The Green Mountain Care Board is reviewing Rutland Regional Medical Center’s decision to close its inpatient pediatric unit, testing a new law that gives the state’s top health care regulator enhanced oversight powers.

The legislation was prompted by a series of controversial patient-facing cuts the University of Vermont Health Network announced last year after state regulators ordered the health care provider to reduce hospital budgets.

“It seemed as though the service line cuts that they were making were almost in a way retaliatory,” said Democratic Rep. Alyssa Black, the chair of the House Health Care Committee. Black said lawmakers wanted the board to be able to review such cuts in the future to make sure they really were necessary, and wouldn’t be overly detrimental to patients.

See Full Page