ATSU-SOMA Ethics Violation

[somastudent007]

I found out some info that I want to share classmate to classmate regarding this new requirement of disability insurance. The insurance is purchased from Richard Beyer through Northwestern Mutual. On his website (http://www.richard-beyer.com/Community-Involvement.htm) I see that Mr. Beyer was a founding member of ASDOH and SOMA. Ironically, he is now gaining financially from his position as a founding member of both ASDOH and SOMA. In fact, only ASDOH and SOMA require disability insurance, precisely the 2 programs that Mr. Beyer helped found.

I decided to search the ATSU website for his name and I found this: ( http://www.atsu.edu/communications/publications/documents/ATSU_annual_report_2009.pdf ) where on Page 8, you can find the following quote:
"Beyer said his relationship with ATSU is for the long term. 'We love to give
back; we are strong in our faith and in charitable giving.' ” This causes me to wonder if Mr. Beyer has made some charitable donations to ATSU and in return SOMA and ASDOH have slapped him on the back by requiring us students to purchase his insurance. In fact, I asked if Mr. Beyer had made financial contributions to the school. I didn't get a reply.

The university of Iowa offers optional disability insurance to their medical students for only $41/yr ( http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/uploadedFiles/Education/MD/Content/Admissions/DisabilityInsurance.pdf )

Our policy costs $328.62/yr. With roughly 400 SOMA students in years I-IV, Mr. Beyer and his company are receiving $131,448.00/yr from SOMA students alone. Not factoring in ASDOH because I'm not sure what their class size is.

In summary, according to the quote from Mr. Beyer himself that was published by ATSU, I believe that he has made financial contributions to the school and in exchange SOMA and ASDOH have required students to purchase insurance from his company. I personally believe this is a conflict of interest. Since SOMA has not responded to my request that this become an optional policy, I decided to let you all know what I discovered.

For those of you who have been around a while, like myself, you may not be too surprised by this. As this is not the first time the ethics of the institution has been an issue in our education. For those of you who are just starting your first year, you may want to get out while you still can

If anyone has a parent, spouse, or sibling who is an attorney, it might be worth discussing. It seems to me there is some sort of a conflict of interest going on between ATSU and Mr. Beyer. I'd be curious to know. I'm not sure we can legally be required to purchase disability insurance. At any rate, my individual efforts to stop this have failed and now I'm doing what I can and that is inform all of you. Of course disability insurance is a good idea, but why can't it be optional?

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[Textbookversion]

That's messed up.

 

[SLC]

We all loved your email the other night BTW OP!

Why don't we wait to see what the school has to say about this as they've promised to set the record straight ASAP. Personally I don't think this is anywhere near the issue you're trying to turn it into.

 

[ostrich love]

.

 

[2013medapp]

OP obviously has some personal issues and is blowing a small potential issue out of proportion and jumping to a lot of conclusions. Her feelings are definitely not representative of the majority of students at SOMA.

 

[Textbookversion]

OP obviously has some personal issues and is blowing a small potential issue out of proportion and jumping to a lot of conclusions. Her feelings are definitely not representative of the majority of students at SOMA.

My school's disability is ~50/yr as well. That tends to be the going rate. You are getting ripped off to the tune of over 100k as a class. Glad you like that rofl.

 

[2013medapp]

My school's disability is ~50/yr as well. That tends to be the going rate. You are getting ripped off to the tune of over 100k as a class. Glad you like that rofl.

Well bummer, it would be nice if the disability insurance didn't cost so much. Still, OP is blowing it way out of proportion and making big assumptions about legal issues.

 

[SLC]

My school's disability is ~50/yr as well. That tends to be the going rate. You are getting ripped off to the tune of over 100k as a class. Glad you like that rofl.

Don't you think you ought to know the specifics of the coverage before you spout off about how much we're getting "ripped off"? It could be that our insurance is that much stronger than what you guys are getting for $50/year. Maybe not, but I'm not ready to say we're getting "ripped off" without having all the information.

Again, our university (which includes much more than just SOMA and ASDOH) is going with this policy. And the university has promised to send us information dealing with the facts rather than the reactionary ideas of the OP. I wish you could have seen the email, it was unprofessional to the core.

 

[GlowInTheDark]

My school requires disability insurance as well. Runs around $500/year. Every DO student should just assume they're getting screwed in fees somewhere, somehow. Just move on with it.

Spend more time studying.

 

[BB8730]

The school's response:

Recently questions were raised about the University’s process for purchasing disability insurance for its students. The purpose of this email is to clarify some misconceptions.

Requiring medical school students to carry disability insurance is a growing trend for health professions universities. A number of years ago the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommended that medical schools require students to carry disability insurance. This recommendation was due in large part to the significant financial investment students make in their medical education and the troubles students could experience should a sudden disability prevent them from practicing in their chosen field.

ATSU-ASDOH was the first school to initiate this requirement and secured disability coverage for its third- and fourth-year students, since these students would most likely have more economic burdens if they become disabled. However, when tragedy struck and a second-year student experienced a major medical condition forcing the student to withdraw from school with significant debt, ASDOH decided to expand the requirement to first- and second-year students.

Using a request for proposal (RFP) process, ASDOH bid out the business for disability insurance and received bids from three companies. Northwestern Mutual, a nationally recognized company, had the lowest price with the richest benefits. Therefore, Northwestern Mutual was the vendor chosen by the ASDOH bid committee.

Starting this academic year, other University schools including KCOM, ASHS, and SOMA recognized the value in ASDOH’s disability insurance requirement, and implemented this requirement for their students. Similarly, the newly forming MOSDOH is also requiring disability insurance for its students. Since ASDOH had already bid out the disability insurance coverage, the other Arizona-based schools chose to engage the same carrier for coverage and work under the same RFP timetable.

Prior to the expiration of the contract with Northwestern Mutual, we will initiate a new bidding cycle and vendors will be invited to submit RFPs. At that time, the Arizona-based schools will re-evaluate the options and make the best choice of vendor.

As with all universities, ATSU has relationships with donors, some of which are also vendors. You can be assured that ATSU follows all ethical and best practices for recognizing and managing potential conflicts of interest, with the end goal always to ensure all decisions are made with the best interests of our students at heart.

 

[GUH]

The school's response:

So they're saying they require disability insurance because three schools have the requirement (<10% of DO schools). Sounds very fishy.

 

[Imnoglbln]

The disability insurance you can get once in residency is likely going to be a better deal (admittedly you will be 4 years older) but I see this as just another way to get more money out of your pockets.

 

[cliquesh]

The disability insurance you can get once in residency is likely going to be a better deal (admittedly you will be 4 years older) but I see this as just another way to get more money out of your pockets.

Yea, it's free at most places.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

Surprised to see so many defending this. Even the response reads "sketchy".

 

[NurWollen]

Surprised to see so many defending this. Even the response reads "sketchy".

I'm not at SOMA, but if I were, I wouldn't care. Yeah, maybe it's unethical, maybe it's not. But the ~$290 difference between SOMA's insurance and my school's insurance just wouldn't be enough for me to get all worked up and get on my administrations' bad-list over. A lot of schools charge ~10k a year more in tuition while giving students less equipment and supplies as part of tuition than does SOMA.