University of Vermont Medical Center is reopening a previously shuttered outpatient surgery center this fall, a year after it closed because of air circulation problems, VTDiggerr reported Oct. 11.
The ASC, located on the center's Fanny Allen campus in Colchester, conducted 30 surgeries a day before it shut down.
The Burlington-based hospital plans to replace the seven-bed ASC with a larger facility in Burlington by 2024. Hospital officials said the Fanny Allen ASC is outdated and doesn't meet the needs of the area.
In September, the hospital received the state's approval to plan the ASC in Burlington, despite opposition from the Vermont Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals, which represents 2,400 of the hospital's staff members.
The union wrote a letter to the Green Mountain Care Board, Vermont's healthcare regulatory body, on Sept. 13 questioning the opening of a new surgical facility when the medical center is "unable and unwilling" to staff existing operations.