The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 18 : Health

Chapter 233 : Clinical Decision Making

• § 9771. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1) “Health care facility” has the same meaning as in section 9432 of this title.

  (2) “Health care provider” has the same meaning as in section 9402 of this title.

  (3) “Health care services” has the same meaning as in section 9481 of this title and includes all of the following:

  (A) inpatient; outpatient; habilitative; rehabilitative; dental; palliative, including hospice; therapeutic; supportive; nursing home; home health; mental health; and substance use disorder services, provided by a health care facility;

  (B) pharmacy services, including drugs, devices, and medical supplies;

  (C) performance of functions to refer, arrange, and coordinate care;

  (D) durable medical equipment, diagnostic equipment, surgical devices, and infusion equipment; and

  (E) technology associated with providing the services and equipment set forth in subdivisions (A)–(D) of this subdivision (3), such as telehealth, electronic health records, software, claims processing, and utilization systems.

  (4) “Health care staffing company” means a person engaged in the business of providing or procuring health care personnel for temporary employment or contracting by a health care facility, but does not include an individual who independently provides the individual’s own services on a temporary basis to health care facilities as an employee or contractor.

  (5)(A) “Hedge fund” means a pool of funds managed by investors for the purpose of earning a return on those funds, regardless of the strategies used to manage the funds. Hedge funds include a pool of funds managed or controlled by private limited partnerships.

  (B) “Hedge fund” does not include:

  (i) individuals or entities that contribute, or promise to contribute, funds to a hedge fund but do not participate in the management of the hedge fund or the fund’s assets or in any change of control of the hedge fund or the fund’s assets; or

  (ii) entities that solely provide or manage debt financing secured in whole or in part by the assets of a health care facility, including banks, credit unions, commercial real estate lenders, bond underwriters, and trustees.

  (6) “Management services organization” means any organization or entity that contracts with a health care provider or provider organization to perform management or administrative services relating to, supporting, or facilitating the provision of health care services.

  (7) “Ownership or investment interest” means any of the following:

  (A) direct or indirect possession of equity in the capital, stock, or profits totaling more than five percent of an entity;

  (B) interest held by an investor or group of investors who engage in the raising or returning of capital and who invest, develop, or dispose of specified assets; or

  (C) interest held by a pool of funds by investors, including a pool of funds managed or controlled by private limited partnerships, if those investors or the management of that pool or private limited partnership employs investment strategies of any kind to earn a return on that pool of funds.

  (8)(A) “Private equity group” means an investor or group of investors who primarily engage in the raising or returning of capital and who invest, develop, dispose of, or purchase any equity interest in assets, either as a parent company or through another entity the investor or investors completely or partially own or control.

  (B) “Private equity group” does not include individuals or entities that contribute, or promise to contribute, funds to the private equity group but otherwise do not participate in the management of the private equity group or the group’s assets, or in any change in control of the private equity group or the group’s assets.

  (9) “Provider organization” means any corporation, partnership, business trust, association, or organized group of persons that is in the business of health care delivery or management, whether incorporated or not, that represents one or more health care providers in contracting with health insurers for payment for health care services. The term includes physician organizations, physician-hospital organizations, independent practice associations, provider networks, accountable care organizations, management services organizations, and any other organization that contracts with health insurers for payment for health care services.

  (10) “Significant equity investor” means:

  (A) any private equity group with a direct or indirect ownership or investment interest in a health care facility or management services organization;

  (B) an investor, group of investors, or other entity with a direct or indirect possession of equity in the capital, stock, or profits totaling more than 10 percent of a health care provider or provider organization; or

  (C) any private equity group, investor, group of investors, or other entity with a direct or indirect controlling interest in a health care facility or management services organization or that operates the business or substantially all the real or personal property, or both, of a health care facility or management services organization under a lease, management, or operating agreement. (Added 2025, No. 133 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. July 1, 2026.)