| Fletcher Allen Health Care | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | 111 Colchester Avenue, Burlington, Vermont, United States |
| Organization | |
| Care system | Private |
| Hospital type | Teaching |
| Affiliated university | University of Vermont |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | Level I trauma center |
| Helipad | Yes (FAA LID: 67VT) |
| Beds | 562 |
| History | |
| Founded | 1879 |
| Links | |
| Website | http://www.fahc.org |
| Lists | Hospitals in Vermont |
Fletcher Allen Health Care, together with its partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, is Vermont's academic medical center.[1] Fletcher Allen target clientele are the one million people in Vermont and northern New York. It serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties. There are more than 30 patient care sites and 100 outreach clinics, programs and services throughout the region. It employs 6,000 workers and is the largest private employer in the state.[2]
Contents |
The Vermont Children's Hospital is in the hospital.[3] This is the state's only children's hospital and is one of 39 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer treatment centers in the country, the highest level attainable. The Vermont Children’s Hospital’s Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, offers one of the highest levels of intensive care for critically ill and premature infants.
The hospital's General Clinical Research Center at Fletcher Allen/University of Vermont is one of 78 in the country and the only one in northern New England. Resident researchers are pioneering treatments for heart disease, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and ALS.
The medical center has comprehensive surgical services (neurological, cardiac, pediatric) and imaging equipment. It has a Philips high-field Open MRI, a Philips 3T MRI, a General Electric Signa LX 1.5 tesla system, and a 64-slice CT scanner.
As the only Level I Trauma Center in Vermont, the hospital tries to offer the region advanced technology and techniques to care for the most seriously ill and injured pediatric and adult patients. The hospital was the first organization in the United States to be verified as a Level I Trauma Center for both children and adults.
55,000 people were treated in the emergency room in 2007. The department is designed to process up to 65,000/year. The average wait time was 49 minutes.[4]
The hospital had a budget of $790 million in 2008. It received 8.2% of this from the state of Vermont.[5]
Fletcher Allen Health Care was formed in 1995 from the merger of three organizations:
In 2008, the University HealthSystem Consortium evaluated the hospital as 15th out of 88 academic medical centers. It stood 48 in 2005.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8][9]
BeSeatSmart Child Passenger Safety Program