UT Health RGV has partnered with UTRGV Athletics to offer student athletes health-care services.
Athletics Director Chris King said the department signed a memorandum of understanding with UT Health RGV on Oct. 15 regarding the services that will be provided.
UT Health RGV is the clinical practice of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine.
About 250 student athletes in 16 sports will receive health-care services.
“There’s a lot of different services we’ll provide,” King said. “We’ll have either a team doctor, or someone from the School of Medicine, in the sports medicine division, or a fellow, because we’re going to start a fellow’s program in 2019. They’ll be there at the team’s sport event.”
Dr. Jimmy Gonzales, a School of Medicine assistant professor and team physician, said athletes who are in collision or full-contact sports will have in-game sideline coverage. He also said athletes will be treated by physicians and have full-scope care.
“We [are] providing game coverage during the athletic events for full-contact sports, so like soccer and basketball,” Gonzales said. “We are on call for most other sports. So, if they have an acute injury, they can be treated at that time.”
He said for the last three years, he has been helping with sideline coverage and providing other medical services informally.
“The big thing is that [someone] will be available and there will be someone who is a team doctor for each of the teams, and then they’ll actually … come here to our facilities, come in two days for half-day sessions,” King said.
He said UTRGV has five athletic trainers who are assigned at least two sports.
“They’re on-site at every practice,” King said. “They travel with the teams.”
He said as the School of Medicine continues to grow, they will have additional staffing and technology.
“I think there are a lot of things we can do to partner up, and there are also grants,” King said.
He also said all athletes must have their own primary insurance.
“Athletics has their own secondary insurance policy,” King said. “They would cover anything that’s practice or competition-injury related.”
The School of Medicine will bill insurance for services.
“They have a company that they utilize, and that company then will bill the student athlete’s primary insurance,” King said, adding the company will also bill the secondary insurance policy.
The partnership will integrate sports medicine services at UT Health RGV’s primary care site on Jackson Road in Edinburg, which is scheduled to open next semester, according to a university news release.
King said the agreement will benefit both UT Health and Athletics. He said the School of Medicine needs patients and the department needs services.
“For us, we want to make sure that when an athlete is hurt … they’re going to someone we trust and respect,” King said.
He said the partnership is a good investment for the student athletes’ welfare and will remain for long into the future.
