FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2022
Regents approve study of athletic departments’ healthcare, continue efforts to improve student healthcare services
(Topeka, Kan.) – The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) met today and concluded its review and action on recommendations made by the Board appointed Student Health Center Task Force. During the regular June Board meeting, the Regents received the task force’s final report and approved creation of a council to address its recommendations with regard to the health centers. Today, the Board created a second task force to undertake a similar review of student-athlete healthcare provided by athletics departments.
“Student health and safety is of the utmost priority to the Regents,” said KBOR Chair Cheryl Harrison-Lee. “The task force that we created last fall to review student health center practices provided us with some great recommendations and action steps. We look forward to the ongoing efforts of our state universities to improve delivery and access and to ensure safe, quality care for students, including student athletes.”
On June 15, the Board approved the creation of a Council of University Student Health Centers and asked it to address several recommendations made by the health center task force. Those included establishing standards for student health services with key performance indicators to maintain accountability, facilitation of knowledge sharing and best practices, considering opportunities for collaboration, evaluating AAAHC Accreditation of all student health centers, focusing near term investments in behavioral health access, expanding hours to ensure access for students and growing health education activities.
Today’s Board action authorized a third-party review of current practices at the six state universities’ athletics departments. The review will identify the organizational structure and managerial oversight of medical care providers within the athletics departments, determine what mechanisms are in place to review medical health care services provided to student-athletes, and assess whether each athletics department evaluates its policies and practices from a student-athlete health and safety perspective on a periodic basis.
For more information, please contact Matt Keith at
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About the Kansas Board of Regents
The nine-member Kansas Board of Regents is the governing board of the state’s six universities and the statewide coordinating board for the state’s 32 public higher education institutions (six state universities, one municipal university, nineteen community colleges, and six technical colleges). In addition, the Board administers the state’s student financial aid, adult education, high school equivalency, and career and technical education programs. Private proprietary schools and out-of-state institutions are authorized by the Kansas Board of Regents to operate in Kansas.
Visit the Kansas Board of Regents online at www.kansasregents.org.