Vermont

Beginning in the 2005-2006 Vermont Legislative Session, health care reform in the State of Vermont was launched through the Blueprint for Health (Blueprint). In 2007, with the participation of Vermont’s three largest commercial payers and Medicaid, the legislature authorized pilots to test an Integrated Health Services Model (the Bluprint model). The Blueprint model includes advanced primary care in the form of Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs), multi-disciplinary support services through Community Health Teams (CHTs) which support PCMHs, multi-insurer payment reforms that fund PCMH transformation community health teams, and activities focused on continuous improvement using comparative valuation (Learning Health System). 

In 2011, Medicare selected Vermont as a participant in its Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration initiative, and agreed to participate in the Blueprint project. The project now includes 79 practice sites serving approximately 360,000 patients, more than half of the state’s population. In 2013, the Blueprint was expanded statewide.

During the last few years, this work continued with enactment of  Act 48 (2011) and passage of Act 171 (H.559), signed by Governor Peter Shumlin on May 16, 2012.  They put Vermont on a path toward an integrated health care delivery system with a budget regulated by the new Green Mountain Care Board, universally available health insurance coverage that is not linked to employment and a single system for administration of claims and payments to providers. 

In addition, Vermont's Request For Proposals for QHPs encourages issuers to include innovative preventive care models in its non-standardized plan designs such as Advanced Primary Care Practices, PCMHs and Community Health Teams.