The committee spent the meeting first by reviewing the UHS final budget and its presentation to SSFC last night. Now that the state budget has been laid out, the proposed 2.9% budget increase proposal can go forward with a fair amount of certainty assuming no more changes at the stae level. Lastly, a review of a UW system health insurance task force presentation was given to update the committee on challenges facing students with regards to insurance coverage and also some models for the campus and health plans moving forward both at the university level and at the system level.
Briefing by UHS counseling services on their new policies regarding access. The “Let’s Talk” initiative was started this semester, in which counselors go to the Red Gym and Ingraham Hall to offer consultations and reach out to under represented student populations. The newly revised budget for the upcoming fiscal year was also discussed. It will be presented to SSFC on February 14th. Cookies were distributed to please the extraordinary members of this committee. Hooray!
In today’s meeting we discussed finances related to the upcoming budget report. At this time, specific information regarding the budget is not available for the committee to disclose, as nothing is finalized as of yet.
The Health Care Advisory Committee held its second meeting of the semester on Thursday, November 18. After introductions, the committee continued reviewing the 2010 budget which further revealed the challenges UHS is facing in terms of financing the increased demand for care which is in part due to the new, central location on East Campus Mall which has resulted in more heavy usage. The rest of the meeting was spent reviewing the results of a student insurance and billing survey that was e-mailed to students last spring. Highlights of the students’ opinions in the survey include the following: confidence in and appreciation of UHS, student cost-consciousness and price sensitivity, general lack of health care knowledge, and social justice issues like making sure everyone has access to care regardless of ability to pay and possibly adding additional fees for those who use the services more. These were all just opinions and don’t reflect any planned changes in policy. The next meeting will be held on November 30th.
The Healthcare Advisory Board held its first meeting of Fall 2010 on Tuesday, November 2. After introductions, the committee reviewed the 2009-10 Annual Report for a general overview of UHS structure and services. In preparation for upcoming discussions about the budget, the committee also looked back at last year’s budget process and the funding challenges UHS faced in light of the H1N1 crisis and state budget cuts. Anticipated challenges for this budget cycle include: health care inflation, the unbelievable increase in demand for UHS services since its relocation to University Square, and continuing state budget efficiency measures.
