Before you check in at the Infirmary, the Student Health Care Center needs to check you out.
Starting today, students seeking treatment on campus must show a photo ID at all locations — clinic counters, the blood-work lab and the pharmacy.
Toni Ratliff, the center’s associate director, said the measure is an effort to prevent fraud.
In the past, students could check in with only their UFID number and proof of health insurance.
“It’s just an attempt at doing a better job at verifying a patient’s identity,” Ratliff said.
Now, if students forget their ID, she said they must also provide a phone number and current address as a placeholder.
Ratliff said pharmacy labs already asked for photo identification because of potential narcotics fraud.
“It’s becoming a standard,” she said. “Rather than having it in some parts, we’re doing it systemwide.”
Alex Barshel, a 21-year-old UF environmental science junior, said she wasn’t asked for an ID during a checkup before Spring Break but wouldn’t mind showing it in the future to streamline the process.
“Those services are for UF students only, and they should be able to make sure that’s who they are serving,” she said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 3/10/2014 under the headline "UF health care center now requires photo ID at all locations"]
