If you’re covered by a WashU health plan, two benefits can help get you in to see a WashU Medicine clinician sooner and with a discounted co-pay: WashU Direct and WUCare.
WashU Direct offers employees and their dependents priority access to more than 3,800 WashU Medicine clinical providers across a wide range of specialties and subspecialties for an initial appointment, with discounted copays and, in most cases, availability within two weeks.
WUCare is a primary care practice for employees and their adult family members on the university’s UnitedHealthcare plan. The clinic is in the Center for Advanced Medicine on the Medical Campus.
Sam B. Bhayani, MD, a WashU Medicine urologic surgeon and chief medical officer and vice president of WashU Medicine Physicians, helps oversee both. He explains how the benefits work, who uses them and how to access them.
Why did WashU create WashU Direct and WUCare?
The programs reflect WashU Medicine’s commitment to patient care. We want to keep our employees healthy so they can fulfill their mission of keeping our region healthy.
WashU Direct started about 10 years ago to help employees and their dependents more easily access specialty care from WashU Medicine physicians. The program offers expedited scheduling for initial appointments, including second opinions, which can be especially valuable when facing a serious or complex medical condition.
WUCare is about convenience. Picture a staff member who can walk over for their annual wellness visit instead of putting it off. Both programs also offer lower out-of-pocket costs, making it easier and more affordable for employees and their dependents to access care.
What stories do you hear from people who’ve used WashU Direct?
I hear mostly serious ones. Someone is scanned in an emergency room, a clinician finds a mass, and they need an oncologist right away. Or a person gets injured on vacation and needs a follow-up as soon as they get home. Others have seen a clinician in the community and want a second opinion about a worrisome condition from a WashU Medicine physician. WashU Direct helps us accommodate those needs for our employees.
I also want to give kudos to our hospital partners at BJC HealthCare, which includes Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Once someone is in WashU Direct, they often need testing, and our hospital partners have been wonderful about accommodating our employees.
Can you talk more about WUCare?
It’s a primary care practice that sees only WashU employees and their adult family members, so you’re not competing with the rest of the community for an appointment. It’s your own primary care clinician, with the same privacy as any practice. The team is employed by WashU and knows our benefits, including precertification rules and which pharmacies and X-ray facilities are nearby.
Because it’s on the Medical Campus, you may not need to take as much time away for appointments. Scheduling is online, and you can also do a telehealth visit from your desk. For in-person appointments, people tell me they can walk over, avoid the parking hassle and spend less time away from work.
Is WUCare the only practice on the Medical Campus?
No. That’s one thing I want to stress: There are also many other primary care practices on the Medical Campus, including in the [John T. Milliken] Department of Medicine and other clinics affiliated with WashU Medicine Physicians. They all provide the same level of excellent patient care.
For more information, visit WashU Direct or WUCare.
Bhayani is also the Holekamp Professor in the Division of Urology in the Mary Culver Department of Surgery and a pioneer in robotic surgery.