Health Center transition maintains quality service
With the new Student Health Center embarking on its first fall semester in service, The Rocket had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. David Wilmes, who is the Vice President of Student Affairs of Slippery Rock University to further explain the changes and the effects on students.
What changed in the health center?
While the average person may not recognize any drastic changes in the Student Health Center, that’s because most of the changes, Wilmes says, were administrative.
“We used to be completely in-house, so basically all of the employees, with the exception of the doctor, were university employees.” He continues, “Last year, we began the process to transition over to external management.”
Before this past spring, all members of the Student Health Center were employed through Slippery Rock University with the exception of the medical doctor who worked as a family physician in Slippery Rock Borough. Now, the Student Health Center is run by Allegheny Health Network (AHN), which manages all nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and the university’s new medical doctor, Dr. Sunjay Mannan.
Wilmes says the decision to make the change was due to finances. Prior to the change, Slippery Rock University was running a deficit of $900,000 due to rising healthcare costs.
“We did not want to increase the fee for students, and so this was an opportunity to keep the fee the same while lowering our overall costs.” Wilmes explained.
According to Highmark Health, which AHN is an affiliate of, AHN’s total revenue in 2024 was $5.1 billion, and according to a report conducted by Becker’s Hospital Review, it had $5.3 billion in expenses in 2024. A large healthcare company like AHN has the ability to cover supplies, contracts and other expenses that Slippery Rock University simply cannot afford in its budget. Wilmes emphasized that employees of the Student Health Center, prior to the change, were given the opportunity to apply and interview for jobs, with two nurses from the previous Student Health Center taking positions with AHN.
This trend of universities switching to third-party entities to run the healthcare needs of students is not limited to Slippery Rock. This past August, Gannon University in Erie announced that AHN would be running the university’s health center. The Rocket had previously reported that the following universities in Pennsylvania also outsource their health center to a third-party provider: Allegheny College, Clarion University, Cedar Crest College, East Stroudsburg University, Bucknell University, Gettysburg College, Kutztown University, and Shippensburg University.
“The reality is that a huge network like AHN has the buying power that we, as an individual health center, do not.” Wilmes added.
Impact on services
Despite these changes, Wilmes assures that the data shows practically no difference in services. Wilmes explains that prior to the transition, the Student Health Center saw an average of 160 students who needed to see a medical doctor. In this past spring semester, 85 students saw a medical doctor, and assuming that the fall semester will produce a similar number, it is safe to say that the transition did not affect the number of students who are seen. The same is the case for nurse practitioners and registered nurses, with nurse practitioners seeing on average 2,400 and registered nurses seeing 4,900 students a year. This past spring, they saw 985 and 2,144 students, respectively.
Dr. Mannan is only on campus for five hours each week, though this time is not spent meeting with students, but rather reviewing charts and signing off on decisions. Wilmes explained that this role was no different from the previous system.
In fact, he says that having Dr. Mannan as part of the university community will prove beneficial to students, given his background in college health.
“College health is a little different because, generally, 18 to 24 year-olds are pretty healthy, but they have specific needs based on the population.” Wilmes said.
Meet the new health center, same as the old health center
While the changes seem intense and substantive, the student population should have nothing to worry about. Services still remain the same, and the quality of services has not changed.
When students enter the Student Health Center with a medical concern, they are directed to either a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner, which is the same as it had been prior to the change. If they are determined to need to see a medical doctor, they will still have the ability to.
Slippery Rock News reported that the services AHN provides in the Student Health Center include, but are not limited to, same-day treatment for common illnesses and injuries, annual physicals, screenings and immunizations, women’s health concerns, and mental health challenges.
As Wilmes assures, “If someone is deemed as they need to see the MD as opposed to a nurse practitioner, that is always an option on the table.”
The Student Health Center is located in the newly renovated Campus Success Center and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m.
