Parents/Guardians of all student-athletes are expected to continue coverage for their son/daughter via the medical insurance program under which they were included prior to enrolling at the University of Richmond. Virtually every parent/guardian would include his or her son/daughter if he or she were not participating in intercollegiate athletic. Therefore, participating in intercollegiate athletics should not be the reason for discontinuing the medical coverage. The premium paid for including the son/daughter in a medical program does not increase due to his or her participation in intercollegiate athletics.

Parents/Guardians must provide current information on their insurance coverage. An insurance form provided in the student-athlete forms section of this website must be completed for every student-athlete prior to the first practice of the season. No student-athlete may participate in any athletic activity until a completed insurance form has been received by the Sports Medicine Department. Information provided on the insurance form is subject to periodic review to assure that the information on file is current. The Department of Athletics will not be held responsible in the event a student-athlete does not notify a change within his or her insurance coverage. When returning the completed insurance form, parents/guardians must submit a photocopy of the insurance card provided by their insurance carrier. This will be needed by our health care providers in order to eliminate confusion in billing and expedite authorization for medical services.

Many insurance carriers make payment directly to the subscriber, i.e., the parent. All payments should be sent to the provider of the medical service (doctor, hospital, lab, etc.) for credit to the student-athlete's account. Providers are able to obtain information regarding payments made to subscribers. Parents should not jeopardize the eligibility of their son/daughter by failing to forward payments to providers, as it is an NCAA violation to keep these funds.

Due to increasing health care costs, many families have opted to change their insurance coverage to a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) involving the requirement of referrals from a specific Primary Care Physician prior to receiving medical care. These plans have strict regulations which may directly affect or delay healthcare services to student-athletes by our Team Physician or other medical consultants, as it may be necessary for the injured student-athlete to initially seek the services of their Primary Care Physician. This can be avoided by following the guidelines in the insurance brochure to acquire guest membership for primary care services in the Richmond area while your dependent is attending the University of Richmond. Please review these carefully and contact the Sports Medicine Department with any questions or concerns.

All medical claims associated with injuries sustained while participating in a University of Richmond athletic-related event will be handled as follows:
1. All claims must first be filed with the student-athlete's primary insurance coverage.
2. Any amount that is not paid by the student-athlete's primary insurance coverage will then be submitted to our secondary athletic insurance carrier. The student-athlete must provide an explanation of benefits (EOB) from the primary insurance company to verify amount of payment or denial of payment.

The Department of Athletics assumes no financial responsibility for the following:
1. Injuries or illnesses that are not reported as noted in the policies and procedures.
2. Any medical charges to which you were not referred by a member of the Sports Medicine Staff or Team Physician.
3. Any injuries or conditions not received in a supervised practice, conditioning activity or during an intercollegiate contest.
4. Any injuries or conditions received prior to matriculation into the University of Richmond.
5. Required or elective surgery where an injury or illness was not directly caused by athletic participation, such as an appendectomy or wisdom tooth extraction.