The Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, in partnership with its faculty practice, University Medical Associates, took over Hudson Health Center this past summer and will oversee student health services.
I believe that we were not offering the best customer service
said Kent Smith, vice president for Student Affairs. And by having the College of Medicine and UMA involved now we can enhance the service from a health delivery standpoint.
Hudson Health Center will now house Campus Quick Care on the first floor and Campus Primary Care on the second floor. Campus Quick Care will be a walk-in clinic, while Campus Primary Care will allow students to schedule appointments with doctors.
Immediate changes that people should be seeing are expanded hours and ability to come in later in the evening to be seen said Steve Davies, interim chief executive officer and the chief administrative officer for University Medical Associates. There will also be more providers there at any given time
so we are expecting a significant decrease in wait time
which will be very appealing to students.
A committee, comprised of both administrators and students, will start meeting within the next few weeks to discuss the direction of Campus Care. It will also create a student satisfaction survey, monitor the clinic's quality of service and decide how many health care providers it should employ.
The current Hudson staff is not guaranteed employment in the Campus Care program.
Everyone that currently works (at Hudson)
they have the option ... of applying for positions through UMA to staff the program when possible
Davies said.
After this year, additional doctors will be brought in to meet the needs of the students.
What we are going to do is a better job at getting students to schedule appointments and get established with providers over a period of time and allow to get chronic care management for chronic diseases like arthritis or asthma or any other chronic diseases that students may have
so that they don't always have to go home to get the care they need
Davies said. They can get it right here.
The university wants to focus on upgrading to the service before it begins renovating the building, Smith said.
Remodeling Hudson will occur during summer breaks, said John Brose, OU-COM dean.
There is only so much you can do while students are here
Brose said. We want to make the facility look nicer and make it more accessible... it will happen over time
he said.
The renovations and staffing changes will not create any additional costs to students, Davies said.
No one is in this to create more costs
