State inmates to receive healthcare online
Bennett Haeberle
WTVQ-TV, Action News 36
Jan 18, 17:45 PM EST

LEXINGTON, KY -- The state’s 18,000 inmates will soon be able to receive medical treatment online through a new initiative designed to lower inmate healthcare costs, state along with UK officials announced Wednesday.

  Billed as a way to lessen the burden on taxpayers, the program cuts out the need for inmates to see specialists by allowing them access to specialty care online. Each medical consultation is coupled with a meeting with the inmate’s regular doctor, said Dr. Scott Haas with the state’s Department of Corrections. The program is expected to be implemented by April 1.

  “It allows consultations to take place without interfering with the primary care physician’s schedule or the specialist’s schedule,” Haas said.

  Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said the department estimates savings of $8,000 per month on medical transportation costs – which when coupled with additional expenses – would save the state more than $350,000 annually.

  “We’ve got to try to control that cost that’s coupled with an aging inmate population that requires more healthcare everyday,” said Corrections Commissioner John D. Rees.

Kentucky is only the second state to implement a wireless electronic network for its inmates. The initiative is mirrored after a system put into place in Oklahoma in 2001.

  Dr. David C. Kendrick, who invented the technology in Oklahoma, said his state, which has nearly 23,000 inmates, has seen medical transportation costs reduced by more than double. 

  The latest development is part of an ongoing partnership between the state, UK and Lexington-based healthcare provider, CorrectCare. The collaboration, known as the Kentucky Corrections Health Services Network (KCHSN), started in October of 2003 as a way to prevent the state from paying “retail costs” for inmate healthcare.

UK’s President, Dr. Lee Todd, touted the initiative as a continuation of the university’s Top 20-plan, designed to help make the university a top 20-research institution.

  In his budget address Tuesday, Gov. Ernie Fletcher said because of the KCHSN, taxpayers are paying 40 percent less than for inmate healthcare, which “translates to more than $49 million in recurring savings.”