Even if Ohio University officials decide against an optional, quarterly student health fee, Student Health Services will begin billing students' private insurers for routine visits beginning Fall Quarter 2008, the executive director of Student Health Services said.
A proposed funding model that officials predict will take effect this fall would bill students' insurance companies for all medical services and force students to shoulder a $15 co-payment per office visit, said Charlene Smith, the executive director of Student Health Services. She estimated the cost of implementing the billing operation at $150,000.
Officials are still discussing whether to allow students to pay a $40-a-quarter fee to exempt themselves from the co-pays, but even if that stalls, officials will move forward with billing insurance companies, Charlene Smith said.
Aimed at curbing ' but not eliminating ' reliance on the general fee and enhancing operations at Hudson Health Center, the new funding model would provide basic services for students who pay the optional fee but would introduce a co-pay for students who opt out, Charlene Smith said.
Students currently face no co-pays for office visits, but are charged for lab work, x-rays and counseling sessions. Student general fee dollars cover most of the costs of office visits.
The absence of a sustainable funding model is one of many problems ' including an underfunded and increasingly dilapidated facility ' with Student Health Services noted in a report released last fall by New York-based consultant Keeling & Associates.
Approximately 68 percent of the funding for Student Health Services ' and nearly all of the support for Counseling and Psychological Services ' comes from the general fee, said Jacqueline Legg, business manager of Student Health Services. That funding base fluctuates from year to year, complicating the planning process, Legg said.
In fiscal year 2008, Student Health Services received about $1.8 million from the general fee.
Charlene Smith emphasized the need for weaning Student Health Services off the general fund, which faces a $1.2 million deficit next year.
It's about being able to stand on your own two feet
not on the assumption or hope that the general fee will come to the rescue she said.
However, breaking the reliance on the general fee won't happen immediately and any reduced dependence on the general fee is second to enhancing services for students, she said.
Kent Smith, vice president for Student Affairs, identified offering evening and weekend hours as possible improvements that could be implemented with the new funding model, but said that is impossible without increasing the staff size.
Implementing third-party billing by the September 2008 deadline is no small task and would require either hiring a billing staff or an outside billing vendor, Charlene Smith said. But one way or another, officials are going ahead with the plan.
We would have to hire more staff to take care of these claims which would introduce new costs ' estimated at $150 000 ' if we were to bring on the staff and software to do it
Charlene Smith said. If you outsource it
they may take a bigger cut (of the revenue) than we feel is necessary.
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