June 17, 2025

NEED TO KNOW

Legislature Adjourns for 2025

The legislature wrapped up their work for 2025 with agreement yesterday on a historic education reform bill. They also wrapped up work on bills receiving less attention such as the miscellaneous education reform bill, H. 480, which ultimately contained a provision supported by VMS and the American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont Chapter that directs the Agency of Education (AOE) in consultation with school boards to create a model policy to prohibit student use of cell phones and non-school-issued personal electronic devices that connect to cellular networks, the internet, or have wireless capabilities at school from arrival to dismissal. The bill also requires schools to have a cardiac emergency response plan developed and ready for implementation beginning in the 2026 - 2027 school year. The legislature is scheduled to reconvene on January 6, 2026. VMS is already working to prepare for next session, with the legislature articulating an interest in more regulation of private equity in health care, consumer data privacy and AI in health care.

2025 saw the legislature focus on addressing the costs of health care, between S. 126, which will implement reference-based pricing pinned to Medicare for hospital commercial rates; H. 266, which fixes reimbursement rates for hospital administered drugs; and H. 482, which allows the GMCB to reduce a health insurer’s reimbursement rates to one or more hospitals if the health insurer is at imminent risk of insolvency. The VMS Board meets this Wednesday evening and will be taking a deeper dive into the causes of Vermont’s rising health care costs and ideas physicians and PAs have to help improve the efficiency of our health care system. VMS priorities which saw successful action this session included securing funding in the budget for primary care for 2026, strengthening Vermont’s protections for reproductive health care and expanding Vermont’s exception from prior authorization to all primary care providers. See VMS’ full legislative summary here and reach out anytime to Jessa Barnard at jbarnard@vtmd.org if there are issues you want to know more about or help advance in 2026.

Call for VMS' Leadership Awards

Nominations are now open for VMS’ Leadership Awards! We are asking members to nominate Vermont leaders who have provided outstanding contributions to the medical profession, to health organizations and to the welfare of the public. Please nominate a Vermont leader here. Nominations are open through August 13, 2025.

Awards include:

Distinguished Service Award
Physician of the Year Award
Physician Award for Community Service
Citizen of the Year Award
Founders’ Award

The awards ceremony will be held on the evening of November 7th at the 212th VMS Annual and Collaborative Meeting. Stay up to date on event details here.

Reminder: Health Care Providers for Blue Plan Patients Eligible for Share of $2.8 Billion Settlement – File Claims by July 29^th

As shared in the Rounds this winter, a landmark $2.8 billion settlement was reached in late 2024 with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and participating Individual Blue Plans, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. The settlement resolves claims brought by healthcare providers alleging anti-competitive practices, including agreements to divide geographic service areas and price-fixing for healthcare services.

Who Is Included in the Settlement Class?

The Settlement Class includes healthcare providers across the United States who, between July 24, 2008, and October 4, 2024, provided services, equipment, or supplies to patients insured by, or beneficiaries of, any plan administered by a settling Blue Plan.

Settlement Highlights

$2.8 Billion Settlement Fund: Providers and Facilities must submit a claim form online or by mail no later than July 29, 2025.
Business Practice Reforms: The settlement includes commitments to changes that will:

Increase competition in the healthcare marketplace.
Transform the BlueCard program.
Improve provider interactions with Settling Individual Blue Plans.

Where to Get More Information

For further details about the Settlement, deadlines, and eligibility, visit the settlement website: www.BCBSprovidersettlement.com, law firm updates at https://whatleykallas.com/bcbs-settlement/ or join an upcoming webinar to learn more about how to submit a claim: https://www.bcbsprovidersettlement.com/Home/ClaimSubmissionWebinars.

Senator Sanders Seeking Input on Cuts to Medicaid, Exchange

As VMS members are aware, the Senate is currently considering the largest cuts to federal health care programs in the history of Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These cuts—outlined in the budget reconciliation bill that passed the House—will slash federal health care programs by over $1 trillion and eliminate enhanced premium tax credits in the exchange, causing 16 million people to lose their health insurance.

Senator Sanders is seeking input from health care providers across the country about the impact of the proposals. The HELP Committee needs to hear from the nation’s providers about what this means for organizations and their patients. He asks that you submit any answers to the following questions to providerinput@help.senate.gov by June 20, 2025:

How would the health care provisions in the House reconciliation bill impact your ability to care for patients?
Would the proposed cuts to Medicaid and the ACA require you to cut back on clinical staff, services, or care delivery? Please explain if possible.
What do you think will be the overall effect of the health care provisions in the House reconciliation bill on the American people?

Reminder: Join Text Campaign to Support Medicaid

VMS has joined the Protect Our Healthcare Coalition in launching a nationwide peer-to-peer texting campaign to protect Medicaid — and we need your help. Using a secure platform called RumbleUp, you’ll be able to send pre-written, personalized messages directly to voters in key Senate districts. These messages will urge recipients to call their Senators and demand they oppose Medicaid cuts.

The Senate plans to act by July 4^th. This is an opportunity for you to lend your voice, your credibility, and your leadership in a moment that matters.

Getting started is easy. Full instructions on how to join the text program as a volunteer can be found at www.protectourhealthcare.org/texting-program. Watch the 90-second welcome video: protectourhealthcare.org/welcome. For more information, you can also contact Jessa Barnard at jbarnard@vtmd.org.

MISC.

Back for 2025, Quarterly Financial Webinars Hosted by Pinnacle Wealth (FKA Pastore Financial Group).

Pinnacle Wealth has been a supporter of VMS for decades. Our independent, fiduciary advisors will share insights to help you on your financial journey. Can’t make the webinar but have questions? Please email info@pinnaclevt.com for an individual meeting.

Early Career: Questioning your student loan strategy? Do you have the right amount of life and disability insurance? Are you maximizing opportunities to accumulate wealth and minimize taxes? Join us for an exclusive seminar for VMS members. We will discuss updates to SAVE and PSLF, important insurance concepts, and strategies to maximize accumulation during your early years as a physician.

Approaching Retirement: Are you confident in your retirement plan? Concerned about market volatility? Do you have a strategy to protect your investments while maximizing returns? Join us for an exclusive retirement planning seminar for VMS members. We will discuss key strategies to secure your financial future and enhance your investment growth in today’s unpredictable market.

Time to Preview 2023 MIPS Performance Information

For those practices that participate in MIPS, you can now preview your 2023 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance information as it will appear later this year on the compare tool on Medicare.gov and in the Provider Data Catalog (PDC). Upon reviewing MIPS performance information and finding any errors, physicians may file a targeted review but must do so by June 25. Eligible physicians also now have the option to opt-out of having MIPS data publicly posted but only have until June 25 to inform the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Publicly reported information includes MIPS and Qualified Clinical Data Registry quality measures, MIPS Promoting Interoperability measures and attestations, and MIPS improvement activities attestations. Access to the secure preview is available on the QPP website through Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at 8 pm ET. For questions about how to access the preview or public reporting on the compare tool on Medicare.gov, contact the QPP Service Center by emailing QPP@cms.hhs.gov, submitting a QPP Service Center ticket, or calling 1-866-288-8292 (Monday–Friday, 8 am–8 pm ET).

VMS Physician Leadership Development Course Applications Due July 1^st

The Vermont Medical Society is now partnering with the University of Vermont Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) unit to offer a new statewide physician leadership development course beginning in September 2025 and running until March 2026. The course is designed to empower physician leaders across Vermont with the skills, knowledge, practical experience, and networking opportunities needed to foster effective team success.

See the course information and FAQs here.

Applications are due by July 1, 2025!

Applicants submit a brief statement of interest in the course and a CV. Apply here. If there are more interested candidates than seats, VMS will select participants with the goal of wide representation from practice types, specialties and locations. (Please note, UVM Health Network physicians should apply separately - learn more here.)

Key dates: