Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get a note from the Student Health Center if I miss a class or an exam because of illness?

Can I use a credit card to pay my bill at the Student Health Center?

Why do I need to pay for my birth control pills with cash or check?

Should I buy prescription medication at Student Health (if available) or go to a local pharmacy?

Why do some patients pay for labwork at the time of the visit, and others receive a bill later?

Can I get a note from the Student Health Center if I miss a class or an exam because of illness?

The Student Health Center has a long standing policy of not providing written excuses for missed classes or missed academic obligations due to routine self-limited illnesses. Click here to download a copy of our Policy on Medical Excuses and Medical Records in .pdf format.

Can I use a credit card to pay my bill at the Student Health Center?

We do not accept major credit cards or bank debit cards as payment. We accept cash, check, and the Vanderbilt Debit Card for most charges. You may also charge your fees to your student account. For oral contraceptives cash or check are the only accepted forms of payment.

Why do I need to pay for my birth control pills with cash or check?

The vendors (pharmaceutical companies) of oral contraceptives are paid from accounts which are kept separately from the general Student Health Clinic accounts. The vendors sell us their products at a substantially reduced rate only if we agree to pay them directly from their designated accounts. We must also agree that we will not compete with local pharmacies. Since there is direct billing we are able to offer students the best possible price, a price that is much lower than any pharmacy.

Should I buy prescription medication at Student Health (if available) or go to a local pharmacy?

The answer to this question depends on your health insurance. Many patients have prescription benefits with their health insurance plan, which means that they can go to a local pharmacy, present the card, and receive medication after paying a co-pay. The copay amount will be determined by the plan and often varies, depending on the medication needed. Copays often range from as low as $5 on some plans for generic medication, up to as high as $50 for some plans for more "restricted" medications.

The dispensary at the Student Health Center is stocked with the commonly used medications that we prescribe. We are able to sell these medications at prices that generally are lower than the prices in the local pharmacies. So, if we carry the medication you have been prescribed, and the price that we offer is lower or equal to your copay, then it makes sense to buy the medicine at the Student Health Center, rather than making the trip to a pharmacy. However, if your copay is quite low, and we cannot beat that price, then it makes more sense to buy the medication with your prescription drug card at a local pharmacy.

Patients without a prescription benefit or with a plan with a very high deductible generally purchase their medications at the Student Health Center Dispensary (if available).

Why do some patients pay for labwork at the time of the visit, and others receive a bill later?

When the decision is made to order labwork, then a decision also has to be made how to handle the financial aspects. There are a few tests like pregnancy tests, mono test, urinalysis, and strep tests that we do here at Student Health. There is a small fee for these tests, and all patients must pay for these at the time of check-out.

More complicated testing is sent to the Vanderbilt Medical Center laboratories and the results are later forwarded to us. There are two ways to handle payment for such tests:

The patient can pay Student Health at the time of check-out, and we in turn reimburse the medical center. This is called "Client Billing", whereby the Student Health Center is the client of the medical center. The rates that the medical center gives Student Health for such tests is significantly lower than the "regular" rates since we have eliminated the "middle-man"--the insurance companies. As an example, a complete blood count through this route would cost $6.50 but the typical charge if billed through insurance would be $74.00. Once the decision is made to file with insurance and the insurance company is billed, that decision cannot be changed. In other words, if a patient decides to file labwork with the insurance company, and the insurance company rejects the claim, the student cannot THEN go back and pay a "client bill" price. He/she will owe the full "regular" charge to the medical center.

It makes sense to take the "Client Bill" route under the following circumstances:
- Privacy: If tests are billed through insurance, then parents will usually receive a report of tests ordered from the insurance company and/or medical center.
- High deductible: Healthy patients who rarely use their health insurance will not meet their deductible if it is high. So, for an acute illness like mononucleosis where lab tests may be ordered, it makes sense to bypass the insurance company and pay the lower rate since all costs will be out of pocket anyway.
- Out of Network Insurance: Some patients may have a great insurance plan that works well at home, but may be very restrictive out of network in Nashville. If this is the case, then Client Billing makes the most sense.
- Non-Covered Tests: Some insurance companies will not pay for certain screening tests without a "diagnosis" attached to them. So, if a healthy patient has such insurance and needs a cholesterol test or wants to know his/her blood type, then it is best to bypass the insurance company completely.
- Great Discrepancy Between Client Bill prices and Medical Center Charges: In some cases, there is a great discepancy between the two charges, so that even after filing with an insurance company, the patient's share is larger than the bill would have been with paying up front. A perfect example of this is the chemistry panel that includes electrolytes, sugar, and liver tests. The Student Health charge is only $13 but the Medical Center charge to insurance companies is $120--if a student's insurance plan requires a 20% copay, then the bill would be for $24, rather than the $13 charge the student would have paid by taking the Client Bill route.
For tests associated with a "diagnosis" and in patients with insurance companies that have low deductibles and reasonable co-pays on such tests, then it may make sense to have the medical center file your lab charges with your insurance company. In that case, you would not have to pay for any such tests at the time of check-out at the Student Health Center. You would later receive an EOB (Explanation of Benefits) from the insurance company and then would be billed later by the medical center after your insurance company had paid their share.

The complexities involved in making the decision of "client bill" (pay up front) or "insurance bill" are sometimes difficult for patients to sort out on their own. If you as the patient can be informed about the nature of your insurance company/benefits, your health care provider can help you make the right financial decision at the time that labwork is ordered.

Student Health Center | Vanderbilt University
Zerfoss Building, MCN | 1161 21st Ave. S. | Nashville, TN 37232
615.322.2427 | (fax) 615.343.0047