glendale memorial medical center

glendale memorial medical center
With college health centers significantly increase the cost of health care, as well as decreases in their funding sources, many health center administrators have to think outside the box for ways to extend budgets and a high quality of care for their Students patients. As a result, more college health center directors and their staff are turning to commercial insurance.

"Health centers in many public facilities are used by 100 percent of their funds from the state, but the times are changing," said Jennifer Lepus, director of the College of Health of the University of Maryland - Baltimore County.

The UM-BC Student Health Center is one of hundreds at the national level that deal with state budget cuts. Health centers in schools still burdened by some means student health insurance plans, but the reimbursement from the plans - approved by a handful of companies, with universities to offer exclusive group rated coverage for students - are usually not enough to support a health center budget.

"Our difficulty in only one group was rated insurance that the voluntary declaration was not enough to make them '," said Western Kentucky University's Health Services Director Libby Greaney. "" Well, WKU solution was to accept commercial insurance and file such claims.

WKU began billing insurance companies in 2001, according to the student health fees were last year.

"" If your physician board-certified and credentialed, they can see themselves as primary care physicians. This allows you to see the community who are in-network patients with the plans that your health center accepts. If balanced correctly, you can use your service and your net income. "

According to Greaney, more and more schools recognize the benefits of opening their health centers to commercial plans, taking a similar approach is to WKU.

"People begin to see the need. They talk about them and to them, "she said. "" The College's health are against the idea, may be regarded as "old school" if it is not the concept. "

"More and more senior vice presidents at colleges are hearing on this approach, and give the directive to their health centers. I would be the Health Center staff to be in the driver's seat. ""

But Greaney recognizes a natural mystery. While the adoption carriers may provide additional revenue for the university health centers, it can also impact access to health care. The reality is that not every student enrollment in the school with insurance coverage. Students without coverage either without care, or must be out of pocket for medical costs, which grow more expensive every year.

With the American College Health Association and some states are calling for colleges and universities, health care for all students, few schools offer a menu of options.

For example, Lepus and her staff at UM-BC have opted for both students and the health plans of carriers.

"If the goal is for each student to have coverage, we can achieve that by offering two options", "Lepus said. "" The school is less expensive for people, but we've found that many young people today by their parents' insurance until they are 23 years old. This means that a large number of students have coverage through private carriers, and it seems logical that if they are to see, we can bill insurance companies. "

The University of Utah in Salt Lake City is another example of a health center, has noted that the settlement of the insurance carrier as well as with a traditional insurance by students of the university is a win-win for both students and Health Center .

"With both options, we have a middle group of students who needed to come to us with their insurance, but we are also affordable and convenient for students with government insurance, which pay out-of-network percentages or deductibles, "said Tiffany Smith, office manager / patient advocate for the University of Utah in Salt Lake City's Health Center, where about 7,000 students per year. "If we bill insurance carriers, we make the process easier for our patients, students, and that keeps them coming back to us in the future. ""

And if they come back, it means that the additional revenue for the health center.

Although the adoption of the insurance carrier may be overwhelming, Greaney offers a little advice to other health center managers, it provides for:

"" Small, and utilize the resources that are available, "she said. "" That means people who are either in school or health in the community. "

Jennifer McDuffee writes for Nuesoft Technologies, a provider of Medical Billing Software and Medical Practice Management Software. This article appeared in Nuesoft Xpress e-menus.