Vermont § 9405a - Public participation and strategic planning

§ 9405a. Public participation and strategic planning

• (a) Each hospital shall have a protocol for meaningful public participation in its strategic
  planning process for identifying and addressing health care needs that the hospital
  provides or could provide in its service area. Needs identified through the process
  shall be integrated with the hospital’s long-term planning. Each hospital shall post
  on its website a description of its identified needs, strategic initiatives developed
  to address the identified needs, annual progress on implementation of the proposed
  initiatives, opportunities for public participation, and the ways in which the hospital
  ensures access to appropriate mental health care that meets standards of quality,
  access, and affordability equivalent to other components of health care as part of
  an integrated, holistic system of care. Hospitals may meet the community health needs
  assessment and implementation plan requirement through compliance with the relevant
  Internal Revenue Service community health needs assessment requirements for nonprofit
  hospitals. (b) When a hospital is working on a new community health needs assessment, the hospital
  shall post on its website information about the process for developing the community
  needs assessment and opportunities for public participation in the process. (Added 2003, No. 53, § 4; amended 2005, No. 71, § 77a; 2007, No. 27, § 4; 2011, No. 48, § 21; 2015, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 31, 2016; 2017, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.), § 17; 2019, No. 14, § 56, eff. April 20, 2019.)