Jade01
08-24-2005, 10:14 AM
JPs hold off budgeting $775,000 more for jail medical care
BY MONICA LEAS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
The Pulaski County Quorum Court voted Tuesday to defer a plan to appropriate $775,000 beyond what was budgeted this year for medical expenses at the county jail.
By the end of July, the Pulaski County jail had spent about $95,000 more than was budgeted this year for inmate medical care, in large part because of hospitalization and pharmaceutical spending on prisoners — many of whom had medical problems related to methamphetamine use, county finance and jail officials said.
The overrun so far would have been covered by the $775,000, and the remainder in that request was in anticipation of steadily increasing costs for the rest of the year, county Comptroller Ron Quillin said. A total of $2.79 million was budgeted overall for the jail’s medical department in 2005, less than the $3 million in 2004.
An ordinance presented Tuesday would use part of $900,000 in payments the county expects from the state Department of Correction to cover the shortfall. The $900,000 was an increase in the amount the county was originally prepared to collect for state prisoners held at the jail.
Since the ordinance was added to Tuesday night’s agenda without passing through committee, the Quorum Court voted to defer it for one month so it could be discussed in more detail.
Several justices of the peace suggested other possible remedies that could cut down increasing medical costs, including discount jail pharmaceutical plans and methamphetamine prevention and treatment programs.
Although about 80 percent of recent inmate hospitalizations were related to methamphetamine use, Detention Chief Randy Morgan said it was unclear why medical expenses for methamphetamine users were on the rise despite a recent drop in methamphetamine lab seizures statewide.
In both 2003 and 2004, about 1,200 methamphetamine labs were seized, according to information from the state Crime Laboratory. About 340 labs were seized in the first five months of 2005.
"Just because they’re locked up doesn’t mean [methamphetamine is] what we brought them in for," Morgan said in an interview after the meeting, citing the secondary crimes that methamphetamine users often commit to support their habits.
Currently, jail inmates are charged a copayment of $5 for an initial doctor’s visit, but that fee is often unpaid, Morgan said. About $12,000 in copay fees was collected in the first seven months of this year, Quillin said.
This story was published Wednesday, August 24, 2005
BY MONICA LEAS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
The Pulaski County Quorum Court voted Tuesday to defer a plan to appropriate $775,000 beyond what was budgeted this year for medical expenses at the county jail.
By the end of July, the Pulaski County jail had spent about $95,000 more than was budgeted this year for inmate medical care, in large part because of hospitalization and pharmaceutical spending on prisoners — many of whom had medical problems related to methamphetamine use, county finance and jail officials said.
The overrun so far would have been covered by the $775,000, and the remainder in that request was in anticipation of steadily increasing costs for the rest of the year, county Comptroller Ron Quillin said. A total of $2.79 million was budgeted overall for the jail’s medical department in 2005, less than the $3 million in 2004.
An ordinance presented Tuesday would use part of $900,000 in payments the county expects from the state Department of Correction to cover the shortfall. The $900,000 was an increase in the amount the county was originally prepared to collect for state prisoners held at the jail.
Since the ordinance was added to Tuesday night’s agenda without passing through committee, the Quorum Court voted to defer it for one month so it could be discussed in more detail.
Several justices of the peace suggested other possible remedies that could cut down increasing medical costs, including discount jail pharmaceutical plans and methamphetamine prevention and treatment programs.
Although about 80 percent of recent inmate hospitalizations were related to methamphetamine use, Detention Chief Randy Morgan said it was unclear why medical expenses for methamphetamine users were on the rise despite a recent drop in methamphetamine lab seizures statewide.
In both 2003 and 2004, about 1,200 methamphetamine labs were seized, according to information from the state Crime Laboratory. About 340 labs were seized in the first five months of 2005.
"Just because they’re locked up doesn’t mean [methamphetamine is] what we brought them in for," Morgan said in an interview after the meeting, citing the secondary crimes that methamphetamine users often commit to support their habits.
Currently, jail inmates are charged a copayment of $5 for an initial doctor’s visit, but that fee is often unpaid, Morgan said. About $12,000 in copay fees was collected in the first seven months of this year, Quillin said.
This story was published Wednesday, August 24, 2005