Frequently Asked Questions About the St. Joseph and Texas A&M Health Network

St. Joseph Health and Texas A&M Health Science Centerhave collaborated about the health and wellness of the Brazos Valley area for over 20 years. The two organizations share similar values around improving the health and quality of life of the communities they serve through research, education and innovation in healthcare. In 2017, we began discussions with Texas A&M University about how to fundamentally improve the manner in which healthcare is being delivered in the Brazos Valley area. We have developed a detailed and actionable plan to fulfill this mission

• St. Joseph Health and Texas A&M College of Medicine will now have a co-branded primary care network, making St. Joseph Health the primary clinical partner for Texas A&M University.
• The two organizations hope to work together to become more clinically integrated, which will further enhance the quality of care and ease of access for our patients.
• As two long-standing community partners, St. Joseph Health and Texas A&M University are committed to developing and improving a workforce of health professionals throughout the Brazos Valley
• The partnership will also offer Texas A&M University System employees a significant reduction in health insurance costs through new, lower cost voluntary options in their network benefit plan.
• This collaboration will allow Texas A&M University medical students increased opportunities with local providers for education and training.

Right now, both St. Joseph Health and Texas A&M Health Science Center are operating in a “business as usual” fashion, continuing our patient-centric focus and serving the Brazos Valley community.

CHI National, CHI Texas Division, St. Joseph Health and The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved the decision. We are confident this partnership is in the best interest of our patients, employees and the community.

The Brazos Valley area residents will first and foremost benefit from this partnership. The partnership will help bring better services and patient care to the community.

St. Joseph’s pledge to the community is to provide the highest quality of health care possible. This partnership will reinforce the programs and services already in place and strengthen the commitment of world-class healthcare from St. Joseph Health and Texas A&M University.

St. Joseph Health has had the privilege of being the market leader in the Brazos Valley area for many years now. It is the ultimate goal of this partnership with Texas A&M Health Science Center that St. Joseph Health will not only retain its standing within the community, but also deliver the high quality healthcare and patient services that residents have come to expect from us.

Our diverse and robust due diligence teams are working hard to identify best practices to make sure the implementation of our priority initiatives will run as smoothly as possible for everyone involved.

The nature of this partnership will not require shifts in leadership and duplicated roles, so as of now, no management or staff changes will occur in the foreseeable future.

St. Joseph Health and Texas A&M Health Science Center will now have a co-branded primary care network. Clinics will remain wholly owned and operated by St. Joseph Health but will be identified as clinics for teaching.

The purpose of our partnership is to enhance patient care and service quality for the Brazos Valley area. Together, Texas A&M University and St. Joseph Health will meet the healthcare needs of the Brazos Valley area more quickly and efficiently through increased resources and innovative services.

• Texas A&M University System employees will have a significant reduction in health insurance costs through new, lower cost voluntary options in their network benefit plan due to the relationship with St. Joseph Health.
• The plan features a 75 percent reduction in primary care co-pays, a 50 percent reduction in specialty care co-pays and a 50 percent reduction in co-insurance costs at all of St. Joseph Health’s locations
• The discounted pricing for Texas A&M system employees on their insurance benefits is a lower priced plan by the TAMU system. St. Joseph Health pricing is not changing as a result of this change.
• Current insurance benefit network options for Texas A&M University System employees will not being changed or restricted by this new offering with St. Joseph Health.

• The St. Joseph Texas A&M Health Network includes 16 primary care clinics, including pediatrics, housing 47 providers across nine counties in the Brazos Valley. Expert specialists and ancillary services such as imaging, lab work and therapy services are also available across the region. Find a loction near you.
• St. Joseph Health has Primary Care Clinics all across the Brazos Valley. In Bryan-College Station alone, there are ten primary care and pediatric locations. Visit our website to find all of our convenient locations: CHIStJoseph.org.
• All of our physicians are board-certified, have convenient office hours, offer same-day appointments, and work closely with our Express Care providers for the times when you just can't make it to their office. Additionally, lab and imaging services are onsite or nearby each location.

We will help lower costs and improve the overall quality of care provided to the Brazos Valley community, including rural populations, and our respective entities. We will improve patients’ access to care by extending students and providers beyond the hospitals and clinics, moving them out into homes and other care settings. Together, we will improve care coordination across the continuum for the patients we treat.

Each time you need to go to the doctor or health care facility, you have a choice of providers, either in or out of the new preferred provider tier. If you decide to keep your current provider (and they are not affiliated with St. Joseph Health), there will be no changes to your current costs and copays.

Each time you need service, you may change your choice if you wish.

No. All options are within the A&M Care Plan. You do not have to change plans to take advantage of these reductions.

At present, you can look for St. Joseph providers. Physicians who are part of the St. Joseph doctor’s group, those with a St. Joseph contract and Texas A&M Health Science Center Health Science Center physicians will have the lower cost and copay. Beginning September 1, you will see these network providers clearly differentiated on the BlueCross BlueShield Provider Finder under the Brazos Valley Network.

The St. Joseph and Texas A&M Health Network features a 75% reduction in primary care co-pays, a 50% reduction in specialty care co-pays and a 50% reduction in co-insurance costs at all of St. Joseph Health’s locations throughout the Brazos Valley. This translates to employee out-of-pocket costs for physicians and facilities contracted with St. Joseph and Texas A&M

• $5 copay for a primary care physician
• a $15 copay for a specialist
• 10% coinsurance for other costs such as a hospitalization. All other coverage will be the same.

The opportunity to partner with the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Texas A&M Health Science Center and one of the region’s local hospitals and physician groups leverages our unique strengths in the community, offers an excellent training environment for health sciences students, and is also an opportunity to provide a new benefit to our employees and retirees.

You will be responsible for the normal A&M Care Plan copays, deductibles and coinsurance.

If you live outside of the Brazos Valley and you need or want to come to the Brazos Valley for care, you will get the lower cost for care from the network providers. Even though the new network benefits are available to all employees and retirees in the A&M Care Plan, the emphasis is in Bryan-College Station for a number of reasons. The home campus of the Texas A&M Health Sciences Center is located in Bryan, TX, allowing our students to train within St. Joseph’s system, increasing health care access for many in our community. The Brazos Valley is also home to the majority of employees and retirees. Our partnership will lower costs and improve care for these employees and retirees. When we lower the health care costs in the Brazos Valley, all System employees will benefit, as we are self-insured.