Question & Answer
Background 
Students Residents Faculty Community Patients Facilities Sites
Patients
Q If I go to a RAHC faculty member for health care, will I be seen by a medical student?
A Individual patients are seen by faculty physicians who may be working with a resident, a medical student or both.
Q What do I have to do to be enrolled as a patient of the RAHC?
A Technically speaking, the RAHC does not have patients. It is an educational institution. Physicians have patients and if they hold faculty appointments, they will include consenting patients on a "teaching service" where they can teach residents and students while delivering care.
Q. Will patients from all of South Texas be eligible to receive care through the RAHC, or just patients from the four-county area of the Valley?
A. The RAHC poses no restriction on where patients come from in order to be treated by community physicians who are faculty members. As a practical matter, however, neither the RAHC's faculty, its major teaching hospital in Harlingen (Valley Baptist Medical Center), nor its outpatient teaching facilities have unlimited capacity. Thus, there may be circumstances in which a given patient cannot be accommodated at the time he or she might seek treatment.
Q. My doctor is already very busy. If he teaches students as well, won't that slow him down and make it harder for me to get an appointment to see him?
A. This is a difficult question to answer. Certainly the time a physician spend in teaching medical students could reduce the time available for outright care. On the other hand, having residents assisting in care could actually allow the physician to see more patients, since much of the procedural work would be done by the residents. As the residents progress through their training, their skill and judgment will allow them to perform an increasing number of tasks with a reduced requirement for close supervision by the faculty physician.
Q. I have heard that only low-income patients are seen at the RAHC. If I have insurance coverage, why should I go to the RAHC for care?
A. It is not true that only low-income patients are seen by RAHC physicians or treated at RAHC-affiliated teaching facilities. Faculty physicians, being community practitioners, will continue to see the patients they have always seen, including those with insurance coverage and those without.
Q. Will I have to pay to be treated at the RAHC? How much will I have to pay?
A. Since the RAHC is an educational facility, not a patient care facility, no one is treated at the RAHC. Treatment is provided by community practitioners, clinics, and affiliated teaching hospitals that will bill and collect as they always have for the treatment and services they provide.
Q. Will I be able to stop going to Galveston for my medical treatments and instead go to the RAHC?
A. The presence of the RAHC should not change the way care in obtained in the Valley. Patients go to Galveston for treatment because either their medical condition or their financial circumstances make it necessary. Since the RAHC is not a health care delivery facility, it has no effect on hospitalization patterns.
Q. Do I have to be a U.S. citizen in order to be seen at the RAHC?
A. An individual does not need to be a U.S. citizen to be seen by a faculty physician or be admitted to a teaching hospital affiliated with the RAHC.
Q. If I need to be admitted to a hospital, who will be responsible for my hospital bills?
A. All individuals are responsible for their own hospital bills. Those who have insurance coverage can expect that the insurance carrier will pay at least some of their hospital bills. Those who do not have insurance coverage will need to deal with their physician, clinic, and/or hospital.
Q. Are people who live in a city where there is a RAHC teaching facility able to get their health treatment there at a lower cost?
A. Since the RAHC is an educational facility, not a treatment facility, there is no prospect of it offering health care at a lower cost. Faculty physicians, clinics, and teaching hospitals like Valley Baptist Medical Center will bill and collect as they always have.