Individuals in the medical profession who are involved in the examination of or treatment of student-athletes should be aware of the various expenses an institution is permitted to provide to a student-athlete. Listed below are these expenses with any limitations that apply to specific types of injuries or illnesses.

Please note that you should never treat a student-athlete with the assumption that the athletic department will provide the expenses for the treatments. Always check with the appropriate institutional employees (e.g., trainers, athletic administrators) prior to treating a student-athlete for an injury or illness that he/she may indicate the athletic department will provide expenses for.

Permissible Medical Expenses

These are medical expense benefits incidental to a student's participation in intercollegiate athletics that may be financed by the institution.

1. Athletics medical insurance.
2. Death and dismemberment insurance for travel connected with intercollegiate athletics competition and practice.
3. Drug-rehabilitation expenses.
4. Counseling expenses related to the treatment of eating disorders.
5. Special individual expenses resulting from a permanent disability that precludes further athletics participation. The injury or illness must involve a former student-athlete or have occurred while the student-athlete was enrolled at the institution, or while the prospective student-athlete was on an official paid visit to the institution's campus.
6. Glasses, contact lenses or protective eyewear (e.g., goggles) for student-athletes who require visual correction in order to participate in intercollegiate athletics.
7. Medical examinations at any time for enrolled student-athletes.
8. Medical examinations for prospective student-athletes. The examination can not include any test or procedure designed to measure the athletics agility or skill of the prospect. (Only the physician and trainer may be present during exam. No coaches or other institutional staff members are allowed.)
9. Expenses for medical treatment (including transportation and other related costs) incurred by a student-athlete as a result of an athletically related injury. Expenses may include the cost of traveling to the location of medical treatment or the provision of actual and necessary living expenses for the student-athlete to be treated at a site on or off campus during the summer months while the student-athlete is not actually attending classes. Medical documentation must be available to support the necessity of the treatment at the location in question.
10. Surgical expenses to a student-athlete (including a partial or nonqualifier) who is injured during the academic year while participating in voluntary physical activities that will prepare the student-athlete for competition.
11. Medication and physical therapy utilized by a student-athlete during the academic year to enable the individual to participate in intercollegiate athletics, regardless of whether the injury or illness is the result of intercollegiate competition or practice. Preseason dental examination conducted in conjunction with a regular preseason physical examination.

Nonpermissible Medical Expenses

General Rule on benefits is that if a medical expense does not fit into one of the 12 permissible categories listed above, we are not allowed to pay for it UNLESS the benefit is available to other nonathletes at Texas Southern University.

These are student-athlete medical expense benefits that may NOT be financed by the institution.

1. Student-athlete health insurance. Unless the student-athlete is in a certain sector of the student-body that is required to purchase health insurance.
2. Surgical expenses to treat a student-athlete's injury or illness that was not a result of practice for or participation in intercollegiate athletics at the institution and did not occur in voluntary physical activities that will prepare the student-athlete for competition.
3. Medical or hospital expenses incurred as the result of an injury while going to or from class, or while participating in classroom requirements, unless similar services are provided by the institution to all students or by the terms and conditions of the institution's overall insurance program.
4. Teeth cleaning, provisional filling of teeth or other dental work, unless the dental work is directly related to an injury to the teeth that occurred during practice or competition.

Send comments and suggestions to Compliance@athletics.tsu.edu