Opportunities for Cost Savings in Corrections Without Sacrificing Service Quality: Inmate Health Care

“This report lays out ways that departments of corrections can consider to reduce inmate medical costs without affecting high standards for inmate medical services. Strategies for cost savings are presented that might be used by a department of corrections directly or included in contracts for outsourcing inmate health care. One or more prisons or jails across the nation use each strategy identified” (p. 4). This report is divided into two sections. Section 1-Summary: the issue of why so much money is spent on inmate health care; and the most promising cost-reduction approaches. Section 2-Detailed Analysis: reduce demand/need for medical care (i.e., improve the health of the inmate population, reduce unnecessary consumption of medical services, and divert/release sick individuals; reduce the cost for treating an inmate (i.e., reduce cost of pharmaceuticals, reduce cost of using outside medical care, use in-house medical services when less expensive, and tighten contracting and auditing); and synergistic approaches to health care cost reduction.