VT Health Care Changes Arrive in St. Johnsbury

Cancer patients in northeastern Vermont should be getting better coordinated — and maybe less expensive — care in the near future, if a program that's part of the state's health care overhaul is successful.

The Green Mountain Care Board is spearheading the state's push to make health care access universal while controlling costs, and on Monday it announced cancer care in the St. Johnsbury area will be brought into a new pilot program.

Anya Rader Wallack, chairwoman of the Green Mountain Care Board, says the focus of the three-year pilot study will be better coordination and communication between the various providers involved in caring for a cancer patient.

Wallack says one source of cost reductions will come if duplicative tests can be avoided.

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