Changing Your Primary Care Physician
We encourage you to develop a long-term relationship with your Primary Care Physician. However, you may someday need to change Primary Care Physicians.

It's easy to do. To change your Primary Care Physician:

• select a new Primary Care Physician who is in your area

• call the Customer Service phone number on your identification card and request the change, or

• notify our Account Services Department of the change by mailing an application form indicating your change of physician to:

  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont
  Account Services
  P.O. Box 186
  Montpelier, VT 05601-0186.

Your change becomes effective the first of the month following BCBSVT's receipt of your request. BCBSVT will make no retroactive Primary Care Physician changes. Your new Primary Care Physician may wish to review your ongoing care, so contact him or her and introduce yourself as a new patient.

Changing Plans

School Districts: Changes to, or the addition of, health plan options for an entire school district or bargaining unit are made effective only on either January 1 or July 1. Your group benefits manager must notify BCBSVT of any change or addition at least one month prior to the effective date of the change.

School Employees: Changes in health plan options may be made once in a 12-month interval, during the plan's "open enrollment periods." To make these changes, get a Group Enrollment Form from your school district's Group Benefits Manager. The Group Benefits Manager will submit the completed form to BCBSVT. If BCBSVT receives the request before January or July, the change will be made effective on January 1 or July 1. If the request is received during January or July, the change will be effective on the first of the following month.

If the change is from a fee-for-service plan to the Vermont Health Partnership, you must designate a Primary Care Physician for each family member.

Family Status Changes
When families grow because of marriage, birth of a child or adoption, or if your spouse loses coverage, we allow you to make membership changes between open enrollment periods. In the absence of one of these "qualifying events," employees may also add or remove dependents (to or from single, two-person or family memberships) during the plan's open enrollment periods. When you add or remove dependents, your type of membership (individual, two-person, or family) may change.

To make these changes, get a Group Enrollment Form from your school district's Group Benefits Manager. The Group Benefits Manager will submit the completed form to BCBSVT. If BCBSVT receives the request before January or July, the change will be made effective on January 1 or July 1. If the request is received during January or July, the change will be effective on the first of the following month.