correctional
States Partner with NaphCare for Quality Medical Services
Prisoners’ rights is an issue rife with controversy. Solutions are difficult to find as state budgets shrink and the number of people incarcerated continues to rise. Furthermore, it is an issue that is not at the top of voters’ priorities. American voters might ask why their state should increase spending on convicted criminals when hard-working citizens lack access to basic service.
Despite the potential political pitfalls for state representatives, prisoners have constitutional rights that cannot be ignored. Courts from various states have ruled at times that the living conditions in prisons violate the inmates’ basic human rights. What makes this issue all the more controversial is the evidence that a person of color is more likely to be found guilty by a jury than a white defendant. The U.S. judicial system, for complex reasons, appears to perpetuate and deepen social divisions. Not an issue to be taken lightly, these facts are made even more troubling by evidence that inmates are living in substandard conditions that are in violation of their constitutional rights.
One strategy for improving conditions and services to prisoners is to contract with private medical providers. NaphCare is one of the leading companies that has provided an attractive alternative to state-run medical services. Many state legislators may find this a difficult political issue to broach, but their swelling budgets call for rapid action. For example, in 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the California prison system to be in a state of emergency. This statement was both a call to address the rights of prisoners and bring into focus the oversized prison budget.
Contracting with a private company is not always a sound choice. One private prison health care provider, Prison Health Services has been exposed for their apparent disregard for basic standards of care. The New York Times recently featured an expose of the prison health care system which revealed the company’s poor practices. Perhaps the most egregious of these was the company’s repeated refusal of basic care to patients. NaphCare, on the other hand, is a much higher quality company. The company boasts a highly efficient system whereby many medical services are provided on-site, thus reducing dependence on costly services such as ambulances and emergency rooms. They also implement a digital record keeping system which is compatible with the main prison intake system, thus ensuring consistent care and follow-up with patients. These improvements have some initial overhead costs that are quickly recovered.
Another reason to choose this company is that it has a proven track record for providing high quality care at a low cost. The company maintains competitive costs, even as compared to other providers in the private sector. During August of 2010, NaphCare won a contract in Corpus Christi, Texas, underbidding their competitor by $700,000. This is particularly meaningful as Texas prisons are known for historically low per-capita prison health care costs.
As states look for viable solutions for medical care in their prison systems, partnerships with private companies often appear to be the best option. In order for the option of private providers to be a beneficial one, states must have the freedom to select carefully amongst the many prison medical care providers. Some states don’t have that option, due to legislation that mandates they accept the lowest bid from private contractors without respect to quality of care or services provided. While balancing the budget is imminently critical it cannot be done at the expense of prisoner’s basic human rights.
NaphCare Addresses Unique Needs of Prisoners
Of all U.S. citizens, people who’ve been incarcerated in the prison system have statistically some of the worst health problems of anyone. Infectious disease, substance abuse and mental health problems are all rampant among prisoners. In spite of this reality, U.S. prisoners historically have had some of the worst health care of anyone in the nation. This has become a highly visible problem as the number of inmates in the United States has swelled exponentially in the past three decades. Since 1980, the number of people behind bars in federal and state prisons has increased 366%, to a current figure of well over two million inmates. Today, many states are turning to private health care providers such as NaphCare to improve the medical care offered to inmates in their correctional facilities.
Among the problems prisoners face, mental health issues and substance abuse are often related to the reason a person was incarcerated. Infectious diseases (the most common being HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis), while not related to the reasons people are incarcerated, are found at far higher rates than in the general population. Other medical problems arise at similar rates to the general population, but prison medical services must be equipped to address general needs while being particularly prepared for infectious disease, substance abuse and mental health diagnoses.
Infectious disease is an ever-growing problem in the prison system due to the fact that many people – perhaps one third to one half of those carrying the disease – are unaware they are infected. In 2005, it was reported that 1.8% of state inmates and 1% of federal inmates had either HIV or AIDS. This represents 20-30% of the entire population that is infected. While those numbers are high, it is known that a much larger percentage of hepatitis and tuberculosis carriers are incarcerated during a given year. Studies have estimated that roughly 30-40% of U.S. citizens infected with hepatitis C and 40% of those with tuberculosis are incarcerated each year. Due to the high rate of infectious diseases in prisons, medical facilities for inmates must specialize in treating them and preventing their further spread.
NaphCare is the leader among private companies providing comprehensive health care services to prison facilities throughout the United States. The company specializes in expanding the services that are provided on-site at the correctional facility. On-site quarantine rooms are one example of the services the company adds to address infectious disease. Providing this service on site lessens the dependence on outside facility, thus reducing costs and security demands.
Due to the challenges associated with addressing the specialized needs of prisoners, more facilities are turning to private health care providers that focus on prisoner health care only. Having a higher incidence rate of certain medical conditions is not the only difference between inmates’ medical needs and the general population. Inmates also present different challenges because they statistically are less likely to have regular access to health care when they are not incarcerated and will not have consistent care if they are released and then re-incarcerated. NaphCare’s digital record-keeping system, TechCare, allows prisons to track inmates’ medical histories easily and seamlessly. This is one more detail that sets this company apart as the leader in prison health care.
Prisoners Benefit from NaphCare
Prison healthcare has been and continues to be largely ignored by the American public. It is, however, an extremely important and pressing topic, especially in regards to human rights of prisoners and the allocation of tax dollars in state budgets. Often, the topic only comes to the public’s awareness when medical care is extremely inadequate, as happened in California when Governor Schwarzenegger declared that state’s prison medical system to be in a state of emergency. Essentially, he was echoing the 2005 ruling of a San Francisco federal judge who ruled that California prison health care was so poor that it violated the constitutional rights of the inmates.
Deeming conditions in U.S. prisons to be in violation of basic human and constitutional rights has happened before. One of the first major incidents which brought this subject to the public’s awareness was the 1971 prison riot in Attica, New York.
Jump forward to 2011. Providing adequate healthcare to prisoners remains a serious challenge. Both the quality and cost of prison health care varies dramatically from state to state. In Texas, the per-capita cost of providing health care to inmates is $42; in comparison, California spends $162 per inmate. States employ differing strategies to drive costs down and meet budget limitations. Today, most states have found it to be to their advantage to contract with private companies to provide some or all of the care in their correctional facilities. There are numerous benefits that come with hiring a private prison medical provider such as NaphCare.
However, not all private prison medical providers are equal. In fact, a few of the companies are best known for their failures and shortcomings; a lawsuit filed in California described the privately-contracted care as, “cruel and unusual punishment.” The companies vary widely on factors such as efficiency, cost, range of services and quality of care.
Of the many private companies that provide prison health care, Prison Health Services has a reputation for being one of the worst. A five-part expose in the New York Times outlined the horrors of medical care provided by the company. Among the company’s faults were practices ranging from cutting inmates off from necessary medicines to failing to treat obvious illnesses.
NaphCare is among the best of the many private companies that offer medical care to state correctional facilities. Thanks to its strong track record, this company recently won a large contract in Corpus Christi, Texas, underbidding the current provider by $700,000. A private, Catholic company called CHRISTUS Spohn Health Care was the previous contractor. The new company won the contract because their services are far superior in efficiency and effectiveness. Low costs are appealing, but must be accompanied by high-quality care. Striking a sound balance between the two is ideal in this time of economic hardship and rising health care costs. Further solidifying NaphCare’s reputation for quality is the level of professionalism of its employees. For example, Loren Adams, L.P.N., from Westmoreland Detention Center, received the American Red Cross’ Lifesaving Award of Merit during 2010.
Medical Care is Top Concern of Prison Administrators
Only those who have worked in the field of prison management truly understand the extensive responsibilities involved in running a correctional facility. First to come to mind might be the obvious challenge of keeping the prisoners inside the facility. This is certainly the most compelling challenge to the American public, as evidenced in our fascination with movies like “Escape from Alcatraz” and “Papillon.” This is that has the most interest for the general public, and has been dramatized in films such as “Escape from Alcatraz”. Then there is the obvious expense of providing food, clothing and shelter for the inmates. Beyond these basic needs, inmates also have medical and health needs that must be addressed through a range of services. Not gym equipment but health care.
The soaring cost of medical care to the general public is mirrored in the prison system. While some states still provide medical services in their prisons, many states have turned to private companies such as NaphCare, whom they contract with to cover the ongoing medical needs of their inmates. In fact, a decent market has developed for these companies. This seems like a good thing for both parties – the states have one less thing to manage and a new business sector has been created. The problem is, regardless of who manages and provides it, medical care is expensive and prisons are filling up. While the country is not running out of land to house prisoners as is the case in some countries, the U.S. prison system is financially strained, to put it lightly. To combat oversized budgets, some states have passed laws that obligate them to choose the lowest bidding prison health care provider.
While low bids are appealing when it comes to balancing the budget, the quality of the care provided should also be considered. NaphCare, for example, offers efficient methods of distributing on-site dialysis treatment to a large number of patients. The NaphCare electronic record keeping system, TechCare ensures that proper medication is given to the right patient and in the right amount. The antiquated paper record-keeping systems that some prisons still employ make this no easy task. Some private prison health care providers may submit a lower bid, but their services are accompanied by hidden costs because they provide fewer services on-site. In such circumstances budgets initially may look lower, but ambulance fees incurred while transporting patients soon catch up with the initial costs of establishing the infrastructure needed to offer extensive treatment in-house. Another company, Prison Health Services – is a prominent provider of private medical services to prisons – has been lambasted for its poor practices. Among many faults, the company has been found to regularly deny prisoners of needed medical services for the sake of the company’s bottom line.
Denying healthcare to someone in need to make a profit is unambiguously cold-hearted. However, like any other private company, Prison Health Services needs to clear a profit in order to be viable. Buyers in this market – in this case, states – are being forced to choose to least expensive option. As the demand for prisons rises, states cannot spread their monies to fund the facilities properly and in the current economic climate politicians are frightened to raise taxes. States are turning to NaphCare to find an efficient and professional alternative to providing medical care in prisons themselves. But even the best company may face challenges in meeting prisoners’ needs for access to quality healthcare due to the shortcomings of state contracts.
On-Site Services Increase Prison Health Care Efficiency
Prisons are, of course, unsafe places – but some of their safety challenges may not be obvious. One safety concern is providing for the medical wellbeing of the inmates. California prisons have served as an example of just how bad prison healthcare can be. In 2004, National Public Radio ran a story which revealed the extent to which California’s system was defective. Twenty percent of doctors employed in prisons had been sued for malpractice, which is four to five times the state average. One inmate died from a removed tooth; another inmate lawsuit referred to California’s prison medical care as, “cruel and unusual punishment.” No longer able to ignore the problem, Governor Schwarzenegger requested $7 billion dollars from the state government in 2008 to help improve prison-based medical services.
A large influx of money is certainly a part of the solution for bettering this situation, but if the system is inherently flawed and inefficient, the funds may be wasted through continued inefficiency. Rather than trying to fix the problem themselves, some states are turning to outside help. By enlisting the private company NaphCare, they are handing over the daunting task of providing medical care in their correctional facilities to the experts. With twenty years of specialized experience, the company provides a level of quality and efficiency that state-run organizations cannot, and many private providers also fail to do.
One prison the company has worked with is the Essex Correctional Facility near Boston, who contracted the company to provide medical services starting in 2007. Healthcare was previously managed by another private company with gross inefficiencies that were limiting the facility’s ability to provide adequate services. To start, the company implemented two major changes that addressed these problems. First, the company expanded the services that were provided in-house. The facility had rooms available, but still sent patients out of the facility for injuries as simple as a broken finger. The hospital was ten miles away and ambulance bills were using a large part of the budget which now can be applied to other things. Now the Essex facility offers most medical procedures on site, including setting fractures, dialysis treatment, and dental and eye care. Inmates with infectious diseases can now be accommodated on site with new negative pressure rooms.
The other major change that NaphCare has put into place is that all medical records are now stored electronically through the use of TechCare software. In some states, medical records must be retained for the duration of each inmate’s life, regardless of the amount of time they spend behind bars. Keeping paper files of all inmates is inefficient and is not secure. All records are now securely and confidentially kept electronically and backed up. TechCare software is designed to interface with the prison management safety to maximize efficiency. When an inmate is admitted into the facility, an electronic profile is created which includes their personal information, a mug shot and criminal history. These components now sync with TechCare files automatically. In practical terms this means that should an inmate leave and then return a few years later there are no hours lost searching through stacks of dusty paper for their files.
As the Essex facility shows, contracting with this experienced company has enabled more services, a higher standard of care, and has vastly improved efficiency. Managing medical services in a prison is a difficult and complex challenge and NaphCare has proven to be an effective solution.
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