Amarillo College offers new free health program to students
Amarillo College recently started offering a new health program to give its students and their dependents free, 24-hour access to mental and basic physical health needs.
This fall semester, AC students will gain access to the cost-free virtual healthcare plan TimelyCare. The app, accessed by phone or other electronic devices with internet access, will allow students and those they care for access to basic mental and physical health at the student's convenience.
TimelyCare includes a wide-ranging menu of virtual-care options from licensed physicians and counselors in all 50 states, in any language, at no cost to the students and without having to involve the use of traditional insurance.
"This is an extremely good program for the students to have access to. Cost is a big barrier in many of AC students' lives and with TimelyCare serving as free healthcare for the students and their dependents it will give students a lot of relief to know that they can get the assistance they need for themselves or their kids and not have to worry about missing work or class because it has 24-hour access 365 days a year," said Marcus Benefield, AC student government association president.
Through the new program, students will be able to receive services such as on-demand medical care, appointment-based medical care, on-demand mental health support with TalkNow, appointment-based mental health counseling, psychiatric support, health coaching, basic needs assistance and digital self-care content.
Participants can access the service no matter their location and will also receive a cost-saving discount prescription card. This coverage, which also does not require co-pays, will be automatically extended at no cost to students who are enrolled in Level I or Level II certificate programs or an associate degree program at AC. Students in dual credit or continuing education classes will not be eligible.
"AC has a culture of caring and it really shows with programs like this... having something like this will also potentially draw in more students," Benefield said. "Let's say that there is someone who is considering coming to AC, but they don't know if they are able to afford it financially or have enough time should anything go wrong or someone gets sick. While this won't solve all their problems, it's just one more tool that AC offers to ensure that every student has all the means to succeed."
The AC Board of Regents unanimously approved entering into an agreement with Timely Telehealth LLC to provide students and their dependents with basic telemedicine and behavioral-health services for the next three years at an annual cost of $300,000. Funding for the initiative is provided through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund established by the CARES Act.
According to Jerrod Hinders, coordinator of AC’s counseling center, and a member of the committee that researched and assessed several telehealth vendors before recommending TimelyCare, this is a one-of-a-kind opportunity that will give students access to health care to treat more than 120 basic health conditions from flu-like symptoms, pink eye and respiratory issues, to panic disorders and relationship issues, while also allowing them to use it in a way that best fits their needs.
Hinders said this will also benefit AC’s counseling center, which, since the pandemic, has counseled more than twice its capacity limit of serving 350 students annually.
"Since the counseling center was first formed six years ago, we have seen a consistent increase in the number of students wanting our services and we have been doing our best to make that available," Hinders said. "If there has been one good thing that has come from the pandemic, it's the increased awareness of mental health, but with that we have also seen a rise in demand for mental health providers and TimelyCare will allow us to reach all the students at Amarillo College and give them the mental health counseling to match their need."
According to a news release from AC, for the American Council on Education, student mental health is the top concern among college and university presidents. It’s also the No. 1 reason students leave college. A recent report by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation found that three out of four students who considered dropping out cited emotional stress as the primary cause.
According to Hinders, AC hopes to increase use of resources from 3% to a total 12%, as estimated by NAMI projections on national averages of the population who both live with a mental illness and are willing to receive treatment. Hinders said TimelyCare configuration varies across college campuses though most community colleges fall within the 10-15% engagement range, but with best practices, engagement can increase more than 20%.
"We are hoping this effort will impact hundreds if not thousands of Amarillo College student lives, and starting in fall 2022 semester, it will be available to a population of approximately 7,300 students and their dependents," Hinders said.
According to AC, the three-year cost of TimelyCare will be funded by the CARES Act. At the end of the three-year trial period, college officials will determine the benefits and downfalls of the telehealth service to determine whether they would like to continue providing the service for the students.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: AC offers free healthcare for students with new virtual plan
