The United States has one of the world’s largest correctional populations. As of 2022, more than 1.2 million people were incarcerated in prisons and jails across the federal, state and local levels. Regardless of whether they’ve been convicted or are awaiting trial, federal law requires that all prisoners be afforded adequate medical care by the government during their time in detention. Meeting this mandatory requirement requires a significant investment. According to Pew, governments allocated approximately $8 billion for inmate healthcare in fiscal year 2015, and this figure has likely increased since then. Incarcerated individuals may be required to defray the cost of their medical services, depending on the location and type of service.
Given the stakes and costs involved, providing high-quality, affordable care is something that all correctional care professionals — across local and state governments, the federal Bureau of Prisons, and within private sector correctional management companies (CMCs) — strive to achieve. However, the nature of providing care in a correctional institution comes with unique challenges. Many inmates enter correctional care with chronic health conditions or infectious diseases, both of which must be managed in a confined environment. Prisons are often located in rural areas, which makes accessing certain types of care (including mental health and substance use disorder services) more difficult. Plus, persistent staffing shortages in correctional institutions nationwide make the basic provision of care all the more challenging.
Fortunately, despite these unique challenges, the more effective use of high-level data by correctional care leaders can be a game-changer. Here are three common roadblocks facing local, state and federal correctional care leaders, as well as examples of how data can promote solutions to these challenges:
Ordering and Inventory
At the most basic level, correctional health care professionals need medical supplies and equipment in order to do their jobs. The challenge involves procuring these products in a cost-effective and organized manner. Supply chain challenges, back orders, urgent product requests and recalls are concerns for professionals in any type of healthcare organization, but especially so for correctional healthcare professionals when public funds are involved, and public perception may be affected. Therefore, it’s critically important to have a handle on how much of a product is currently on hand and when the next shipment will arrive.
Modern inventory management systems help keep all this information in one place. Plus, they allow the automated tracking of supplies in the inventory, so leaders aren’t putting manpower towards constant inventory counts, keeping expired ingredients on hand, or running short of potentially lifesaving products.
Reporting and compliance
Accurate and timely reporting of products and expenditures is critical to resourcing effective care. Leaders must also ensure they remain in compliance with federal and/or state rules, such as where medical supplies can be supplied from, that help ensure the consistent use of quality products. Unfortunately, leaders’ lines of sight can often become blurred by the realities of running complex medical organizations. In a state with 10 different prisons, each may have its own practices regarding which products and vendors they choose, based on individual preferences rather than state guidelines. Meanwhile, none of the different facilities can see the overall system cost or determine the efficacy of different products. It’s easy for leaders to lose control.
Full-fledged business analytics and reporting programs can restore leaders’ line of sight and help them run a tighter ship across a distributed organization. By viewing the system as a whole, rather than being limited to its individual components, leaders can manage budgets and compliance rules with greater certainty.
Budgeting and cost savings
Lastly, but certainly not least, is the issue of paying for it all. The resources available to correctional health care leaders are finite — both in terms of allocated budgets as well as staff time. A common issue we’ve seen is the “shop around reflex” (SAR). The SAR is a natural reaction to limited budgets, where leaders spend significant time comparing costs through different vendors for each individual product, hoping to land the lowest price on each. In fact, shopping around can lead to higher prices and wasted staff time.
While all departments of corrections are highly cost-sensitive, some don’t realize that an effective path to cost savings is to identify one quality product and one trusted manufacturer, allowing them to leverage tangible volume discounts. This insight becomes clearer when leaders have data at their fingertips — such as in the form of a digital supply management system — which can easily display cost savings across the board and allow for easy ordering.
Conclusion
Staffing, supplying and operating a modern correctional healthcare unit is uniquely challenging. Staffing shortages, strict budgets and compliance rules require leaders to have a clear line of sight into their organizations’ spending and resourcing. Fortunately, new tools allow leaders to leverage data to save staff time, steward public funds, and maximize availability of critical medical supplies — all in service of improving healthcare outcomes for the incarcerated populations they serve.
Craig Malozzi is Director of Customer Programs for McKesson Medical-Surgical Government Solutions
How 21st-century data management can help leaders provide more effective correctional healthcare services
The United States has one of the world’s largest correctional populations.
The United States has one of the world’s largest correctional populations. As of 2022, more than 1.2 million people were incarcerated in prisons and jails across the federal, state and local levels. Regardless of whether they’ve been convicted or are awaiting trial, federal law requires that all prisoners be afforded adequate medical care by the government during their time in detention. Meeting this mandatory requirement requires a significant investment. According to Pew, governments allocated approximately $8 billion for inmate healthcare in fiscal year 2015, and this figure has likely increased since then. Incarcerated individuals may be required to defray the cost of their medical services, depending on the location and type of service.
Given the stakes and costs involved, providing high-quality, affordable care is something that all correctional care professionals — across local and state governments, the federal Bureau of Prisons, and within private sector correctional management companies (CMCs) — strive to achieve. However, the nature of providing care in a correctional institution comes with unique challenges. Many inmates enter correctional care with chronic health conditions or infectious diseases, both of which must be managed in a confined environment. Prisons are often located in rural areas, which makes accessing certain types of care (including mental health and substance use disorder services) more difficult. Plus, persistent staffing shortages in correctional institutions nationwide make the basic provision of care all the more challenging.
Fortunately, despite these unique challenges, the more effective use of high-level data by correctional care leaders can be a game-changer. Here are three common roadblocks facing local, state and federal correctional care leaders, as well as examples of how data can promote solutions to these challenges:
Ordering and Inventory
At the most basic level, correctional health care professionals need medical supplies and equipment in order to do their jobs. The challenge involves procuring these products in a cost-effective and organized manner. Supply chain challenges, back orders, urgent product requests and recalls are concerns for professionals in any type of healthcare organization, but especially so for correctional healthcare professionals when public funds are involved, and public perception may be affected. Therefore, it’s critically important to have a handle on how much of a product is currently on hand and when the next shipment will arrive.
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Modern inventory management systems help keep all this information in one place. Plus, they allow the automated tracking of supplies in the inventory, so leaders aren’t putting manpower towards constant inventory counts, keeping expired ingredients on hand, or running short of potentially lifesaving products.
Reporting and compliance
Accurate and timely reporting of products and expenditures is critical to resourcing effective care. Leaders must also ensure they remain in compliance with federal and/or state rules, such as where medical supplies can be supplied from, that help ensure the consistent use of quality products. Unfortunately, leaders’ lines of sight can often become blurred by the realities of running complex medical organizations. In a state with 10 different prisons, each may have its own practices regarding which products and vendors they choose, based on individual preferences rather than state guidelines. Meanwhile, none of the different facilities can see the overall system cost or determine the efficacy of different products. It’s easy for leaders to lose control.
Full-fledged business analytics and reporting programs can restore leaders’ line of sight and help them run a tighter ship across a distributed organization. By viewing the system as a whole, rather than being limited to its individual components, leaders can manage budgets and compliance rules with greater certainty.
Budgeting and cost savings
Lastly, but certainly not least, is the issue of paying for it all. The resources available to correctional health care leaders are finite — both in terms of allocated budgets as well as staff time. A common issue we’ve seen is the “shop around reflex” (SAR). The SAR is a natural reaction to limited budgets, where leaders spend significant time comparing costs through different vendors for each individual product, hoping to land the lowest price on each. In fact, shopping around can lead to higher prices and wasted staff time.
While all departments of corrections are highly cost-sensitive, some don’t realize that an effective path to cost savings is to identify one quality product and one trusted manufacturer, allowing them to leverage tangible volume discounts. This insight becomes clearer when leaders have data at their fingertips — such as in the form of a digital supply management system — which can easily display cost savings across the board and allow for easy ordering.
Conclusion
Staffing, supplying and operating a modern correctional healthcare unit is uniquely challenging. Staffing shortages, strict budgets and compliance rules require leaders to have a clear line of sight into their organizations’ spending and resourcing. Fortunately, new tools allow leaders to leverage data to save staff time, steward public funds, and maximize availability of critical medical supplies — all in service of improving healthcare outcomes for the incarcerated populations they serve.
Craig Malozzi is Director of Customer Programs for McKesson Medical-Surgical Government Solutions
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