted to enact the Treasurer’s proposal to buy down individual medical debt (S. 27).
Other issues being taken up this week include the Medicaid transportation program (in the Senate Transportation Committee) and policies prohibiting the use of cell phones in schools (in the House Education Committee).

VMS Board Seeking Resolution Feedback by May 20th

The VMS Board is seeking member feedback on a policy resolution related to:

Clinical Input Into Health Reform

The full text of the Resolution is available here.

All members will received a survey link specific to you by the end of the day Tuesday, April 22nd. If you did not receive your survey link or have any questions or concerns with completing the survey, please contact bpauley@vtmd.org.

The survey will be open for member comment between April 22, 2025 and May 20, 2025 The resolutions will be discussed together with the feedback received from members by the VMS Board at its June 18th Board Meeting.

MISC.

Is Act 111 Reducing Prior Authorizations for You?

While more formal evaluations will be taking place in the future, VMS is seeking informal feedback regarding the provisions in Act 111 aimed at reducing the burden of prior authorizations. Are you running into barriers with implementation? Or are you noticing that your practice is having to submit or appeal fewer prior authorization requests? Please share any feedback with Jessa Barnard at jbarnard@vtmd.org.

As a reminder the law applies to commercial health plans regulated by the state (individual and small group Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, MVP and Cigna plans) and:

Requires health plans to respond to urgent prior authorization requests within 24 hours;
For ongoing, chronic medications, requires health plans to honor prior authorization approvals for five years without going through prior authorization again; PA for shorter-term medications must be honored for a year;
Requires health plans to implement exemptions to “step therapy” or “fail first” policies, which require a patient to try and fail one or more medications before they can access the medication recommended and prescribed by their healthcare provider;
Allows patients to access at least one readily available asthma controller medication without prior authorization;
Allows primary care providers participating in the Blueprint for Health to order tests, imaging and procedures with no prior authorization;
If a patient switches to a new health plan, they can continue on a stable medication or treatment for at least 90 days

VT AHS Patient Engagement Platform - Provider Survey

The State of Vermont is working to improve how patients can connect with and manage their health care information. The State has contracted with Health Management Associates (HMA) to explore ways to potentially procure a patient engagement platform—a tool that could be used to help patients access their health records, communicate with their providers, and take a more active role in their care. This project is part of our commitment to making health care better, more personal, and more affordable for all Vermonters.

To make sure this platform meets patients’ needs, HMA is seeking clinician input! Your insights will help us understand how patients currently interact with their health data, what features you’d find most valuable in a platform, and the challenges you encounter in supporting patient engagement. We also are interested in your assessment of whether additional patient engagement resources are needed and/or desirable in Vermont. By sharing your perspective, you’ll directly influence the design of any potential solution.

This survey will only take a few minutes to complete. Access the survey here: https://healthmanagement.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9R1wY6Sikfbhv70

PlanWell - Planning for Retirement Webinar

Join PlanWell for a Planning for Retirement webinar on Tuesday, May 2th at 5pm.

Retirement is often the first thing we think about when we talk about our overall

financial well-being. In this workshop, you will learn the basics of retirement planning

and what strategies you can use to secure your plan. We’ll cover how to envision your retirement, how to build your retirement strategy, different sources of retirement

income, and key risks to consider.

View the flyer for the event here and register here.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day – April 26^th

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is being held on April 26th, from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., local time. Visit https://www.dea.gov/takebackday for more information, including to search for your local collection site and for PSAs to share with your patients and community.

Mildred Reardon Medical Student Scholarship Open for Applications

Do you dream of becoming a Vermont doctor?

The Vermont Medical Society’s Education and Research Foundation (VMSERF) is now accepting applications for the Mildred Reardon scholarship, which awards $10,000 to a University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine third year student committed to practicing medicine in Vermont.

The scholarship is made to a student interested in any specialty, with a preference for specialties in high need in Vermont. The scholarship is tuition-linked and is paid directly to the College of Medicine towards tuition. Applications are due April 25, 2025. Click here for more information and details on applying for the scholarship.

EVENTS

The New England MGMA 2025 Annual Conference

April 24-25, 2025

Join the New England MGMA 2025 Annual Conference Tools for Today, Vision for Tomorrow: Navigating Challenges and Unlocking Po, an essential event for medical society professionals seeking to gain valuable insights, network with industry leaders, and stay ahead in the evolving healthcare landscape. This conference is hosted by Massachusetts/Rhode Island MGMA, New Hampshire/Vermont MGMA, and Maine MGMA.

The conference is offering an exciting mix of speakers and topics! Explore innovative approaches and practical tools designed to enhance patient care, streamline operations and drive business growth. Take part in interactive sessions and build your network with professionals dedicated to integrating innovation with healthcare priorities, ensuring a healthier future for all.

View the full schedule and register for the conference here.