August 11, 2009
Prison medical czar will slash rates paid to outside hospitals
The man in charge of improving California's prison medical care plans to slash the rate the state pays to treat inmates. The plan could save the state $50 million this year. But as KPCC's Julie Small reports, it could also discourage hospitals from providing care that prison hospitals can't.
Julie Small: California prisons aren't able to treat inmates with chronic illnesses or inmates in need of special care, so they send them to hospitals for treatment. But Clark Kelso, the federal receiver in charge of prison medical care, says that's grown too costly for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Clark Kelso: For quite a period of time, CDCR has paid rates that have basically subsidized various hospitals' bottom line, and the state just can't afford it anymore…
LINK - SCPR.org
