Vermont Statutes Title 18. Health, § 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.