Seeking to keep students healthy

By: Michelle Anstett
Editor-in-chief 

This piece, the second in a series of three, aims to open the dialogue between the students, faculty and administration of Monmouth College and those people at Community Medical Center (CMC). The first installment, published on Friday, Oct. 6, brought to the forefront the concerns of two Monmouth College students who had visited CMC at some point in their college careers. This installment aims to look at some of the difficulties the people at CMC face in dealing with Monmouth College students, and some of the reasons why students may experience problems. The third, and final, installment will aim to look at some ways in which the Monmouth College community, along with the staff at CMC, can make the experience better for all involved.

Students who use the Community Medical Center clinic, either on campus or in town, must be armed with the proper tools before making their visit.

The Community Medical Center, or CMC, operates a clinic on the Monmouth College campus two days a week, and also offers an on-site clinic and emergency services. The clinic and emergency room, located at 1000 West Harlem Avenue in Monmouth, are open 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Students are encouraged to visit the clinic or emergency room as needed, but are especially encouraged to make use of the on-campus clinic.

In addition to the obvious services, CMC offers a wide range of specialty services. “We have the largest volunteer basis of all the hospitals in Illinios,” Brett Stahl, projects manager, said. In addition, the hospital offers a physical therapy department which opens at 6 a.m., an on-staff podiatrist who specializes in sports injuries, on-site laboratory and medical imaging facilities and five gardens which have roofs which can be drawn over them in the winter and are climate-controlled. The housekeeping staff keeps the hospital very clean, and “you won’t get a lot of the infections you would normally get walking into a hospital,” Stahl added.

There are 28 exam rooms in the clinic, with four providers on staff. When it was built in 1968, the hospital was designed to accommodate 168 beds. However, as a result of the expansion in services offered by CMC, the bed count is now around 68. The focus now is on outpatient surgery, such as the removal of plantar warts.

There is also a patient advocate who attempts to make contact with every patient who walks in the doors of CMC and follows up on any patient complaints.

“Service-wise, we do a very good job,” said Eric Cunningham, vice president of marketing and fund development at CMC, but “we do have issues, and we’re aware of them.”

One issue is that students hold a “common misconception that the clinic on campus is a free clinic,” Cunningham said. The average visit, as stated in a brochure circulated around the Monmouth College campus at the beginning of each school year, costs $73. “CMC Clinics discounts office visits for Monmouth College students by 20 percent, decreasing the average cost to $58.40,” the brochure says.

This amount is payable upon the reception of service, and the student’s insurance company will be billed as soon as an itemized bill for services is compiled. However, for students who are still using their family insurance company and not the college-provided insurance, the amount due may be less than $58.40, depending on the insurance company’s co-pay requirements.

Each individual’s co-payment or responsibility for payment differs, and changes all the time as “rules are getting stricter by insurance companies,” said Ronda Willhardt, director of CMC clinics. When a student’s insurance coverage includes an HMO– “a type of insurance which usually has a very limited list of providers from which the patient can choose”–things become more complicated as to whether or not the visit to CMC is covered.

When a student is covered by the college’s insurance company, he or she is responsible for the full payment of all bills at the time of service. Once the itemized bill is finished, a claim can be filed to the insurance company, and the student will be reimbursed for the expenses which are covered by the insurance policy.

The basic advice the CMC staff can give is to “be prepared for a medical visit,” Cunningham said. This includes knowing who your insurance provider is, and some of the basic terms of your policy. Students should also check, or have their parents check, if a visit to CMC is covered by their insurance, as seeking service out-of-area is the most common cause of high medical bills. “Bringing your card and bringing your co-pay” is the advice Willhardt had for students visiting CMC.

Another difficulty faced by the staff at CMC is the lack of knowledge students seem to have with regards to the services provided by the company. Students know about the on-campus clinic, but some do not realize there is a larger, more comprehensive clinic in town which can run any diagnostic tests necessary.

Generally, when students are given a diagnosis at the on-campus clinic, that diagnosis is given without the assistance of diagnostic testing. A follow-up visit to the in-town clinic is suggested in order to give students a clear understanding of what is wrong with their health.

Opening a dialogue between the school and CMC in an effort to educate students about all the services provided and what is necessary for a clinic visit is crucial to the success of both the on-campus and the larger clinics, Cunningham said.