Sunny Eappen, president and CEO of the University of Vermont Health Network, speaks at an event in 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe University of Vermont Health Network has reached a tentative agreement with the Green Mountain Care Board to resolve a dispute over the fact that the hospi tal network brought in roughly $80 million more patient revenue in the 2023 fiscal year than it was allowed to. Under a proposed settlement announced Tuesday, the network would pay $11 million to “non-hospital” primary care providers and $12 million to the insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield. It would also fund a team of consultants and an “independent liaison” to review the network’s finances and operations. The settlement also includes restrictions on bonuses paid out to hospital executives. In the 2026 fiscal year, at least half of executives’ bonuses would be tied to specific factors: reducing the usage of emergency departments, payments from New York hospitals to Vermont hospitals, and reducing prices charged to commercial health insurers and revenue from those insurers.In return, the care board would loosen its 2025 restrictions on UVM Medical Center in Burlington, allowing it to take in more revenue from patients in 2026 and 2027. And the regulator would forgo taking action to address a separate instance in which network hospitals exceeded their budgets, in the 2024 fiscal year.    “We’re focused on rebuilding and strengthening our relationships with our communities, our Vermont regulator and our people – this proposal is an important step in that process,” Sunny Eappen, the president and CEO of the network, said in a press release.The settlement represents a thaw in the sometimes frosty relationship between a powerful state health care regulator and Vermont’s largest hospital network.Owen Foster, the chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, expressed appreciation for “UVM Medical Center’s proactive efforts” in an emailed statement. “The Green Mountain Care Board has received UVMMC’s submission and will thoroughly review it through our regulatory process, including public comment and board deliberation, before issuing a decision,” he said. It also appears to be something of a conciliatory gesture from the network, which has drawn a firestorm of criticism in past months over cuts to services across the state, the movement of money from Vermont to New York hospitals, and the payouts of several million dollars in bonuses to executives. In a message to patients Tuesday, Sunny Eappen, the president and CEO of the network, struck a note of humility. “Last fall, University of Vermont Health Network made difficult decisions that created fear and frustration, and we disappointed our patients and communities — the very people who put their trust in us to receive outstanding care,” Eappen said in the email. “We hear you and are working hard to earn back your trust.”The agreement must still be approved by the hospital network’s board of trustees and the Green Mountain Care Board, which is meeting Wednesday afternoon.Read the story on VTDigger here: UVM Health Network agrees to tentative settlement with Green Mountain Care Board. ...read more read less