UVM medical school dean tells House panel Vermont must bolster primary‑care pipeline

Dr. Richard Page, dean of the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, told the House Healthcare Committee on Thursday that the state’s medical school plays a central role in producing primary‑care doctors and supporting rural access.

Page said he is “absolutely committed to accessible, affordable, high‑quality health care for every Vermonter” and described a set of training programs and federal grants that feed the state’s physician pipeline.

The Larner College of Medicine and its affiliated UVM Medical Center together educate and train a sizable share of the state’s doctors. Page told the committee that roughly 32% of Vermont physicians were either educated at Larner or trained at UVM-affiliated residencies, and that about 38% of primary‑care providers were trained through those channels. He said first‑year medical students are exposed to primary care from day one and that the college has created an AHEC‑led rural track to improve placement in rural practices.

Page detailed several federal and foundation funding streams that support education and community care: HRSA (federal Health Resources and Services Administration) AHEC grants, NIH research awards and the Northeast Rural Health Research Center. He said Larner brings in substantial extramural research funding and cited roughly $50 million a year in NIH support, which he said creates local jobs and spillover economic impact.

On workforce programs, Page described the AHEC scholars program and a loan‑repayment/talent‑retention incentive (the AEX scholars loan incentive), which he said increases the likelihood that students choose and remain in primary care. He told the committee AHEC‑related recruitment produced about 62 physicians over five years and said the educational loan repayment plan was funded this year at a lower level than requested; he also noted some AHEC support grants were not funded.

The dean flagged another structural issue: federal caps on residency positions. Page said UVM is roughly 70 residency positions “over the cap,” meaning those additional training posts are funded by the hospital rather than federal Medicare residency slots. He praised the hospital’s recent decision to increase family‑medicine residency slots but said expanding resident complements without federal funding requires hospitals to bear the cost.

Page used CAR‑T cell therapy — an expensive, individualized cancer immunotherapy — as an example of why having specialized services in state matters for equity, saying that offering such therapies locally can spare patients and caregivers the burden of travel and improve outcomes.

At the same time, Page expressed concerns about parts of a primary‑care bill the committee is considering, saying its definitions of “quality” are unclear, could duplicate existing measures and impose administrative burdens that take clinicians away from patient care. He also warned the bill’s costs were significant and asked lawmakers to clarify funding sources before adopting new obligations.

Committee members pressed Page on details such as the proportion of trainees who are Vermont residents and on how AHEC matches federal grants with state or hospital money; Page said he would supply more exact figures on request.

The committee thanked Page for his testimony and scheduled further testimony from residency program directors to follow in subsequent hearings.