Fletcher Allen Health Care - History

History

Hospital merger

Fletcher Allen Health Care was formed in 1995 from the merger of three organizations:

• Medical Center Hospital of Vermont

Founded in Burlington, 1879, Mary Fletcher Hospital was the first hospital in Vermont. It was renamed Medical Center Hospital of Vermont in 1967.

• Fanny Allen Hospital

In 1894, the Religious Hospitalers of Saint Joseph founded the Fanny Allen Hospital in Colchester, Vermont. They named their hospital after Fanny Allen (daughter of Ethan Allen), a nun who nursed wounded American soldiers in the War of 1812. This site, now referred to as the Fanny Allen Campus, has an Urgent Care Center, Ambulatory Surgery Center and Rehabilitation unit.

• University Health Center

In 1971, ten medical specialty practice groups joined to form the University Health Center (UHC) at the site of the former Bishop DeGoesbriand Hospital (1924). Now referred to Fletcher Allen’s UHC Campus, most of the ambulatory clinics moved to the Ambulatory Care Center in 2005 at the main Fletcher Allen campus.

Post-merger history

In 2010, the Faculty Practice became known as the University of Vermont Medical Group, formalized through a joint affiliation with the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care. The Medical Group is governed by a Board of Directors comprising the chairs/Health Care Service leaders, elected at-large faculty representatives, the president of the Medical Group, the UVM College of Medicine Dean, and Fletcher Allen CEO.

The Renaissance Project

In 1999, responding to proposals from chief executive William C. Boettcher, the State Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) approved a $118 million plan called the Renaissance Project for new construction at Fletcher Allen. In 2001, the commission approved an amended proposal (also known as a Certificate of Need or CON) for $173 million. This second proposal was later described as "fraudulent" by the United States Attorney for the district including Vermont. This description was based on the fact that at the time Fletcher Allen management was maintaining two separate project budgets in an attempt to keep a major portion of the costs from BISHCA (specifically the cost of the parking garage). The final version of the proposal, approved in 2003, was $364 million. In the end, eight Fletcher Allen trustees resigned; the chief executive (CEO), chief financial (CFO) and chief operating officers (COO) resigned; the law firm retained by the hospital (Downs Rachlin Martin) agreed to pay $2 million in restitution and Fletcher Allen was fined $1 million.

In August 2006 David Cox, former CFO, pleaded guilty to charges and admitted his role in the controversy.

As of 2007, four former executives have been charged with crimes associated with the project. The former CEO, William Boettcher, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years on federal conspiracy charges. David Demers, a former senior vice president for planning, also pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy charges. Thad Krupka, the former COO, pleaded guilty in state court to three counts of misdemeanor false claims.