Hunt Blair

Active in Vermont health and Medicaid policy since 1992, Hunt Blair joined the Douglas administration in January, 2009 to support Susan Besio in her new role as Director of the state Medicaid Agency and Health Care Reform. Previously, Hunt served as Vermont Director of Public Policy at Bi-State Primary Care Association, where he oversaw expansion of Vermont's community health center program from two FQHC grantees operating seven sites in 2002 to eight FQHC grantees operating 40 sites today. Hunt created the Vermont Rural Health Alliance, a HRSA Office of Rural Health Policy funded network, to bring Vermont health reform policy into practice by supporting implementation of Vermont's reform initiatives at the state's community health centers, rural health clinics, and Critical Access hospitals.

Hunt had a "front row seat" at the legislature for the creation and refinement of Vermont's landmark health care reform legislation, playing a key advisory role in drafting bills and setting policy, and continues to work closely with the legislature in his new role, embodying the bi-partisan, collaborative approach the Douglas administration has taken with the legislature to advance the goals of expanding coverage and access, improving quality, and controlling costs.

The New England Rural Health Roundtable awarded Hunt its Leadership Award in 2008 for his work on Vermont health care reform, and he speaks frequently at national and regional meetings and conferences. In addition to his policy work, Hunt is a licensed Nursing Home Administrator, developed and secured a Certificate of Need for a multi-level, long term care center spanning public housing and assisted living to skilled nursing, managed projects for rural hospitals, and also represented Vermont long term care providers as Deputy Director of the Vermont Health Care Association. He graduated with an A.B. Honors degree in Semiotics from Brown University in 1983 and has been "deconstructing" and conducting post-structural analysis of health care systems ever since.