“Hey there sick student, the line starts at Butler.”

In all seriousness, having to make your same-day appointment at 12:01 with fingers crossed that there are even any appointments left sucks. Lucky for you, CCSC is around to make some sweeping changes. Check out this confident press release:

In response to feedback from CCSC and the Student Health Advisory Committee, Medical Services at Columbia Health has changed how students book SAME-DAY appointments. Students will no longer have to wait until after midnight to book an appointment online for that day. Instead, a SAME-DAY medical appointment can be booked on a rolling basis up to 12 hours in advance of the desired time. For instance, Medical Services opens at 8AM every weekday; therefore, students may book their SAME-DAY appointments starting at 8PM the night before.

If a morning time is not available or convenient for you, Medical Services encourages students not to stay up—which this change is aimed at alleviating—but rather to try again in the morning. As always, students can also directly call (212) 854-2284 to book appointments or walk in to Urgent Care without one.

We’re not sure whether this change was enacted before or after we got this distressed tip:

A number of students have been unable to get same-day appointments at Health Services this week (and perhaps beyond), despite attempting to schedule these appointments right after they are supposed to become available, at midnight. I myself tried all week and couldn’t get one, and had to add to the massive line at urgent care. The doctors and nurses at Health Services seem well aware of this problem, wringing their hands at the dysfunctional system.

Be sure to tip us about all the different ways in which this doesn’t work out your experiences with the new and improved Health Services.

CU Health Services doctor telling it like it is via Shutterstock