Slusky: Teetering health care reform
(WorldNews Health)

In 2011, the Vermont legislature passed Act 48, which created the Green Mountain Care Board and put the state on an admittedly bumpy path toward health-care reform. In late-2016, building on a number of reform initiatives achieved over a five-year period, the state entered into a contract with CMS/CMMI Medicare called the `All-Payer ACO Model Agreement.` (At the time, this was only the second such agreement between any state and Medicare.) This Agreement called for, among other things, a target of an annual 3.5% growth rate in total (all-payer) health-care expenditures over a five-year period, achievement of specific-population health improvement targets, and inclusion of at least 70% of the...