Our Commitment | Our Guiding Strategy | Progress and Impact
Pioneering change and making a difference
Navigating rural health care in crisis
Like many hospitals and health care providers around the country, we face serious challenges. Rural health systems like ours are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, while navigating high demand for care, severe staffing shortages and hyperinflation of the costs for labor and providing patient care. Far from over, these unprecedented headwinds continue to threaten our financial stability and our mission to offer high-quality, equitable care to the people of our region.
In response to these extraordinary pressures, we’ve undertaken a system-wide, urgent body of work to improve our operations and stabilize our finances. We are encouraged by the progress we have made and the forward-thinking efforts taking shape from within our organization, from building housing and providing daycare for staff to expanding access to surgical procedures, adding specialties to our eConsults services, strengthening mental health care services, centralizing our recruitment efforts, reducing wait times for radiology and more.
We’re working to build a sustainable future, but we can’t do it alone.
This is a pivotal year for our region’s hospitals. As we accelerate our evolution to an integrated academic health system that serves patients across two states, decisions that impact our budget in one state have a direct impact on our health system as a whole.
In both Vermont and northern New York, we are working to preserve access to the health care services our communities deserve. Our budgets allow this work to take place through critical investments in our people, our equipment and our facilities. Upcoming decisions on these budgets will impact our sustainability and ability to serve our communities for many years to come.
In Vermont, we are submitting our FY24 hospital budgets to the Green Mountain Care Board. These are higher than the GMCB’s guidance. Given the extraordinary circumstances we face, we view our request as both responsible and reasonable. It is also crucial to offering the high-quality care our communities expect and deserve now and in the future.
“We strongly believe these are responsible and reasonable budgets that’ll allow us to meet the needs of our patients and communities and continue to move us toward financial stability – while limiting, to the greatest extent possible, the financial impact on the people we serve.”
Sunny Eappen, MD, MBA, President and CEO of UVM Health Network
In northern New York, we are taking important steps like applying for a federal “Critical Access Hospital” designation for one of our hospitals, building new primary care partnerships, seeking urgently-needed state funding to offset budget imbalances and exploring ways to fill critical provider and caregiver positions.
These efforts, taken together, will build a stronger health care system for our entire region.
Keeping you and our communities healthy
We focus on wellness as much as treating illness. The way we pay our providers rewards improved health and supports high-quality, collaborative care while controlling costs.
Improving access to health care services
People across the region are receiving the care they need sooner, and with more ease, thanks to strategic investments in our workforce and technology, as well as improvements to our scheduling systems.
Benefits of an integrated health system
Through standardizing care, sharing expertise and directing resources where they’re needed most, rural patients can access the same high-quality care as those living in more populated areas. Additionally, with network-wide coordination of services and bulk purchasing power, we save patients millions of dollars every year.
Strengthening our workforce with recruitment & retention initiatives
The national workforce shortage is impacting health care organizations across the country—there are not enough health care providers, technicians and professional staff to fill all of the available positions. We are working to develop, nurture and retain talent in Vermont and northern New York.
Taking action to stabilize our finances
Our collection of system-wide, focused initiatives has been able to reduce the impact of cost inflation across our health system. With much more work to be done, we are working to stabilize our finances so we can continue to provide critical, high-value, high-quality care in our rural communities.
The UVM Health Network is not only a health care system—we are your friends and neighbors.
We take great pride in the care we provide, researching new treatments and training the next generation of health care professionals. We are committed to improving the health of the people in the communities by integrating patient care, education and research in a caring environment, now and into the future. You deserve nothing less.
I see the critical role our organization plays in the lives of people in our region… I’ve met so many people across our health system who are truly mission-driven and dedicated to improving the health and lives of Vermonters and New Yorkers.
Sunny Eappen, MD, MBA, President and CEO of UVM Health Network
