All injuries and illnesses are to be reported to the Sports Medicine Staff on the day they occur. The student-athlete will be referred to appropriate team physician as deemed necessary by a member of the Sports Medicine Staff. In order to protect the medical eligibility of the student-athlete, please utilize the services of the Sports Medicine Staff instead of seeking self-treatment and self-referral. In the event that a physician outside of our network puts restrictions on the eligibility of a student-athlete, those guidelines must be followed and participation may be negatively affected. It may also be more difficult to follow up in a timely manner with a doctor out of our network of physicians.

A student-athlete who is referred to any physician will be given a referral form which they are to take to their appointment and have completed by the attending physician. All referral forms are to be returned to the Sports Medicine Staff immediately following the appointment. All medical referrals will be filed with the student-athlete's primary insurance coverage as a matter of general policy. Any amounts that are not paid by the student-athlete's 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.

Referrals to specialist medical personnel will be made by the Sports Medicine Staff with the assistance of the Team Physician. If you desire medical attention other than provided by the University of Richmond Sports Medicine Staff for injuries occurring as described above, you may do so at your own expense. A student-athlete who is currently seeking medical care outside of our department will not be allowed to participate until deemed appropriate in writing from his or her personal physician, which is then reviewed by the Team Physician, who must ultimately approve clearance for return to participation.

Only those persons with authorization from the Team Physician or Director of Sports Medicine may use the Athletic Training Room or other rehabilitation facilities.

Because the ultimate responsibility of care for student-athlete rests with Team Physician and Sports Medicine Staff, the following are the methods of care regarding injury or illnesses:

In case of emergency - Dial 9ll. This will activate the Emergency Medical System (EMS). This includes a response by emergency trained police personnel, and transport to an emergency room as needed. As soon as possible, contact a Sports Medicine Staff or the Team Physician.

In non-emergency situations, the following steps should be followed:

1. Contact the Sports Medicine Office at (804)289-8393. Injuries are to be reported to the Sports Medicine Staff on the same day that they occur. If a student-athlete encounters an illness, he or she must report it to the Athletic Training Room before NOON to receive instructions.

2. If there is not an Athletic Trainer on campus (after hours), contact the Staff Athletic Trainer assigned to your sport at home, or contact the Director of Sports Medicine at home. This information should be given to you in a meeting at the beginning of the school year.

3. If the student-athlete cannot contact a staff athletic trainer, he or she should next contact the Team Physician.

Rehabilitation services for the University of Richmond student-athletes are provided by the Sports Medicine Department Staff on-site. If an athlete were to require the continuation of rehabilitation services related to an athletic injury while away from Richmond, VA for a winter or summer break, a representative of the Sports Medicine Department will set-up rehabilitation services for that student-athlete in their home town area on a case by case basis. The University of Richmond Department of Athletics' secondary insurance policy will cover approved rehabilitation services in the student-athlete's hometown area during the aforementioned break periods only.

The Department of Athletics will assume a degree of responsibility for payment in the case of dental damage done to teeth and other injuries related to the mouth while participating in practice or games. Referral to a dentist can be made through the Sports Medicine Department for non-athletic related dental problems, but these will be at the expense of the student-athlete.

As a matter of general policy, the Department of Athletics will not underwrite the cost of eye examination unless the examination is required because of an athletic-related injury. If an injury does occur and an examination is needed, the appropriate medical referral procedure is to be followed. The Department of Athletics will replace contact lenses in the event that the lens is lost or damaged during intercollegiate athletic participation. Contact lenses can only be ordered with a current prescription, i.e., a prescription that has been written within the past 12 months. It is the responsibility of the student-athlete to obtain and update prescriptions, as well as to provide the Sports Medicine Staff with a copy of the current prescription and a pair of extra contact lens to be kept on the sidelines in case of contact lens mishap during participation.

Financial coverage will be provided for medications prescribed as a direct result of athletic injury and as approved by the Team Physician, after filing the prescription cost through the student-athlete's primary insurance as a matter of general policy.

Student-athletes must disclose to the Sports Medicine Department any and all prescription medications they may be taking, as some legitimately prescribed medications can cause positive drug test results in both institutional and NCAA drug-testing programs that may be performed during the year. Documentation of legitimate medications must be on file prior to the drug-testing in order to ensure that no sanctions will be taken for a positive drug test results caused by these legitimate medications. Please refer to the Drug / Alcohol Screening and Education Program for more details.

Please get copies of any current prescriptions for medications a student-athlete takes on a regular basis to the Sports Medicine Department along with the student-athlete medical forms. Current prescriptions are those written within a twelve month period, so these must be updated annually. In the case of prescription medications for attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD,) documentation of the testing done to result in a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD must also be provided, per NCAA regulations.

The use of tobacco (including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, "dip," "snuff," etc.) in any form is prohibited. No tobacco will be allowed in University facilities or on University sanctioned trips (i.e. buses, airplanes, vans, hotel, stadiums, etc.) It is not only a health hazard, but is a poor example for student-athletes and the athletic staff to exemplify and a violation of NCAA policy.

All Departmental staff and student-athletes will strictly adhere to the standards set forth by the University in the bloodborne pathogens exposure control plan. A copy of this plan is on file with the Sports Medicine Department. The following components are encompassed into this plan: exposure determination, methods of compliance, Hepatitis B Vaccination policy, procedures for evaluation and follow-up of exposure incidents, employee training, and record keeping procedures. If you wish to see a copy of this plan, please contact a member of the Sports Medicine Department.

All media requests for information regarding the nature of injuries or the condition of injured student-athletes will be directed to the Director of Sports Medicine. All medical information of the student-athletes is subject to the same regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as are medical records in a physician's office or other medical facility.