The River Cafe and grab-and-go food shop in the Pavilion are operated by the Picasso Restaurant group. When planning dining options and negotiating the contract with Picasso, Michigan Medicine failed to account for House Officers' need to quickly obtain food using their Meal Allowance 24 hours a day.

Blue Bucks are not fully integrated into the point-of-sale system at the River Cafe inside the Pavilion. This means that House Officers must pay for their order at the counter with a cashier when using Blue Bucks after first placing their order on a kiosk. Guests using credit cards can pay directly on the kiosks, which is the intended flow for purchases. It also means House Officers cannot use Blue Bucks after hours at the grab-and-go shop when no cashier would be present. Further, the pre-order website does not take Blue Bucks.

The HOA has been pushing for a fix since the Pavilion opened. The hospital has agreed with us that a fix is necessary; however, multiple third parties and complex software systems are involved, so the timeline for full implementation is potentially long. The HOA has demanded a stopgap solution so that House Officers can utilize their meal allowance at the Pavilion more easily.

Therefore, we have negotiated an agreement with the hospital to allow House Officers to use Blue Bucks to purchase Pavilion gift cards. The gift cards can be used on the pre-order website and after hours at the grab-and-go shop.

The gift card can be purchased with Blue Bucks with the cashier during the River Cafe's normal operating hours.

We are still pushing for a long-term solution and full implementation of Blue Bucks at the Pavilion.