State prisons' medical-care pact gets OK

Board approves 2nd phase of $672M contract with firm

A $69 million, second phase of a contract to provide medical care to the state's prison and community correction inmates has been extended for another year.

Correct Care Solutions of Nashville, Tenn., was originally awarded the contract in January 2014 after beating out six other contractors to provide all of the medical, dental and mental health services to Arkansas' prison and community correction inmates.

The Board of Corrections unanimously approved the second term of the nine-year, estimated $671,823,668.06 contract at its April meeting. The board must give its go-ahead every 12 months in order to continue the contract through its term.

"CCS has worked very hard, along with ADC staff, to keep up with the intake screenings that have increased as more beds continue to open," Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley said. "Any individual interaction with CCS staff has been positive, and I've found them to be very responsive to inmate care."

The annual amount is an estimate only of what the costs will be for the impending year. In 2014, the Arkansas Department of Correction spent $56,244,682.46 on medical care, and the Arkansas Department of Community Correction spent $5,902,481.46.

The system's previous contractor, Corizon Inc., was paid a total of $522,605,852.34 from July 2003 to December 2013.

The medical contract will be required to go out to bid again in 2023, or sooner if circumstances dictate.

The board also unanimously approved an extension of the contract for MQRS, which has worked with the Correction Department since 1990. The current contract amount of $436,895.84 -- which began on July 1, 2011, and will continue through June 30, 2018 -- does not include a fourth amendment of $197,178.56 that has to be approved by the Arkansas Legislature, prison spokesman Cathy Frye said.

MQRS conducts audits to determine whether the health care services contractor is performing in accordance with the contract, American Correctional Association standards and state and federal laws.

Rory Griffin, deputy director of health and programs for the correction system, said the department is pleased with Correct Care Solution's performance.

"The opinion of the department is reflected in the medical administrator's recommendation to the Board of Corrections to continue the contract," Griffin said.

The Corrections Board keeps close tabs on the medical provider's progress by requiring a monthly report that shows the number of medical complaints appealed to the deputy director, as well as a report showing the number of medical complaints made directly to the prison system's Compliance Office.

In 2013, there were 3,101 medical complaints reviewed by the deputy director, and 485, or 16 percent, were determined to be with merit. In 2014, there were 472 complaints, or 15 percent out of 3,190, determined to be with merit.

Since January, there have been 517 medical complaints reviewed by the deputy director. Of that number, 73, or 14 percent, were determined to be with merit.

In 2013, the compliance office received 23 medical/mental health complaints, while 28 were received in 2014.

"The complaints to the Compliance Office are generally informal letters received through the U.S. mail or ADC truck mail," Frye said. "As noted in the report, we receive communication from the inmate population in this way about many concerns. This is not, however, a 'formal grievance procedure' with regard to medical or any other issue."

In the most recent audit of the medical provider, MQRS showed a statistical confidence level of 95 percent for the overall utilization management process.

Correct Care "contract terms are being met" on nearly all the standards evaluated. The exceptions included not completely reviewing all inmates/residents for possible eligibility for Medicaid reimbursement and not proposing programs to consolidate the use of infirmary beds by more than one Correction Department facility.

MQRS also reviewed two special complaint cases at the request of prison officials. The care provided was found in one case to be "appropriate" with no quality-of-care concerns, but the second case had "numerous quality of care concerns identified and presented."

When requested, Frye declined to release the reports or outline the identified concerns. Frye cited Arkansas Code 16-46-105, which says, "Records of and testimony before committees reviewing and evaluating quality of medical or hospital care" are not subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

State Desk on 04/11/2015

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