Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program

Stephen Leffler, M.D.’90, president and chief operating officer of the UVM Medical Center and professor of emergency medicine at the Larner College of Medicine (Photo: Colin Flanders, Seven Days)

(NOVEMBER 19, 2024) Stephen Leffler, M.D.’90, president and chief operating officer of the UVM Medical Center and professor of emergency medicine at the Larner College of Medicine, was featured on an episode of WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s Roundtable in a discussion about recently announced cuts to patient services by the University of Vermont Health Network.

The network says the cuts—which include ending kidney transplants, reducing the number of overnight patients and incoming non-emergency transfers at its Burlington hospital, and closure of some area dialysis clinics—are being made to comply with enforcement actions required by the Green Mountain Care Board, Vermont’s health care regulator in charge of overseeing and approving hospital budgets.

Leffler says the network did its best to make cuts in areas where patients have other options to get the care they need. “We did our best to try and pick areas where we think that there’s other options for patients to get the care they need. So, for example, transplant we were doing relatively few cases per year, 12 to 15. Those patients could go to Dartmouth and get that care. So not too far away for a relatively small number of people. For dialysis it’s our strong hope those local community hospitals can pick up that service so patients can still get that care.”

The cuts will be staggered as plans are finalized and no specific dates have been set. The University of Vermont Health Network will submit a revised budget to the Green Mountain Care Board reflecting the announced cuts.