Dive Brief:
- Many schools are offering physical and mental health services from the same location in new, comprehensive wellness centers that can serve all ends of the campus community.
- University Business reports that technology has helped track student behavior across campus, giving health professionals a better sense of proper treatment plans, and it has created better feedback mechanisms to improve services.
- Major investments at colleges and universities in Alabama, New York, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in recent years have combined mental and physical health services — in many cases to serve a population that includes war veterans, recovering addicts, and students with a variety of disabilities, as well as the special needs of international students or older returning students.
Dive Insight:
A recent lawsuit against the University of Oregon, alleging that campus health professionals released counseling data to lawyers defending the university, sparked a controversy over student privacy that the U.S. Department of Education has responded to with new guidance. It remains to be seen whether students avoid campus counseling because this case makes them feel their care might not remain confidential or whether campuses have a new responsibility to assure students of their own privacy protections. Some advocate an overhaul of health privacy regulations on campuses entirely.