Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1974 [PAGE 300]

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290

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[June 20

The situation has not been without its negative factors. Some students have expressed dissatisfaction with the generic drugs dispensed, since personal taste and desires cannot be served unless the common generic drug stocked by the Health Service triggers an allergic response in the patient. Local pharmacists have reacted negatively. Their concerns are likely motivated by the reduction in prescriptions that they presently fill. The number of student prescriptions filled by local pharmacists in 1972-73 is roughly one-third the number which they filled in 1971-72. The disaffection of some local pharmacists has on occasion led to challenges of the judgment of Dr. L. M. Hursh, Director of McKinley Health Center, and to attempts to enlist student assistance by developing- a survey that might support the thesis of an inadequate or inefficient pharmacy. In response to these activities, the Health Service Student Advisory Committee has prepared its own survey. While the pharmacists report some negative reaction, the data collected at the Health Service are overwhelmingly positive, lending further support to the apparent success of the program and to broad student satisfaction with those pharmaceutical services which are presently available. The concern of local pharmacists has led to some discussions between the Health Service Student Advisory Committee and the Illinois Pharmaceutical Association, These discussions have resulted in a proposal by the Association for a fixed per capita premium basis program for providing pharmaceutical services through local privately-owned pharmacies. Such an arrangement would, if negotiated, allow a student to have certain prescriptions written by the Health Service and prescriptions of local physicians filled in local pharmacies on the payment of a stipulated minimum fee (likely to be one dollar). Such a program would replace the present pharmaceutical coverage in student insurance and supplement the Health Service pharmacy. The Student Advisory Committee has been skeptical of this proposal, its costs, and its benefits to students. At my request, members of my staff met with representatives of the Illinois Pharmaceutical Association and of the Illinois Pharmaceutical Services Foundation (specifically chartered by the state to perform the services suggested). We believe that the proposals of the Association and of the Foundation have sufficient merit to warrant further exploration. If better defined and described, the proposal could result in improved benefits and services for students with regard to their health care needs at little or no additional cost. Based on the above, the following recommendations emerge: 1. That the Health Service pharmacy be continued at least at its present level of operation, namely — providing prepaid pharmaceutical services to students who are under the care of Health Service physicians. 2. That_ members of the Campus Affairs staff and students from the Heajth Service Student Advisory Committee undertake formal discussions with the Illinois Pharmaceutical Services Foundation to explore providing pharmaceutical services through privately-owned pharmacies on a fixed, per capita basis. Such discussions will begin immediately with the likelihood that any formal proposals that emerge can be ready for review and approval in January, 1974. Dr. L, M. Hursh, the Student Advisory Committee, and members of my staff strongly concur with the first recommendation. Members of my staff, a representative of the Insurance Office, and a staff member in the Health Service have made the second recommendation based on their recent discussions with the Pharmaceutical Association and the Foundation. I concur with both of these recommendations and recommend them to you for your approval. Hugh M. Satterlee Vice Chancellor for Campus Affairs

This report was received as a matter of record and information. OLD BUSINESS Mr. Neal moved to recall and withdraw the resolution he had presented in March and moved approval of the President's report on Selection