Longwood officials say that within the next week they could finalize a deal commissioning the university’s Health Center to an outside party. Through the agreement, Longwood and another organization would officially be in partnership, where the majority of the personnel in the department would be outsourced.
If the deal ends up being successful, it would consist of a three-year initial contract, with seven successive, one-year contract options, starting next school year.
At the end of the 2013-14 academic year, the health center lost three of its six- person staff. The director of the department, as well as two other employees, left the university for various reasons. Shortly after, the school put out a proposal to look for an organization, which could come in and run the facility.
“It’s an opportunity for an organization to come in and provide us with an expertise in the health field that the campus doesn’t have right now,” said Longwood University’s Associate Dean of Wellness and Director of Campus Recreation, Matthew McGregor.
“We sat down and looked at what the department was good at, and what we struggled with a little bit...when you lose 50 percent of your staffing, it makes for some interesting conversation,” said McGregor. “We also looked at whether or not we were being as efficient in that office as possible.”
McGregor also stated that the university was struggling to recruit medical professionals to the area, which played into the decision to outsource. “Part of it was salary based, part of it was Farmville based... just some of the issues of getting people here.”
According to McGregor, one stipulation in the university’s proposal that was directed towards organizations involved them in bringing new entities and options to the health center. “Maybe they have an on-site pharmacy and they can sell (prescription) drugs from here, or maybe they are able to have lower charges for faculty and staff. If they can bring something to campus, that is a plus,” he said.
McGregor said the university’s hope is that the process is seamless and that students don’t even notice the transition. “Like Aramark Dining,” he said for comparison. “Unless you put some thought into it, you just assume those people work for Longwood. That’s the goal we are going for, that the people who are brought in are invested in our campus.”
McGregor wanted it to be clear that the university did its research before making the decision. He said other colleges and universities in Virginia have outsourced medical staff in their health centers, which Longwood researched before moving forward.
“We spent a lot of time looking at some of the other schools that do it this way,” he said. “Christopher Newport, Radford, and (I believe) Norfolk State were the specific schools we talked with.”
Knowing that this year would be an in-between period, McGregor said the Health and Wellness Center hired “quite a few” temporary personnel, while keeping two permanent roles.
“They knew that their assignment was until the end of the spring semester,” McGregor said speaking on the temporary positions. “When the new company comes in, they could possibly be considered for one of those positions.” He added, “Those two permanent positions would be offered a position with the new company that comes in for the first year of the company’s contract.”
Though McGregor wouldn’t confirm or deny the possibility that there were still multiple organizations in the running, he elucidated that the process is currently in an arbitration period. “It hasn’t been completely finished off yet,” he said. “We’ve received the proposals, we’ve met with people on campus. I was originally hoping to have this finished by mid-January, so we are a bit behind.”
After a pause, he chuckled and added, “If it doesn’t happen in the next week or so I’ll start to get a little nervous.”
The Rotunda has heard multiple reports of the neighboring Centra Southside Community Hospital submitting a proposal to the university, but McGregor wouldn’t verify that either. “I’m not at liberty to say,” he said. “The information during the process is protected record until the process is completely over.”
Even though McGregor and other Longwood officials believe they will be able to come to an agreement soon in the decision, if they don’t find a match, there is still a possibility of the Health Center “staying in house.”
Follow The Rotunda in the ensuing weeks for updates as the university looks to strike a deal.
