Wingate University Sports Medicine Policy Medical Costs
Wingate University Sports Medicine Policy – Medical Costs
Date: 3/28/2016
To the Parents/Guardians of all Wingate University Student-Athletes:
On behalf of the physicians, athletic trainers, physical therapists, administrators, and staff of Wingate University Sports Medicine, I thank you for entrusting the health and wellbeing of your student-athlete to us.
At Wingate University, our Sports Medicine team strives to provide the very best in primary care, rehabilitation, health education, and prevention services for all of our student-athletes. We provide convenient and caring service to each patient that we attend to. All student-athletes are eligible to use our services and cost you the parent nothing out of pocket. This is how we have operated for years.
Due to some recent changes, we have made the decision to start billing primary insurance for services that are rendered by the Wingate Sports Medicine Department. This should facilitate a continuation of improving health care services without putting the financial burden on you or your athlete. Any out of pocket costs that are due by the member will be paid by the Wingate University Secondary policy. Please note that changes in the healthcare legislation, your premiums will NOT go up due to these types of claims, nor will your student-athlete be negatively impacted and labeled as uninsurable.
Regarding some recent questions surrounding the services rendered, I would like to take a moment and share with you a few changes that have taken place at Wingate Sports Medicine. These will be discussed in further detail later in the letter, but here are a few highlights:
· As recognized healthcare providers and a healthcare facility, Wingate Sports Medicine has begun to bill for the services of the Athletic Trainers servicing your son or daughter.
· There is no expense to you as the policy holder.
· The billed services will be applied to your deductible. In other words, the services rendered will help decrease if not in some cases eliminate the deductible.
· The process continues to remain the same surrounding how the billing is handled of an injury that is sustained by your son or daughter while participating as a Wingate University student-athlete.
· Please make sure all paperwork is sent to the Wingate Sports Medicine Department for processing.
Please note the following important information about charges, health insurance, and health insurance information:
Charges and health insurance
· As is true in other health care settings, there is a charge for the services rendered by the Wingate Sports Medicine professional health care providers. However, we accept all health insurance plans and will bill your health insurance carrier directly for services that are covered by your plan. We will not bill you or your student for those services – only the insurance company. We will pay any member responsibility.
· You will receive an EOB (Explanation of Benefits) in the mail or online each time a charge is filed. THIS IS NOT A BILL. Please send us this EOB and we will take care of any amounts due.
· These changes will allow Wingate Sports Medicine to continue to provide high quality health care to all athletes. This is the current policy and will remain in place.
Our policy for medical expenses is as follows:
Wingate University asks that every student carry primary insurance. When an injury does occur, we will provide them the needed medical care, and file all medical claims against your athlete’s primary insurance. Any balance that is due or not paid by your insurance company will be paid by the university’s secondary policy.
Just so you know, using your primary insurance does not cause your rates to go up. Medical insurance is not like car insurance. In fact, with the recent law changes associated with healthcare reform, all rate increases can only be assessed using community rating. This means that next year’s rate will be based on the performance of all the members of a specific healthcare plan, and what the costs were compared to the premium the insurance company collected for all members of that plan. In fact some services, such as annual physicals can help improve the performance of your medical plan.
What to do if you receive a bill…
At Wingate Sports Medicine, we try to have all medical bills come to our sports medicine department directly. Sometimes, the medical provider cannot make that happen. In this case, you will receive a bill and/or Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from the medical provider. We ask that you forward the bill and the EOB to us as soon as you can. Once we receive this information, we will process payment for any amount the insurance company has stated as patient responsibility on your behalf. In other words, we cover all out of pocket cost for you.
Sometimes, we get the bill but you still get the EOB. We ask that you send us a copy of the EOB, so that we make sure we pay the provider the correct amount due to them. If we do not get this information from you, it is highly possible you could start getting collection notices in the mail, as the billing companies that most providers use are very aggressive.
Some samples of the types of services you may receive a bill and or an EOB for:
- Hospital Charges - Lab Work
- Radiology - Anesthesiology
- Surgery Bill - Doctor Visits
- Rehabilitation - Emergency Room Visit
- Ambulance Charges
When you receive a bill or EOB for these or any other services related to your athlete’s injury, please forward a copy to us at
If by fax: (704) 233-8295
If by mail: Wingate Sports Medicine
Campus Box 5002
Wingate, NC 28174
Please do not email this information to us, as it contains Protected Health Information (PHI). Sending PHI via e-mail, is not a secured means of communication.
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Please note the following important information about charges, health insurance, and health insurance information:
Changes to your health insurance
We ask student-athletes to provide us a copy of their insurance information when they fill out their annual paperwork. This process will not change. What will be different, Wingate Sports Medicine will now verify the coverage of the insurance that is provided each month. In the event that insurance coverage changes or the information we have is no longer valid, we will reach out to you to obtain the latest information. If you know in advance that the insurance information will be changing, please notify us. We realize that not all students will carry their cards and we will assist them in getting the required information if necessary, but we strongly encourage the student-athlete have a valid health insurance card they can use if they need to access health care. We have made this process simple, by allowing you or your student the ability to add an image of the front and back of the insurance card on the student’s medical portal via Blue Ocean. If you need instruction on how to log into your portal please contact us at once.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve your son/daughter. This is a new process that has recently begun for us and many other schools. As with anything new, I understand there will be concerns and questions. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. I will gladly try to answer them to the best of my ability. Thank you again for the opportunity to serve your son/daughter. Go Bulldogs!
Tim Singleton MS, LAT, ATC
Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Medicine
Wingate University
Sports Medicine Department