Starting July 27, FIU College of Medicine Health Care Network will provide primary care services Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., in the University Health Services Complex at Modesto A. Maidique Campus.
By Sissi Aguila
Faculty and staff will soon be able to see a physician without leaving Modesto A. Maidique Campus.
The FIU Health Care Network (HCN), a group practice of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine clinical faculty, will provide FIU faculty and staff with convenient, cost-effective primary care, preventive care and management of chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
“The College of Medicine’s HealthCare Network is pleased to initiate professional medical services on-campus for full-time FIU faculty and staff. We are starting small with the plan for expanded services in the very near future,” said Dean John Rock.
The on-campus practice opens July 27 in the University Health Services Complex, room 154.
The doctor is in
David R. Brown, M.D. who teaches in the department of Humanities, Health and Society at the College of Medicine, will be the primary care provider for the clinic. Board certified in family practice, Brown has practiced family medicine for more than 15 years. He has extensive experience in prevention, screening, family planning, acute care, and chronic disease care.
“I am looking forward to being part of this initiative in offering health care services to the FIU community”, said Brown.
A recipient of the Saint John Community Development Corporation Medical Excellence award in 2008, he is co-founder and co-director of the Historic Overtown Public Health Empowerment (HOPE) Collaborative and a member of the Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade County.
In 2005, Brown joined forces with Booker T. Washington Senior High School students and teachers to create the “Overtown Cookbook,” a collection of healthy recipes based on ethnic favorites. These meals are often prepared in unhealthy ways in the African-American community, but Brown and a group of student residents at the Jefferson Reaves Sr. Health Clinic developed a nutritional diet that could be used in the community without losing the cultural food tradition and identity.
Prior to his position at FIU, Brown practiced and taught at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and in the Jackson Health Care System.
The plan
In addition to the services offered by Brown and clinical support staff, the College’s clinical faculty members who have community practices in Miami-Dade County are available to faculty and staff as an option for specialty medical services at their office locations within the community.
All FIU health insurance plans will be accepted. The $15 office visit co-payment will be waived for employees in the HMO and PPO plans when services are provided at the FIU on-campus practice. Benefits or services not covered by FIU plans will be charged according to an established fee schedule.
The FIU College of Medicine’s HealthCare Network plans to expand professional medical services in the future to include dependents of faculty and staff who have health insurance coverage through FIU plans.
For more information or to make an appointment, call 305-348-DOCS (3627). Appointments are recommended to reduce wait time; however, walk-ins will be accepted.
This is a great benefit for employees!
Excellent benefit for Faculty & Staff!
Agreed! This is the kind of service that every employer should offer. Giving employees options is the best way to keep them motivated. I hope not to get sick and actually have to visit the doctor, but it's a bit of a relief to know if I did get sick I could see someone here.
I think it is a great benefit. Should alumni enjoy this benefit as well, I think so.
EXCELLENT IDEA !
what a great idea–thank you!
This is a great idea. Right now, if I am sick and need to see a doctor, I have to miss a half day of work. Being able to go at work, and after work – is great.
Ok..so u increase the students tuition by 15% instead of decreasing the faculty's pay and now this new health care is only for the employees? Im sorry but this is just pathetic!
Not so pathetic, Melissa. Students already have access to a medical doctor on campus through University Health Services. If a student is sick and needs to see a physician, he or she can visit University Health Services and be treated by one thanks to the student fees the university charges. Faculty and staff currently can't go to UHS and see a doctor. With the opening of this clinic, we will now be able to do so — for a total of nine hours a week, mind you. In fact, do you know why the hours are only at night? Because no one wanted the students' current hours of access to University Health Services to be impacted negatively by the new Health Care Network Practice. In other words, faculty and staff can go see a family practice doctor on campus when the clinic would normally be closed to students. Some individuals continue to harp on the tuition increases, and there's no argument here that shouldering a 15 percent increase is not easy and is surely a burden. The fact remains, however, that Florida still offers some of the lowest tuition rates in the country. And linking the increase in tuition to this new clinic makes no sense. They aren't related in any way.
I'm not so sure that right now is the time to be doing this, just like changing the name of the campus. It seems like FIU is spending money, regardless of the amount, that needs to be in savings. Departments have cut classes, the religion department was almost scrapped, and tuition has been raised. So I don't understand why these things can't wait until the economic climate has settled.
Well put, Gator Girl!
It's tiresome to read, over and over, how the campus is changing names and how it's "pathetic" and whatnot. Like President Maidique decided to cut the budget. They guy's been here for more than two decades and it's not like he's been keeping a chair warm, you know. Naming a campus on his behalf is a bit much, but whaddyagonnado. If you don't like, don't like it and keep calling it UP. It's changing anyway and before people know it, it may change again (just when they've begun to accept the new name).
This clinic is a great initiative. The College of Medicine is about to open and this is one of the bonuses of having all this great faculty coming to FIU. Why Golden Panthers remain fixated on looking at the glass half-empty boggles my mind.
Now, who do we talk to about getting an oil-change service on campus for faculty/staff (for which we'd also pay)? That'd be so awesome.
🙂
MM, believe it or not, a possible oil change service is already in the works, hopefully within the next month or two.
I kinda like that FIU's taking a Silicon Valley-type approach to offering services to faculty/staff. Keep it up!
GRL,
What do you mean by "when the economic settle"?? What do you think happen when you quadrupple your expenditure in your personal budget ???