Three Vermont hospitals have signed on to a new partnership, agreeing to work together towards long-term sustainability.
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Copley Hospital in Morrisville, and Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans have formed the New England Collaborative Health Network.
The group hopes to save money with group purchasing, and will also focus on sharing services and ensure better access to health care.
Nine out Vermont’s 14 hospitals lost money last year, and state regulators have been looking for more collaboration among health care providers to save money.
“I think we’ve all been under a lot of stress with expectations, and budget concerns, and trying to make healthcare, for the entire system, more affordable, more efficient, more collaboration,” said Copley Hospital CEO Joe Woodin.
Woodin, who will be the board chair of the new organization, says the collaboration between the three hospitals is a way for them to remain independent, while attempting to find the cost savings of a larger hospital network.
He says he hopes the other small, independent hospitals in the state consider joining the collaborative.
“Those of us who are independent and not part of a formal network, like UVM Medical Center or the Dartmouth network, are trying to put together a collaborative that might help us." Joe Woodin, board chair of the New England Collaborative Health Network.
“Those of us who are independent and not part of a formal network, like UVM Medical Center or the Dartmouth network, are trying to put together a collaborative that might help us,” Woodin said. “On the labor side, we’re looking at some aspects of leadership training and development, which helps recruit and retain employees, some shared staffing, maybe some shared providers. There are a lot of options we’re looking at to help the workforce piece of it.”
The Green Mountain Care Board, which regulates Vermont’s hospital system, is in the process of traveling around the state to gather public input on the state’s struggling hospital system.
Vermont’s health insurance companies are once again seeking premium increases of more than 20%, and the board has been holding the meetings around the state to look for ideas on how to transform the state’s hospital system to make it more sustainable.
In a press release, Northwestern Medical Center CEO Peter Wright said the newly formed New England Collaborative Health Network will allow the smaller, independent hospitals to address the challenges and develop strategies to bring down costs to hopefully save money for consumers.
“There are opportunities for us to share expertise and resources, as Copley and Northwestern are doing by sharing a cardiologist to meet the needs in both our communities,” Wright said. “The network allows us to think more strategically about how we can provide services, ensuring better access, reduced expenses, and an increased focus on quality.”
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