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ProMedica staff tell Monroe board clinic had 1,291 visits last year; mental-health therapy drove demand
Summary
ProMedica clinicians told the Monroe Public Schools board the school-based clinic opened in 2021 logged 1,291 visits last year — 680 of them with a mental-health therapist — and that about 40% of patients were covered by Medicaid, affecting reimbursement and district subsidy needs.
Monroe Public Schools board members heard an update from ProMedica clinicians on the district's school-based health clinic at Monroe High School, which began operations in 2021. ProMedica staff reported the clinic handled 1,291 visits in the most recent school year and said the majority of those encounters were with a mental‑health therapist.
"This year, we did a total of 1,291 visits out of that clinic for those students and staff," said the ProMedica presenter (identified in meeting materials as a physician). The clinic's therapist accounted for 680 of those visits, according to the presentation, and clinicians said roughly 40% of patients were insured through Medicaid and about 33% through Blue Cross Blue Shield. Clinicians said the payer mix and lower Medicaid reimbursement help explain why the district supplements clinic operations.
Board members asked how billing works and whether the clinic could become self-sustaining. ProMedica staff described three kinds of encounters: informal nurse triage (not billed), nurse visits billed at lower rates, and clinician or therapist visits billed as normal clinical visits. The presenters said they've added in-person physician availability twice a month, which increased capacity for chronic-medication management and physicals.
Administrators and clinicians described summer operations and planned research into attendance impacts: ProMedica said the district's therapist will run a summer mini‑study to compare student attendance before and after clinic engagement. Board members asked for disaggregated data showing unduplicated student counts (how many distinct students used services) versus encounter counts, and for follow-up on how many visits represent repeat care versus single encounters.
Superintendent Shaw and the ProMedica team described the current financial structure as a combination of billings and district supplementation; they said the district is billed only for hours clinicians are in the building, and ProMedica currently absorbs some overhead. Administration and board members asked for further detail on unduplicated patient counts and the summer attendance study so the board can weigh continued subsidy against other budget priorities.
