University opens walk-in mini clinic in Student Stores

This month, UNC opened the Student Stores Mini Clinic to provide fast, non-emergency medical care for students. 

The clinic, located on the third floor of the Student Stores, is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., offering a variety of health care services to all students. Construction for the Mini Clinic began in May.

Ken Pittman, Executive Director of Campus Health, said the idea of establishing a Mini Clinic came from students' voices.

“We continued to hear about how nice it would be if there was some kind of minor care, think urgent care, central campus located facility that could serve a designated scope of services,” Pittman said.

First-year pre-med student Ben Taylor said the location of the Mini Clinic makes accessing health care more convenient for students. He said having quick access to a clinic will make everything faster for them.

The clinic provides care on a walk-in basis and charges a convenience fee for all patients.

“We are charging a $30 convenience charge, so something the students will pay. Think of it much like a co-pay, but it’s not really associated with their insurance," Pittman said. "It is for everybody, regardless of their insurance plan and they’re paying that just for what it says: convenience.” 

Any diagnostics or other expenses from a Mini Clinic visit will be billed to a patient’s health insurance provider. This system differs from other Campus Health services, such as Same Day Care, which offers care by both appointment and walk-in and is billed to the patient's insurance provider. Same Day Care is funded by the Campus Health fee, which students pay for as part of their tuition. The Mini Clinic charges a convenience fee because it does not receive funding from the Campus Health fee.

Staff in the Mini Clinic include two medical assistants, who triage patients upon their arrival, and a nurse practitioner and physician assistant, who evaluate and treat patients. Director of Pharmacy and Professional Services Amy Sauls said the NP and PA are both there part-time, saying that there is always either an NP or a PA present at the Mini Clinic.

The clinic is also home to a lab where tests such as mono, glucose, ketones, pregnancy, urine analysis and respiratory virus panels can be performed. Specimens can also be sent to LabCorp, a third party off-campus lab, for further diagnostic testing.

The construction of the clinic also included an expansion of the Student Stores Pharmacy to allow for more storage and computers. Sauls said the Student Stores Pharmacy was intended to be a satellite pharmacy, but quickly grew in popularity due to its central campus location. 

“There were times when I needed to be able to send more pharmacists, more technicians over and I literally did not have a computer station that they could work at,” Sauls said. “We wanted to expand that space to be able to handle that volume in a more efficient manner.”

The Student Stores Pharmacy previously included an immunization space, which has been relocated to the Mini Clinic. Students and faculty are able to receive COVID-19 and flu shots on a walk-in basis and these immunizations are not subject to the $30 convenience fee, but they are billed to patients’ health insurance.

The Mini Clinic has been operational for a few weeks, with Pittman saying that he is ready for students to start accessing the clinic on a regular basis. 

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