Philippe Buteau/Staff Writer
ObamaCare says that after a child turns 26, they are no longer protected by their family’s health insurance. FIU is making sure that every student is covered by a health insurance.
Under the merger, Student Health has a new model to follow in providing medical care. It is a four-step process whose first two keeps operations the same for SH.
Students visit the clinic and if they require more than what SH can provide, or need more than 30 days of monitoring, they are referred to FIU Health or a health care provider that has the specialist he or she needs.
Steps three and four are focused on health insurance enrollment and managing the health of the student population as a whole.
The University’s Collaborative for Health Economics and Strategic Solutions, in a model they created, suggested FIU use the student health fee to reduce the cost of health insurance.
The health fee is one of several mandatory fees charged to all students as part of their tuition each semester. Every student pays $93.69 as part of the health fee regardless of the number of credits taken.
Hodgkins-Beckley Consulting | Stephen L. Beckley and Associates gave the University the option of requiring health insurance as a condition of enrollment.
“That’s not for us to say,” Roldan said about whether FIU requires students to have health insurance.
Student Health’s clinical services – the doctors, nurses and pharmacists – were merged with the University’s healthcare provider, FIU Health, July 1.
“We work for the College of Medicine, as well for the community and the campus,” said FIU Health chief executive officer, Eneida Roldan. “FIU Health, Healthcare Network, the Faculty Practice in the eye of the consumer are all one,” she said.
FIU Health is evaluating its new integrated services, according to Roldan the former president and CEO of the Jackson Health System from June 2009 to May 2011.
Between 2008 and 2011 the hospital suffered from financial losses that cost them up to $419 million.
Roldan submitted a volunteer resignation effective May 31, 2011 that coincided with the expiration of her contract, according to an email from Edwin O’Dell, JHS spokesman.
Roldan did not respond to requests from Student Media for a followup interview.
She was also president and CEO of Pan American Hospital and guided Pan American Hospital out of bankruptcy which it filed protection for in March 2004.
Sistema de Salud Metropolitano, a hospital operator in Puerto Rico, won a bankruptcy court bidding in 2006, paid $34 million for Pan American Hospital, converted the nonprofit into a for-profit, and renamed it Metropolitan Hospital.
Roldan remained CEO during its transition of ownership.
Under a merged college health system, Roldan said FIU Health will stay the same and Student Health Services will have their “back up and support.”
“When you’re integrating services you’re enhancing services for your customer base, in this case it would be students,” said Roldan.
Roldan develops collaboration and programs across the medical school with international and clinical partners as associate dean of International Affairs. She is also associate professor of Pathology.
Faculty from the College of Medicine see patients in the Ambulatory Care Center as part of their FIU Health workload.
“These are professors, but we all have had patients and we all have practiced before,” Roldan said.
FIU Health has some of the same clinical positions as SHS but lacks a pharmacy.
Roldan said FIU Health is considered an outpatient clinic site. These provide care for patients whose ailments do not require overnight stays.
She said the type of specialty care a student needs will determine the service FIU Health gives them.
“We always decide on clinical, never on economics,” Roldan said. “We are first and foremost healthcare providers.”
The specialties of FIU Health’s 18 doctors include disorders of the joints and muscles, the female reproductive system, reproductive medicine, mental health and treatment of conditions with the intestinal tract and liver.
The clinic is an option for students, according to Roldan.
Student Health has doctors and advanced registered nurses who provide primary care and are specialists in the areas of mental health, women’s health, the heart, skin conditions and eating disorders.
“If the service could be done within Student Health it’ll stay in Student Health,” Roldan said.
Healthcare navigators are new positions the University created for the purpose of getting students to a healthcare provider and enrolled into health insurance. There will be one at the Modesto Maidique Campus and one at the Biscayne Bay Campus.
Counseling and Psychological Services, the Victim Empowerment Program and the Disability Resource Center still work for the Division of Student Affairs.
“That does not mean students are not getting the same services,” Roldan said. “Still the health factor will be provided to the student, and it’s seamless.”
The University will increase its promotion of wellness as being a part of the health of any person, college student or otherwise.
Roldan said “we have to educate individuals on what the definition of health is” and cited the World Health Organization’s definition for health which she said is a “holistic approach to making a person well.”
The WHO’s definition states health is “a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Roldan said Student Health fits the WHO’s definition and that any health environment should be similar.
“Health is not just you’re unhealthy and the doctor needs to give you a prescription,” Roldan said. “A person has a brain and a spirit.”
philippe.buteau@fiusm.com
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