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POLICY ON COLLEGE AND PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY TO THE
INJURED STUDENT-ATHLETE
Saint Mary's College strives to provide the highest quality care to each of its student
athletes. It is important that you and your student athlete understand the extent of our
medical coverage and the procedure, which must be followed in the event of an injury or
illness. The medical care of all sports related injuries or illnesses is coordinated through
the Saint Mary's College Athletic Training Room. To assist in doing this, we ask that
you read and understand the following policies and procedures related to your primary
insurance and Saint Mary's College secondary athletic insurance.
Please read the information below, then sign and return the last page, indicated your
having read and understood the following:
1. All students at Saint Mary's College are required to have primary health
insurance, either through an outside policy or by insurance purchased through
SMC. Failure to have an ACTIVE primary insurance policy may result in failure
of SMC to assist in medical expense coverage, even those related to athletic
activity.
2. Your complete primary medical insurance information must be on file in the
athletic training room. Changes in Health Insurance Information must be
submitted immediately to the Athletic Training Room. Failure to do so may result
in incorrect billing, or non-coverage through primary insurance. If proper notice
is not given in writing via mail or fax within seven days of the change, SMC may
not be held responsible for bills or charges related to the lack of notification.
3. In the event of a sports related injury or illness, your primary insurance will be
billed directly from the information provided to the Athletic Training Room. If
you utilize an HMO like Kaiser Permanente or other insurance with restrictions
on locations of service, only the facilities approved by your provider can be used.
4. The SMC secondary athletic insurance will be billed for portions of medical care
bills not covered by your primary insurance on any athletically related injury or
illness, after the primary insurance has been billed. The policy as stated here
does not guarantee coverage, however.
5. SMC and the Athletic Training Staff must approve use of the SMC secondary
insurance policy. SMC financial responsibility is limited to those cases in which
medical care is authorized or recommended by the athletic training staff or its
designees. Failure to discuss, in advance, medical care requiring the use of
SMC secondary insurance may result in loss of benefits. Furthermore, if you
choose to receive medical care outside of, or in addition to the
recommendations made by the Athletic Training Staff and Sports Medicine
providers, you MUST do so at your own expense as our secondary coverage
will not provide assistance in those cases.
6. If your student athlete receives medical care as a result of an athletic injury,
you MUST submit all explanation of benefits from your insurance carrier to
the athletic training room IMMEDIATELY. Bills, EOB's, and other
insurance and medical paperwork will often be sent to the permanent
address or local address of the student athlete or guardian. If your primary
insurance does not send you an EOB, you must contact them and request it.
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Be aware that the SMC Athletic Training Room does not get copies of these
bills. Failure to notify us of bills may result in failure to assist with bill
payment and lead to a collection agency, for which we will not be responsible.
Please be advised that all medical expenses incurred while participating in
collegiate athletics are the sole responsibility of the student athlete. Saint
Mary's College, the Department of Athletics, and the Athletic Training staff
are not responsible for any outstanding balances.
7. Our secondary insurance provider will only assist with medical bill payment for
up to one year from the date of injury. After that time period, the financial
responsibility is then passed to the student athlete. Furthermore, in the event of an
orthopedic rehabilitation, our insurance provider will allow a fixed dollar amount
of outside physical therapy costs above and beyond your primary insurance. This
amount is fixed and cannot be exceeded. You are responsible for verifying this
amount with your athletic trainer for your injury, and you may only exceed this
amount if you are willing to assume financial responsibility for such services.
8. SMC Athletics will not be responsible for non-sports related injuries. To help
clarify situations in which we are or are not responsible for providing secondary
insurance coverage, consider the following examples:
Example A:
Knee ligament tear during intercollegiate practice session
Decision: Athletic Injury, secondary coverage offered
Example B:
Strep throat requiring antibiotic treatment, athlete is in or out of season
Decision: Care offered through student health center. If you choose to go off
campus for care, no secondary coverage offered
Example C:
Ankle Sprain during Physical Education Class, not intercollegiate activity
Decision: Not related to sports activity, no secondary coverage offered
Example D:
Car accident, broken wrist required x-ray, casting and physician care
Decision: Not related to sports activity, no secondary coverage offered
Example E:
Tooth knocked out dur ing athletic practice, dental work required
Decision: Athletic Injury, secondary coverage offered
As you can see above, your primary insurance comes in to play in each of these
scenarios. However, failure to have primary insurance, in addition to being a violation of
policy, can leave your student athlete vulnerable to medical expenses in the event of a
non sport related injury, were SMC will not assist with such expenses.
We hope that the above information is helpful as you make plans for the school
year. Please feel free to call any of the phone numbers below if you have any questions.
We realize that injury/illness and insurance policies can be complex and we will offer any
and all assistance that we can provide.
If you have questions, please contact the Athletic Training Room.
Scott Anderson, Head Athletic Trainer
Cindy Reynolds Athletic Trainer, Insurance Coordinator
Phone, 925-631-4398, Fax, 925-631-8123.
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ATTENTION
The "Policy on College and Parental Responsibility to the Injured Student-Athlete" must
be read and signed by both the parent and the student athlete and returned to the athletic
training room with all other forms.
By signing below, I acknowledge that I have read and understood the "Policy on
College and Parental Responsib ility to the Injured Student-Athlete". I
acknowledge that I am responsible for having the most accurate and current
insurance information filed with Saint Mary's College Athletic Training.
_____________________________ ___________
Parent/Guardian Signature Date
_____________________________ ___________
Student Athlete Signature Date
Please return this signed page, and only this page of the POLICY ON COLLEGE
AND PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY TO THE INJURED ATHLETE, in the
return envelope. The explanatory pages can be kept for your reference. If you are
not in the presence of your student athlete, please send the form with the
parental/guardian signature, and we will get your student athlete to sign in our
presence.