10 years after it was created, has the Green Mountain Care Board worked?

On Sept. 23, University of Vermont Health Network CEO John Brumsted had a few words for his regulators: The Green Mountain Care Board had "become untethered" from the "principles that should guide it," he fumed in a letter asking for an amended budget. It has made decisions that "will harm Vermont’s patients and hospitals." Brumsted’s missive marked an unusually combative stance. Regulated hospitals are loath to publicly rebuke the five-member board that sets their rates. But Brumsted, who oversees half of Vermont’s health care system, wasn’t alone in his rebuke. CEOs from the state’s smaller hospitals criticized the board for requiring sustainability plans that may ultimately require them to cut unprofitable services.