With Vermont Health Connect’s open enrollment period coming up fast, we want to make sure patients who use this insurance marketplace are aware of upcoming changes, specifically that you will begin paying your insurance company directly in 2022.

Here are some important need-to-knows:

When is Vermont Health Connect’s Open Enrollment? 
From November 1 – December 15, 2021, Vermonters can sign up for health and dental insurance that begins January 1, 2022.

This year, an extension will also allow Vermonters to sign up between December 16, 2021 – January 15, 2022 for insurance that begins February 1, 2022.  

What stays the same? 
Vermonters must sign up through Vermont Health Connect to get financial help paying for health insurance.

Is it true that more Vermonters can get financial help now than ever before? 
Yes. This year, customers may qualify for lower costs if they are in a single plan with income up to $105,000. Those in family plans with income up to $297,000 may qualify too. They can only get this financial help if they sign up through Vermont Health Connect.

Who can help answer questions?
Vermont Health Connect is open from 8am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. During open enrollment (November 1 – January 15), they will be open until 5pm. You can call VHC directly at 1-855-899-9600.

Additionally, CHCB’s Patient Support Services team are available to help you on a same day first-come, first-serve basis at our Riverside Health Center. Hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm. You can also contact our PSS staff at 802-264-8124 or patientsupport@chcb.org.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Michael Ialeggio to CHCB! Michael moved to Vermont when he was thirteen, and completed middle school and high school in Randolph. As an undergraduate student, he studied Economics and Politics at Oberlin College in Ohio. He enjoyed a lengthy stretch of freewheeling during his twenties, during which time he worked with a labor union, a national park, and a vegetable farm, amongst many other seasonal adventures and assorted odds and ends. He attended medical school at UVM, and returns to Burlington after a three year hiatus in Rochester, NY, where he completed his residency in Family Medicine. Michael is excited to re-examine the Burlington creemee scene (which faces strong competition from Rochester’s frozen custard) and to find an old boat to sail on in Mallets Bay. He enjoys standard outdoorsy hobbies and is also interested in mental health, Spanish, saxophone, and reading. He is excited to join the OB team as part of CHCB’s Maternal/Child Health Program and is accepting new patients at our Riverside Health Center.

We’re so happy to share that our Homeless Healthcare Program (HHP) Clinical Care Coordinator, Anna Lisa Reynolds, RN, has received an Unsung Hero Award from the Vermont Agency of Human Services! We’re so proud of Anna Lisa and our entire Homeless Healthcare Program team for the work they do to ensure Vermonters experiencing homelessness have equitable access to quality care. Read the entire announcement from AHS here.

Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) is home to over 320 staff members, across eight different locations, serving 30,000 patients annually. The mission of CHCB is to improve the health of all those who live in the communities we serve, and, as with most things, it is all in the delivery. This series is produced by former CHCB nurse and current Board member Beth Reilly, to chronicle the many different people who make up the fabric of CHCB, and stitch together the variety of paths, passions, and experiences of those who rise to the occasion, each day, to provide outstanding health care for our community.

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Scott McFarland joined CHCB in 2018 initially as a temp, but quickly transitioned to a full time employee in Patient Services at Riverside. Most recently, Scott became Lead Patient Services Representative, overseeing daily operations at CHCB’s Riverside, Safe Harbor, and Pearl Street locations. With a background in emergency services, Scott was drawn to CHCB as a workplace as it provides a way for him to continue to serve and support his local community, as well as work with an organization “where everyone does not just work here, they want to be here.”

Growing up in Scarborough, Maine, Scott fell in love with Vermont after attending St. Michael’s College and ultimately decided to live here after graduation. Scott likes to stay active outside of work and enjoys all games “video, board, and lawn.” He also trains as an endurance athlete, participating in obstacle courses such as “Spartan” races. Scott spends time watching foreign media, studying ancient mythology and “making terrible jokes at every possible opportunity.”

As Lead Patient Services Representative, Scott is typically based out of the Riverside Health Center; however, he reports “traveling around to wherever I am needed for the day.” Over the years, Scott has worked at both Medical and Dental front desks at Riverside, as well as Safe Harbor, Pearl Street, Good Health, and at our off-site vaccination clinics in Grande Isle. This patient-facing position is one that, according to Scott, requires much more than just checking patients in-and-out of their appointments. “We schedule appointments, handle patients’ paperwork, assist with bills and insurance authorizations, and whatever else a patient wants to ask us about when they come in,” he shares. As the Lead, Scott is often called upon to help sort out unusual patient requests or challenging situations.

When asked what brings him to work each day, Scott has two reasons: One is the “sense of duty” and ability to help people in their time of need; secondly are his coworkers, who he describes as “a fun loving, tight knit group that is always ready and willing to help each other with work, and crack a joke when things are getting too serious.” Scott is extremely proud of how his CHCB colleagues handled the Covid-19 pandemic. “We stayed open to provide care in the most critical of times and continued to help from the first shut down all the way to vaccinations. I could not be more proud to work with everyone here”.

Upon reflection of CHCB’s Mission statement, “Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) improves the health of ALL within the communities we serve”, Scott concludes:

“This mission statement resonates very strongly with me. Medicine and wellness do not belong to any one person, one class, or one community. Every single human on this planet is a person first, no exceptions. I have made it my life’s duty to help all persons in need, both in and out of my career. Wellness goes far beyond medical care…and we as humans have a duty to help foster that wherever we go.”

CHCB is delighted to welcome Noma B. Anderson, PhD to our Board of Directors! Dr. Anderson is the dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Vermont.  Prior to joining UVM, she served as special advisor to the University of Tennessee System President on Diversity and Inclusion and as former professor in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology in the College of Health Professions at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), where she also served as dean of the College of Health Professions.  Prior to arriving to the University of Tennessee, she was a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Florida International University (FIU) and former dean of the School of Health Sciences.  Dr. Anderson was on the faculty in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and chaired that department for ten years. She has also been on the faculty at Hampton University. She received her B.A. degree from Hampton Institute (VA), her M.S. degree from Emerson College (Boston MA), and her Ph.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh (PA).  She began her clinical career at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and was also employed as Supervisor for Speech, Language and Hearing for Pittsburgh Head Start.  Dr. Anderson’s professional areas of expertise are in multicultural aspects of communication sciences and disorders, health and educational disparities, language acquisition, and childhood language disorders.