AHS outlines hospital transformation plans and seeks advanced analytics to guide service reconfiguration

Katie Carroll, care transformation director in the Office of Health Care Reform, and Greg Jones, a contractor assisting AHS, updated the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on hospital transformation work anchored in Act 167 and Act 68. Carroll said the effort has moved from planning into implementation, with hospitals submitting iterative transformation plans and regional convenings identifying priorities.

AHS listed four core themes: shared services to create back‑office efficiencies (purchasing pools, shared administrative functions), moving appropriate care into lower‑cost community settings (mobile integrated health, home health and hospice expansion), optimizing clinical resource allocation and transfers (advanced analytics for bed tracking and acuity management), and restructuring service profiles in regions where capacity does not match local needs.

Carroll said an advanced analytics contract is in negotiation and will deliver modeling to help hospitals evaluate scenarios, project access impacts, and quantify quality and financial tradeoffs. Committee members asked whether Vermont needs 14 hospitals, how to repurpose service lines without harming quality, how to sustain mobile integrated health programs (payment models are under development), and whether AHS can provide the public process and community engagement for major service changes. Carroll and Jones said analytics and rural health fund investments will inform regional transformation and that procurement activity is underway.

The presentation emphasized coordination across hospitals, attention to affordability and equity metrics, and the formation of regional goals to address mental health, primary care capacity and continuum‑of‑care issues. AHS said transfer coordination and a centralized acuity management capability remain priorities; committee members flagged concerns about timelines, governance and how the state will ensure quality when services are shifted.

AHS expects analytics results and contractor insights to arrive this year to inform both hospital planning and legislative work, including related bills (committee members signaled upcoming discussion of S.189). Committee members pressed for clearer timelines and budget specifics; Carroll said several funding streams (Act 68 appropriations and rural health transformation funds) are contributing and that contract negotiations are active. The committee did not vote on any AHS proposals during the session.