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Since the chancellor is involved in
many activities at both campus and
system levels and simply is not in a
position to give direction to numerous
specialty functions, the impact of the
recommendation would be to lower the
number of positions reporting to the
chancellor by one.
The report also revealed the outpatient
clinic serviced 56,276 patients for the
period 1970-71, of whom 93 per cent
were students.
The report suggested students should
participate in the assessment of benefits
received from each program, since
student fees fund these programs.
According to a survey conducted in
April, 1971, the University Health Center
was rated excellent or good by 82 per
cent of about 900 respondents. Only 18
per cent rated it fair to poor.
The report noted the average stay in
the University Health Center hospital is
2.7 days. The annual occupancy level for
the 32 beds during 1970-71 was about
17.5 per cent. Summer occupancy was
about 5.3 per cent.
The report suggested physical space at
the center should be reallocated. "Since
the hospital is greatly underutilized, a
portion of this space should be allocated
for other purposes such as offices or
patient conference rooms," it said.
The report also recommended an
over-all space utilization plan be
developed by University Health Center
staff "with outside assistance if
necessary."
The University Health Center staff
'
$ f , , -. i i , i - ' '
.r7
gives medical care to UN L athletic teams,
and an active medical research program is
carried out in such areas as causes of
athletic injuries, physical fitness and
mental health.
The report also noted that "the basis
for charges in some areas is questionable"
and presents the sources of funding.
The expenditure for "athletic
medicine" for 1970-71 was $84,038, the
entire sum funded by the Athletic Dept.
The expenditure figure is topped only by
that for the clinic and hospital ($336,760
funded by $286,530 from student fees
and $50,230 from patient charges) health
education ($87,145; funded by $35,370
from student fees and $51,775 from the
general account) and the pharmacy
($103,555; $99,936 from student fees.)
The report noted further that the
physical therapy expenditure for 1970-71
was $26,881. Student fees provided
$25,191 of the funding, but the report
said "a considerable amount of physical
therapy effort is involved with the
Athletic Dept., yet the major funding
source is student fees."
The report recommended budgeting
for University Health Center programs be
developed in accordance with the new
organization structure and charges be
made to users as appropriate. Budgeting
for these programs should then be done
individually and should include a review
of recipients of major benefits from a
program and charges made accordingly.
The report also compared the cost per
1,000 students at five Big Eight
universities with the cost at UNL. From
the exhibit, the Universities of Colorado
and Kansas apparently expend greater
amounts per 1,000 students than UNL,
Oklahoma, Kansas State and Missouri
spend lesser amounts.
The report also noted collections of
student accounts receivable is a relatively
costly eftort. It costs about $2,500 to
collect $225,000 (about 1 per cent), and
the Health Center writes off $4,000 to
$5,000 a year in bad debts.
University Health Center accounts
receivable and collection activities, the
report suggest, should be centralized in
the bursar's office. Under this plan the
University Health Center would have to
supply the bursar with information on
student accounts receivable. Outpatient
services would be provided on a cash
basis.
The Board of Regents recently urged
establishment of a Student Health Task
Force to study the University Health
Center activity. The 10 person force has
been formed and has met a few times, but
so far has been concerned with defining
its job.
