ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602120059
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
Ask college students in most parts of the country about their campus health center and you probably will hear the same litany of complaints: The wait is too long. The doctors and nurses barely glance at you. No matter what the ailment is, you will come out with a bottle of antibiotics and no diagnosis.
The question is whether any college health center can battle these negative perceptions and win over its student body.
Radford University is trying. After conducting a yearlong study and receiving a D minus rating from students, Radford turned over management of its health center to a private company for the next five years to cap costs and the tide of complaints.
During the last nine months, Connecticut-based Collegiate Health Care has been running the center in exchange for the $610,000 in health fees collected from its students at $90 each. Collegiate, which sees an average of 500 students each week at the Radford center, will be paid more only if student enrollment increases.
Two major changes already have transformed the look and feel of the health center: a $150,000 renovation and the transition from a walk-in to an appointment system.
"We really have nowhere to go but up," said Director Joyce Walter, who came to Radford during the summer and works for Collegiate. "I'd love to have a B plus [rating], but it's going to take a long time. We're still in transition."
The most visible change to the health center is physical. The small, institutional-looking waiting room with the dull tile floors and green trimmed walls has been replaced with a much larger room with carpeting, plush upholstered chairs, a television and fashionable prints on the walls.
A self-help center has been set up in a corner with colorful information sheets on cold symptoms and wound care. Students are given brown lunch bags filled with ointment and bandages for wounds or cough drops and sinus tabs for colds upon request. Books detailing common ailments from acne to bronchitis are available at the center and in dormitories.
"The students now take charge of their own care for minor cuts and colds," Walter said. After hours, students can call a 24-hour nurse advice line - a service Collegiate provides to all its college health centers.
Collegiate Health Care manages the health centers of 16 colleges and universities, including Trinity College in Washington, D.C., and Boise State in Idaho, its biggest client to date. The 3-year-old company competed last year with three other companies for a five-year contract with Radford University - ASG Management, Radford Community Hospital and Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital.
The university decided to go with a private contractor to address student complaints, which focused mainly on long waits and impersonal, rushed care, and cap costs. Though the health center made a profit of $7,085 in 1994, it was in the red $105,000 in 1993 and $31,000 in 1992.
"In their presentation, they talked a lot about working with the students and getting what the students wanted," said Kristi Nelson, one of two students on the advisory board that chose Collegiate. "They were willing to work with the university the most and they came in with a positive attitude."
Nelson believes her initial impressions about the company were on target. The Radford senior, who has been to the health center several times herself this school year, said students are getting more information and more attention. The main complaint she has heard around campus has been the switch to 20-minute appointments instead of a walk-in system.
Walter said the appointment system, which is organized on computer, helps reduce the wait students had been complaining about and mirrors a traditional doctor's office.
Even after the summer and fall sessions, however, some students say they would rather have a walk-in system. Currently, students who come in without appointments have to wait for a no-show or rare break in the schedule before they can see a doctor or nurse. (The center makes exceptions when students are violently ill.)
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, several bleary-eyed students with flu symptoms said they waited more than two hours to see a doctor because they had not made an appointment.
"You never know ahead of time you'll get sick," said sophomore Doug Cannon, who did not make an appointment before coming in with pink eye and the flu. "I probably won't come back," he added.
Senior Rebecca Young, who also prefers a walk-in system, said students are "scatterbrained" when it comes to making appointments.
"I know for me and a lot of students, they go to classes all day, they work all night, they do homework," she said. "If I'm sick, I'm not going to say, 'oh wait, I've got to make an appointment.'''
Other changes instituted by Collegiate have been less noticeable but no less dramatic.
The company contracted with Carilion Health Systems for regular lab work, which includes courier service two to three times a day, and worked out a prescription discount system for students with Revco drugstores. Regular education programs on alcohol, pregnancy, the HIV virus and sexually transmitted diseases are being held throughout campus.
"What we typically do is listen to the students, understand what their needs are, and based on our experience bring to bear [that] expertise to transact their business," said Seth Klion, Collegiate Health Care's chief financial officer.
One of the fears surrounding Collegiate was that the company would fire the existing 13-member staff and bring in "outsiders," Walter said. Instead, five people were rehired.
Collegiate is looking for a full-time physician, however. Several local physicians have been alternating days at the health center for a total of 20 hours. Walter said she also wants to hire a part-time health educator.
The system is not complaint-free, but Walter said she constantly is listening to students, parents and administrators for new ideas. And she is getting rave reviews from Paul Williams, vice president of student affairs.
"Apparently the student satisfaction with the center has improved considerably," he said. "The working conditions and the satisfaction of the staff has improved considerably ... We couldn't ask for a more accommodating company to deal with."
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Collegiate Health Care, based on Norwalk, Conn., runs student health centers at 16 small colleges and universities. Its largest client, Boise State in Idaho, has about 15,000 students.
Revenue: During the 1994-1995 fiscal year, Collegiate posted $2 million in revenues.
Management: The company was started by Brett Prager, a 29-year-old entrepreneur who is currently the chief executive officer of the company. Joyce Walter, who left her post at the University of Delaware after nine years as a certified health education specialist, is the new director at Radford University's health center.
Staff: The Radford health center employs two adult nurse practitioners, four licensed nurse practitioners, two part-time registered nurses and a full-time nurse practitioner who deals only in gynecology - a new addition - and the equivalent of three full-time secretaries.
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Alan Kim. Joyce Walter is director of the Radfordby CNBUniversity health center. color.