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MUSC Rumor Mill separates fact from fiction Parking, Ashley River Tower Will the shuttle buses make any stops near the MUSC R lot when Ashley River Tower (ART) opens? I park in R lot which is at Cannon and Ashley and I will be moving to ART. Answer: University Transportation is evaluating the need to expand the Ashley Avenue shuttle to support ART. Options under consideration include adding buses and drivers or asking CARTA to add buses to the medical shuttle route so that MUSC can redeploy buses from the Jonathan Lucas route to support ART. Parking The flooding at the entrance to President Street garage causes many to not be able to enter. Where are they suppose to park? Answer: Even during periods of flooding on city streets there has not been a time when the President Street garage (PGII) has not been accessible. Parkers change their approach routes as necessary due to street conditions and enter the garage from Wescott Court (one entrance) and from Cannon Street (two entrances). Weekend parking with flooded streets Where does one park on the weekends when the streets are flooded? Answer: Employees working weekends should register for and park in the employee after-hours parking location, the Ashley-Rutledge parking garage. There may be problems passing through low city areas on the approach to the campus, but once on campus when flooding is a concern, employees should enter the Ashley-Rutledge parking garage from Rutledge Avenue. Parking Are employees allowed to park on all floors in the Ashley-Rutledge parking garage on weekends? And if so what time does it start and finish. Answer: Employees must register for the after-hours parking program in order to be authorized to park in the Ashley-Rutledge parking garage on weekends as well as during the week. The hours of the after-hours program are 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday. To leave the lower floors available for patients and visitors, employees must park on the fifth floor of the garage and above. Parking I heard that President Street garage never gets full during the day. So why is the waiting list so long to get in to park there if it isn’t full? Answer: PGII is subscribed at a 145 percent  rate and is effectively full. Even though empty spaces may be observed at different times of the day and days of the week, at peak times of the day and peak days of the week the garage is as full as Parking Management can make it and still meet the guarantee to subscribers that a space will be available to them whenever needed. Name of hospital When Ashley River Tower opens, I’ve heard that the name of the original hospital will change. Answer: The current hospital  will be called University Hospital. Ashley River Tower, Charleston Memorial Hospital, University Hospital, Children’s Hospital, and Institute of Psychiatry will make up the MUSC Medical Center. Black market parking? I’ve been told that there are  employees with on-campus parking privileges that they never use because they walk, bike, or ride the bus to work. Because the wait for on-campus parking is now five to 10 years, they refuse to give up their space, but sublet it to the highest bidder instead. Is this practice allowed? Answer: MUSC does not condone or allow this practice. Parking Management knows of perhaps two instances during the many years where the practice occurred and was reported. In both cases the parking authorization was recovered and parking privileges of the authorized user were rescinded. Given the need that most employees have for a parking space, the chances of this practice occurring to any great extent is minimal, but it can occur. It is unfortunate that this unethical behavior occurs, but there is little way it can be found out except by it being reported. If anyone has knowledge of this practice, report it immediately to Debbie Humbert, Office of Parking Management, at 792-6760. Paid for travel time Is it true that employees get paid for travel time from one site to another? Answer: Mileage and time between the employee’s home and his or her place of employment are not subject to reimbursement or compensation. When an employee uses his or her personal automobile while traveling from his or her headquarters (their main work site) to another work site, on necessary official business, the standard rate of 44.5 cents per mile is allowed. Only actual miles driven on official medical center business will be reimbursed. All nonexempt (hourly) employees are to be compensated for hours actually worked. In cases where an employee is required to drive to a satellite facility from his or her headquarters, the employee would be on the clock for the time it takes to drive to the satellite facility. In cases where the employee drives back to their headquarters from the satellite facility, he or she would also be compensated for the time. If the employee leaves from the satellite facility to drive home at the end of their shift, this time would not be considered on the clock and the mileage would not be reimbursable. Bus to Hagood I know many employees are upset that bus drivers won’t let riders board the bus; they park 100 yards down the street, what are they waiting for? Answer: The best and quickest way to share concerns with shuttle bus services is to call Steven Mengler, director of University Transportation at 577-0473, or  e-mail menglers@musc.edu. When contacting him  provide the date, time of day, stop, bus number and driver name if known. Also be sure to identify the bus as MUSC or CARTA. Bus I have stood at the stop and looked at the bus parked down the street, waiting until 7:35 p.m. or later until it finally pulls up to the appropriate space to allow riders to  start boarding. By this time there is a large crowd and serious overcrowding with people in the aisles. Answer: The MUSC Shuttle system, augmented by the CARTA Medical Shuttle (Route 203), is experiencing significant growth in bus riders. The management of MUSC Transportation is tracking this growth while planning for the assimilation of ART into the system. MUSC is currently in negotiations with CARTA to expand CARTA coverage to meet current demand as well as ART growth. Additionally, the MUSC transportation department is recruiting new staff in order to better meet current and anticipated demands. All employees have access to the CARTA Medical Shuttle as well as the entire CARTA system (CARTA Express excluded), for a discounted price with your MUSC ID. Call 577-0473. Uneven perquisites? I hear that clinical faculty get their own and their  family’s health care completely comped. By this, I mean that they never get billed for health care, and they never pay for any health care or medications. Answer: MUHA accepts payment received from the insurance company as payment in full for patients with coverage through MUSC Options or the State Health Plan standard option. This discount is required under state law. Patients are not required to pay the amounts indicated as “amounts owed to provider” for services provided by the Medical University Hospital Authority. Services provided by UMA or CFC physicians are not subject to this state law. In order to be compliant with other state and federal billing and fraud and abuse laws, we are required to collect all amounts due from the patient after insurance has made payment. The collection requirement is applicable to all faculty, staff and administration officials. Reproduced from http://www.musc.edu/rumor/.     Friday, Dec. 7, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.