![\"Brattleboro](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VTD-Bratt-hospital-2-1200x900.jpg\")
The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital campus on Belmont Avenue. Photo by Kevin O\u2019Connor\/VTDigger<\/p>\nThe Brattleboro Memorial Hospital campus on Belmont Avenue. Photo by Kevin O\u2019Connor\/VTDigger<\/p>\n
BRATTLEBORO \u2014 Brattleboro Memorial Hospital CEO Christopher Dougherty is on a leave of absence as state regulators express fears about the not-for-profit\u2019s fiscal health.<\/p>\n
\u201cStated as directly as possible, we are deeply concerned about BMH\u2019s solvency,\u201d the Green Mountain Care Board wrote in a recent budget decision<\/a>. \u201cWe believe that its leadership must make big strides to adjust course.\u201d<\/p>\n The 500-employee hospital named Dougherty as its chief executive officer in the spring of 2022. Two days after the state\u2019s Oct. 1 report, the hospital announced internally that he was taking leave.<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\tby Olivia Gieger<\/a> \u201cPlease be assured the board of directors remains fully committed to keeping the hospital open and continuing to serve the community,\u201d the hospital emailed its staff Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n Dougherty, who started at the hospital in May 2022 after leading Shriners for Children Medical Center in Pasadena, California, hasn\u2019t addressed his leave publicly and couldn\u2019t be reached for comment.<\/p>\n On Monday night, the board announced the appointment of doctors Elizabeth McLarney and Tony Blofson as acting co-CEOs.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have a firm grasp of the hospital\u2019s day-to-day operational needs and a solid understanding of our regulatory challenges,\u201d the board said in its Monday statement.<\/p>\n The hospital, one of Brattleboro\u2019s three largest employers, revealed in May<\/a> it faced a projected $4 million shortfall in its $119 million annual budget upon the close of its fiscal year Sept. 30. In response, it implemented a hiring freeze and let go of six administrators<\/a> in hopes of lowering its staff count by at least 30 employees.<\/p>\n Neither the hospital nor regulators could say Monday if Brattleboro had met its budget target. In its Oct. 1 budget decision, the state noted the uncertainty was, in part, because \u201cmissing, incomplete and inaccurate information makes it challenging to understand BMH\u2019s current financial position.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply troubled by the quality of BMH\u2019s budget submission and its reporting because the hospital may be at risk of a sudden solvency crisis, which would potentially harm its community and the state-wide system of care,\u201d regulators wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a duty to establish hospital budgets that, among other items, ensure the economic operations of the hospital, preserve access and quality, and contain costs at BMH and the statewide health system,\u201d regulators continued. \u201cWe cannot fulfill this duty when a hospital misrepresents its financial data and then refuses to address its errors.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, the state reduced Brattleboro\u2019s requested 1.7% rise in net patient revenue for the current fiscal year to 0% and its requested 3% rise in commercial health insurance reimbursements to not more than 2.4%.<\/p>\n Regulators also are requiring the hospital to resubmit its current budget plan and \u201ccorrected and accurate\u201d operating results for the past two fiscal years by Jan. 31 or face outside intervention.<\/p>\n \u201cIf these resubmissions remain inaccurate,\u201d they wrote, \u201cwe may hold a separate hearing to consider whether to appoint an independent observer for BMH.\u201d<\/p>\n Acting co-CEOs McLarney, an orthopaedic surgeon, and Blofson, a primary care physician, have 50 years of combined service at the hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are honored to serve side-by-side and together with our board, our executive leadership team, and our dedicated staff to help BMH move forward and continue providing the exceptional care our patients and community have come to rely on,\u201d they said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital campus on Belmont Avenue. Photo by Kevin O\u2019Connor\/VTDigger BRATTLEBORO \u2014 Brattleboro Memorial Hospital CEO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[124354,124355,77107,97,252,253,124356],"class_list":{"0":"post-220825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-brattleboro-memorial-hospital","9":"tag-christopher-dougherty","10":"tag-green-mountain-care-board","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-health-care","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-hospital-budgets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Vermont](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/bernie-health-costs-12-20240531-1200x900.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 15, 2025, 5:55 pmSeptember 16, 2025, 12:19 pm\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n