UVM Health Network cuts to impact already fragile mental health capacity

BERLIN, Vt. (WCAX) – Advocates are pushing back against UVM Health Network plans to get rid of in-patient mental health beds at the Central Vermont Medical Center, part of a sweeping cost-cutting plan released last week prompted by a budget spat with state regulators.

“This is a matter of life and death. That place saved my life,” said Nicole Didomenico, a former Central Vermont Medical Center patient.

In 2016, Didomenico sought mental health care at CVMC’s in-patient psychiatric center. She’s concerned about recent cuts from the UVM Health Network which will eliminate eight in-patient mental health beds.

UVM says the cuts were in response to a 1-percent decrease in commercial prices ordered by regulators after UVM exceeded its earnings last year.

Didomenico and other advocates on a CVMC advisory panel wrote the Green Mountain Care Board urging them to prevent the closure of the beds. “I can’t imagine us not having that available as mental health concerns and crises only continue to escalate,” Didomenico said.

“We’re at a crisis point in all of health care,” said Rep. Anne Donahue, I-Northfield. “It’s the only one of the cuts that is, in effect, irreversible in terms of cutting off care and not providing an alternative.”

GMCB officials in a statement stressed the need for mental health beds. “Decisions regarding significant service changes, such as the closure of an in-patient psychiatric unit, can have far-reaching impacts on the availability of care and the well-being of the community,” they said. The board says their actions in 2017 helped lead to a new mental health urgent care which recently opened in Burlington.

In January, CVMC will stop accepting new patients and wind down services. They will then work to open an out-patient mental health urgent care in partnership with Washington County Mental Health. “That model has shown to impact both the number of visits to your emergency department and acute care admissions into an in-patient psychiatric unit,” said CVMC President Anna Noonan.

Back in Montpelier, Didomenico maintains having a hospital level of care was critical for her and her community. “I wouldn’t be standing here today if I hadn’t spent eight days there and had the opportunity to receive the services I did,” she said.