Vt. Med. Mal. Arbit. R. 4
Within 30 days of the filing of a claim, the Administrator shall inform the parties and their counsel, if known, of the first three choices for judicial referee in order of preference. Except as provided below, no party may communicate with any candidate directly or indirectly after the filing of the request for arbitration. In selecting the judicial referee, any party may submit reasonable questions to the Administrator, who will propound them to the referee candidates. On receipt of such questions, the referee candidates will promptly respond to the Administrator, who will send copies of the responses to the questioning party and copies of the questions and responses to all other parties. Within 30 days of the mailing of the lists of referee candidates, the parties shall inform the Administrator if they choose to challenge any referee candidate for cause or exercise their single peremptory challenge. The Administrator will rule on any disputes as to the identity of parties. If the Administrator's first choice for referee is not challenged, then that individual will be the referee. If referee candidates are challenged, the Administrator will rule on any challenge for cause, will remove from consideration referee candidates peremptorily challenged, and will appoint the first ranked referee candidate who has not been removed. If all of the referee candidates initially proposed by the Administrator have been removed, the parties will be informed of other candidates, and the above process will be repeated within a reasonable time, to be determined by the Administrator, until a referee is selected.
Vt. Med. Mal. Arbit. R. 4