Funds are currently available, through the Medical Alumni Association, for women medical students in need of outpatient psychiatric care. This service will be free of charge and kept strictly confidential.
It is not an effort to discourage the use of care provided by the University, but, rather the desire to provide an alternative for those who are not insured for, or prefer not to receive care through, the Student Health Program.
For specific details of how this fund has been set up, you may obtain a copy of the legal documentation for the endowment from the Medical Alumni Association.
To participate in this program, the medical student must contact the Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation at 434-924-1734. The MAA/MSF will provide a list of participating psychiatrists.
If you wish to work with a psychiatrist not on the list, you are welcome to do so. However, you must provide the legal documentation of the endowment to the psychiatrist for review. The psychiatrist must agree to work within the parameters
of the fund and meet all requirements for providing care under this fund.
The fund provides for two initial evaluation sessions and a maximum of 12 subsequent 45-minute sessions in a 12-month period. If you and the psychiatrist determine shorter sessions are appropriate, reimbursement will be provided for up to the amount equivalent to the charges that would accrue from 12 sessions of 45 minutes each.
Your psychiatrist will submit their bill directly to the MAA/MSF to receive payment. If medication is part of your treatment, we request that participating psychiatrists be generous with samples and utilize pharmaceutical patient assistance programs when appropriate. If neither method is successful, there is a prescription reimbursement provision.
Please check with the MAA for more details.
When I was a medical student at the University of Virginia from 1964-1968, I suffered an episode of major depression and was sexually abused by a psychotherapist. I wanted to receive help from a faculty member but could not afford to pay for care in the physician’s private practice. I have wanted for many years to turn these negative experiences into something positive. I hope that, as a result of the program my husband and I have made possible, no other medical student at UVA will ever be in
the situation I faced.
I completed my residency in psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1972 and a fellowship at Colorado State Hospital in 1973. I developed a successful private practice in adult and geriatric psychiatry. I have been able to accomplish these achievements despite several recurrences of my depressive disorder. The advent of the SSRI’s and other antidepressants has helped me tremendously.
I continue antidepressant therapy to prevent further reexacerbations. Unfortunately,
a great deal of prejudice and ignorance regarding mental health, and its appropriate treatment, continues. We, therefore, are providing this treatment in a way that ensures complete confidentiality.
My husband, Larry, and I hope you get the care you need in order to pursue a mentally healthy life.
Sincerely,
Ramona L. Booze Reed, MD, and Larry N. Reed, MSEE