While students say their RAs informed them that a new policy would allow them to jump the lines at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital ER, school and hospital officials say the supposed policy does not exist and would compromise equal patient care.

Confusion over a new emergency room procedure involving Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital has led many students to erroneously believe they can receive significantly quicker care than other patients.

Residents on the South 40 were recently informed in floor meetings that, effective this semester, Barnes-Jewish would allow any University student in need of medical attention to move to the front of the emergency room line. The line is known for often being several hours long.

However, that policy has in fact not been implemented, according to Barnes-Jewish Director of Communications & Marketing Jennifer Arvin.

“The emergency department—both the Washington University physician and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital administration that run the emergency department—decided that was not the right thing to do, that certainly everyone is treated equally—the sickest people get the care first,” Arvin said. “Having Washington University ID will not jump you in front of the queue.”

Arvin said that no policy allowing students to jump to the front of the line was ever implemented. But her statement contrasts with comments from Director of Student Health Services Alan Glass, who initially discussed such a policy as though it were in place.

Glass responded to a Jan. 30 Student Life email inquiring about the supposed policy allowing students to jump the lines at Barnes-Jewish by writing that it would ensure “seamless care within the strategic partnership of the BJH/Washington University School of Medicine healthcare system.”

In an email exchange two days later, after Student Life had consulted Arvin, Glass amended his previous statement.

“Upon further reflection and input from within both the University and hospital communities, it has been reaffirmed that Washington University students will be treated like all other individuals who come to the emergency room,” he wrote. “A pre-call from a referring primary care doctor, including those in Student Health Services, can help expedite care but does not enable the student to pass by other patients in similar situations.”

In a face-to-face meeting Tuesday, Glass restated his position from the second email exchange.

Glass said that SHS did not pursue any arrangement with Barnes-Jewish that could have affected care for the rest of the hospital’s patients.

“We would never be supportive of anything that would cause one person’s care to be done in front of another’s,” he said.

School and hospital officials may have contemplated a similar proposal, Arvin said, but nothing discussed would have offered students such stark priority over patients outside the University.

“I don’t think the intent was ever to have anybody flash ID and get to the front of the line,” she said.

The actual change in procedure simply makes the emergency care process more efficient for University students because presenting University IDs at Barnes-Jewish classifies them as patients of SHS.

“It’s still a good idea to show your Wash. U. ID when you go to the hospital and also your insurance card to be certain that the physicians at the hospital are able to access records—that they know whom to communicate with about care, but it was never the intention that students would actually go to the front of the line and be treated before anybody else,” Glass said.

In the past, many students have sought emergency room care without identifying themselves as members of the University, which causes complications in determining the students’ coverage plans and accessing their medical files, according to Associate Vice Chancellor for Students Justin Carroll.

Carroll and Glass were both uncertain how a suggestion for students to bring school ID became construed as a promise that students could circumvent the standard emergency room triage system, in which patients are sorted by the urgency of medical attention required.

Information about a new policy involving Barnes-Jewish was distributed to residential advisors at their winter staff training. RAs then passed on the message to their residents.

Two Residential College Directors present at the RA training declined comment for this story.

“In an effort to get the word out rapidly, it unfortunately wasn’t communicated the best way,” Carroll said.

Multiple students confirmed that they understood the policy to mean they could skip the emergency room line by presenting University ID, with none providing markedly different interpretations.

“I remember hearing classmates talking about how you could skip the lines if you are a Wash. U. student,” sophomore Kathleen Szabo said.

As the largest hospital in Missouri, Barnes-Jewish provides emergency room care to thousands of St. Louisians outside the University community.

“The average Wash. U. student [should be] no different than the average person in St. Louis,” sophomore Patrick Easley said.

With additional reporting by Ellie Kincaid