‘Provider burden’ bill passes Senate, despite last-minute effort to pump the brakes

Vermont’s Senate passed a bill Friday aimed at streamlining interactions between health care providers and insurers, after a flurry of last-minute back-and-forth over the legislation. Lawmakers rejected a push to delay some of the provisions of the bill, H.766, but adopted an 11th-hour amendment changing the language around primary care requirements. As a whole, H.766 seeks to reduce the amount of bureaucracy and paperwork Vermont health care providers face when dealing with insurance companies. “We took testimony from providers who indicated they spend as much as two to four hours...