Owensboro Public Schools is releasing a proposal for a healthcare partner to work with the district in providing services for students, families and staff.
OPS Superintendent Matthew Constant said they are leaving the proposal window open for 30 days before the district will review submissions. Constant said the goal is to have this partnership in place for the next school year.
“We would love to place many urgent care clinics in each of our schools,” he said. “Services such as in-person or telehealth visits with a nurse practitioner or doctor, being able to prescribe medications and perform sport physicals are all hopefully what we can include with the right healthcare partner.”
Constant said the provider would hopefully also take care of billing, including private insurance.
“Offering these services inside our schools would be game-changers,” Constant said.
OPS already has a partnership in place for mental health services, but Constant said adding medical and physical health services would drastically improve the quality of life for the students and families.
With telehealth being utilized more and more, Constant said the district feels like there is a partner out there who will answer the call to provide more intensive medical services on all of the OPS campuses for students, families and staff.
Constant said that could mean when a student is sick, they can go to the nurses’ office at the school site and be able to have a telehealth visit, get a diagnosis, and get a prescription — a process that would save time.
“It’s happening in other districts across Kentucky and we want to see if it can happen here,” he said.
The partnership could come from a private care doctor, health clinics or a number of other healthcare providers.
“It can look very different but provide more services than we have now,” Constant said.
For more information contact, Wanda Bradley, 270-686-1000 at Central Office.
