Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, the state's largest insurance company, supported Green Mountain Surgery Center, which has been in a lengthy certificate-of-need battle with the local hospital association, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Here are five notes:
1. An independent physician group filed the CON to build the ASC in Colchester, Va., nearly two years ago.
2. The Green Mountain (Vt.) Care Board is set to hear final arguments in April 2017.
3. The Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems is heading the charge against the surgery center as the association claims the ASC would directly compete with Burlington-based University of Vermont Medical Center and affiliated hospitals.
4. A spokesperson for the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems previously said the ASC would offer duplicate services and therefore would increase costs.
5. A Green Mountain Surgery Center spokesperson said the ASC would offer services at a reduced cost, saying a colonoscopy would cost between $1,000 and $1,500, less than the price tag of a similar procedure at UVM Medical Center.