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May 19, 2006 > News > Health Services adds physician

Health Services adds physician

By Sarah Baker | Thresher Editorial Staff

When flu season begins, sick students will likely be able to get appointments at Health Services more quickly. A full-time doctor and full-time nurse will be added to the clinical staff in the fall. Health Services Director Mark Jenkins said he also wants to hire a nurse to replace one who left in September.

The existing clinical staff will continue working the same number of hours during the academic year, Jenkins said. Currently, the clinic has two full-time doctors, one full-time nurse and one-full time medical assistant.

Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said the additional staff members will be paid for by an increase in the student health fee, from $350 to $388. Forman said he expects the fee to remain relatively stable after this year’s increase.

Jenkins said hiring more staff members is the second step in the process of expanding the health clinic. The first was moving the clinic from its previous location at Hanszen College to its present location next to Brown College.

“I came to Rice in 1992,” Jenkins said. “It was clear then that we needed more staff, and you can’t have more staff without more space.”

Health Services Associate Director Stacy Ware said the planned increase in the number of undergraduates also led to the decision to hire additional staff members. Ware said President David Leebron asked Health Services what it would need to accommodate the enrollment increase.

“It was another physician because we already have a hard enough time keeping up with appointment demand,” Ware said.

Jenkins said the new staff members will increase available appointment times by 50 percent and decrease inefficiencies caused by the triage system, in which patients who walk into the clinic with serious ailments are given priority over patients with scheduled appointments.

Will Rice College sophomore Allison Cregg said the larger staff will be helpful.

“That is a really good thing because every time I’ve ever gone to [Health Services], they’ve never been able to help me because it’s always busy,” Cregg said.

The transistion to an electronic medical records system will also improve appointment scheduling and communication, Jenkins said.

“If [patients] have their information online about how to contact them, we might be able to then send out very specific announcements to a specific group of patients,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said there are no definite plans to expand the clinic’s working hours, although he and Ware are discussing increasing lunchtime appointment times.

Jenkins said he has begun a search to fill the positions and would like the new hires to be working by Orientation Week.

Health Insurance

The only major change to the health insurance plan provided to students by the Chickering Group is that the dental savings plan is now free, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for Health Programs Lindley Doran said. In the past, students who have signed up for the dental savings plan have been charged a fee.

Doran said cost of the health insurance plan increased this year. However, since graduate students are the primary purchasers of the insurance, Rice’s graduate student subsidy also increased.

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