DOC Implements New Strategy to Reduce Health-Care Costs in Prisons

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                    March 9, 2009

The Department of Corrections is implementing a series of steps to reduce health-care costs at its 15 prisons. Without the moves, the agency was projected to exceed its health-care budget by $15 million.

“The changes we’re making won’t just reduce spending, they will actually improve the quality of the health care we provide in our prisons,” Director of Health Services Ken Taylor said. “In the past we focused on the quantity of health care we provided, where as now we’re focusing more on the quality.”

No different than the public sector, the cost of health care in prisons has soared in recent years. DOC’s health care costs have increased between 5 percent and 9.7 percent in each of the last five years.

The cost-saving steps include reducing the use of contract medical staff, reducing pharmaceutical costs and decreasing emergency room visits. Another step is to reduce the frequency that inmates are taken to specialized health-care providers, such as podiatrists, orthopedists and dermatologists.                                                                                                                                      

“Before this budget situation we’re in, we might not have thought as much about who received specialized health care,” Taylor said. “Now we’re taking a closer look at the decisions we make, which not only will reduce spending but it will result in better medical decisions, too.”

The move to reduce the number of contract medical staff will impact about 30 prison contract nurses, some of these nurses DOC will hire into vacant nursing positions.

“Until recently the combination of a shortage of nurses and a bustling economy made hiring nurses extremely difficult,” Taylor said. “The new emphasis on recruitment and the economic changes have made it possible to go from relying on contract nurses to filling permanent positions.”

DOC will centralize its pharmaceutical operations to make it more standardized and efficient. It also will make some over-the-counter medicine like Tylenol available without a prescription and sell it in inmate stores.

There will be a new focus on preventive health care to reduce demand for medical treatment.

“People in prison are among the most likely to need medical care, so health care will always be a significant part of our budget,” Taylor said. “But the steps we’re taking will both reduce spending and actually improve our health-care operations.”

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Contact:  Ken Taylor, Director of Health Services (360) 725-8837

               Chad Lewis, Communications Department (360) 725-8817

 

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