Student Health and Wellness

Public Act No. 23-41: An Act Concerning Access to Reproductive Health Care by Students at Public

Institutions of Higher Education
The University of Connecticut Plan - January 2024

1) Availability of SHaW Services: SHaW offers a suite of services applicable to the act on both the
Storrs and Stamford residential campuses.

a. The SHaW practice at the Storrs campus is staffed by trained and licensed doctors, advanced
practice registered nurses (APRN) and registered nurses (RN) who provide counseling,
evaluation, and treatment. Among the services provided on the Storrs campus are:
Primary care gynecological services including preventative gynecological services

•  Gender affirming care including hormone therapy
• Sexually transmitted infection screening, testing and treatment including expedited
  partner therapy (EPT)
• An on-site pharmacy and phlebotomy station
• Contraceptive care including emergency contraception options
• A Nurse Advice Line which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the
  academic year, and during business hours on breaks
• Free period products available at the Hilda May Williams Building and at other
  designated sites on campus
• GloveBox, an online ordering and delivery service of safer sex supplies which are also
  available at designated sites on campus
• Education about sexual health including the peer education program, UConn Sexperts
• A peer support group for expecting and parenting students

b. The SHaW practice at the Stamford campus is currently undergoing an expansion of
services. Beginning in the spring 2024 semester, a registered nurse will be present on the
Stamford campus to serve as a Nurse Navigator. The Nurse Navigator will support students
by facilitating the coordination of care with providers in the community appropriate to the
student’s needs. Currently available to Stamford campus students is the Nurse Advice Line
which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the academic year, and during
business hours on breaks. Also provided on the Stamford campus are:

• Safer sex supplies which are also available at designated sites on campus
• Education about sexual health
• A peer support group for expecting and parenting students

2) Access to Off-Campus Services: When a student at the Storrs or Stamford campus seeks a service
not available at the on-campus facility, SHaW will work with the student to assess the student’s
clinical needs, preferences, and insurance coverage and support them in matching these with
appropriate local providers.

a. The Storrs campus facility offers most primary care services. The above pathway applies for
certain students needing services not provided by SHaW. In addition, SHaW is collaborating
with providers at UConn Health to assess the need and increase the availability of
reproductive healthcare services in Storrs.

b. The Stamford campus primarily offers the Nurse Navigator services as detailed above as a
pathway for students needing access to services not provided by SHaW.

3) Continuity of Care: SHaW will continue to account for continuity of care during holiday and vacation
periods, and between semesters, in the care plans they develop with students on the Storrs and
Stamford campuses. The Nurse Advice Line is available to all students 24/7 during the academic
year, and during business hours when classes are not in session. The Storrs practice provides
services to students year-round, and there is on-call coverage outside of business hours during the
academic year. SHaW currently provides limited telehealth services in compliance with prevailing
regulations and standards of care.

4) Transportation: For purposes of advancing this plan, SHaW has defined the service region to be
within a 50-mile radius of the residential campuses in Storrs and Stamford. This includes a network
of licensed providers in the metropolitan areas of Springfield and Hartford for the Storrs campus,
and New Haven and New York for the Stamford campus. SHaW will encourage students requiring
transportation within this region to use SHaW taxi vouchers or a rideshare service. SHaW will
provide related financial support to cover transportation fees to qualifying appointments. SHaW
estimates the annual transportation costs will be $10,000. SHaW will investigate whether
transportation costs may be covered by an individual student’s insurance, however this is otherwise
unfunded.

5) Qualifying Life Event for Insurance Coverage: While all UConn students are required to have health
insurance, SHaW recognizes that certain plans may not cover reproductive health services. The
diagnosis of pregnancy is a qualifying life event for insurance coverage purposes, which allows for
students to change to a different insurance plan outside of the open enrollment period. SHaW will
provide students with information and materials about pregnancy being a qualifying life event for a
change of health insurance coverage in the state. The information provided by SHaW may include,
for example, that regardless of a student’s permanent address, a student may apply for HUSKY
Health coverage based upon a school residential address. Additionally, SHaW has been informed
that HUSKY Health recognizes gender affirming care as a qualifying life event and will share that
information with students as appropriate. SHaW may also provide information about the UConn
Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) and other potential insurance options. SHaW recognizes that
some students may not meet the HUSKY Health eligibility criteria and has not identified a funding
source for other insurance options or for the cost of reproductive services not covered by existing
insurance.

6) Maternal Mental Health Care: SHaW’s mental health team is a multidisciplinary team of clinical providers
trained in conducting comprehensive assessments to understand and respond to issues facing students.
Services may be delivered through SHaW or by a community provider based on the students’ needs. The team
includes a mental health clinical case management team on both
the Storrs and Stamford campuses that specifically focuses on identifying specialized mental health
needs including those specific to maternal mental health.
Students may also be referred to the SHaW website to access a range of mental
health supports and educational materials on maternal mental health.  The SHaW team is in
the process of examining a range of additional maternal mental health tools to determine those best
suited to the demographics of student populations.  Such assessments may be added to the existing
suite of tools.