egs
11-01-2002, 03:16 PM
I'm posting the most recent article about the Hep C crisis in NJ prisons as reported by the Phila. Inquirer on 10/31/02. The two reporters have been covering this story for several months and earn much credit for getting the NJ DOC to change their policies regarding Hep C! The web location for the entire series of articles can found at the end of this article.
The information found in this, and previous coverage may be helpful to others who are working to get the same kind of treatment for prisoners in other states.
egs
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Inmates will get care for hepatitis
New Jersey has identified 1,170 with the disease. Until now, such inmates have not been treated.
By Mark Fazlollah and Jennifer Lin
Inquirer Staff Writers
New Jersey, the only major state not currently treating prisoners for hepatitis C, announced yesterday that it would cover costs to treat the potentially deadly disease.
Ralph Siegel, a spokesman for the state Treasury Department, said that beginning tomorrow, the state would assume the costs of expensive hepatitis C treatment under a new agreement with its prison medical provider, Correctional Medical Services.
"The state will pay for medicine, test costs and any necessity for additional staff," Siegel said in announcing the agreement, which also extends CMS' contract with the state until Aug. 31.
The money for hepatitis C care will be in addition to the millions of dollars the state pays CMS for medical care. Siegel said it was unclear how much extra money the state would need to spend.
Other states are finding that it can cost from $15,000 to $25,000 an inmate to cover testing, monitoring and treating with the new hepatitis C medicines, according to state corrections departments.
The drugs cure about half the patients to whom they are given, with the hepatitis C virus dropping to undetectable levels and staying that way. The blood-borne virus, which attacks the liver, is the number-one cause of liver transplants.
Last July, The Inquirer reported that New Jersey's prison system was not monitoring the health of infected inmates and was repeatedly denying hepatitis C drugs to sick prisoners. One patient was being treated early this year.
In the case of one inmate, Joe Jude, prison doctors halted his medicine when he went to prison in 2000. Yesterday, a prison spokeswoman said Jude's treatment would be restarted this week.
New Jersey's current CMS contract expires today. The state had received no bids that it considered acceptable for a new contract.
CMS had asked for an increase that would have raised the cost of prison medical care 30 percent to more than $100 million a year. But CMS said the state would have to pay extra for hepatitis C care. The state, which argued that hepatitis C should have always been covered under the medical contract, rejected the proposal.
Siegel said that under the 10-month extension agreement, CMS will receive a 14.7 percent increase.
Siegel said the new agreement will allow New Jersey to hire other companies to provide 10 medical services now covered by CMS - including dental care, vision coverage, ambulance services and lab work.
"This is a pretty significant change from the way things were being done," Siegel said.
New Jersey and other states are facing epidemic levels of hepatitis C infection among inmates. In Pennsylvania, 23 percent of inmates are infected.
New Jersey, which conducts limited testing for the virus, has identified 1,170 inmates with the disease.
Of the 10 largest states, only New Jersey is currently treating no inmates for the disease.
Deirdre Fedkenheuer, a spokeswoman for the state corrections department, said that with attention now being paid to hepatitis C, the number of inmates receiving treatment is expected to increase. "It is expected that it will mirror what happened with the HIV/AIDS crisis 15 year ago."
CMS spokesman Ken Fields said doctors would decide on a case-by-case basis who gets treated. "It's physicians who make decisions on individual treatment plans," he said.
CMS, a $500 million-a-year company, is the nation's largest private provider of prison health care.
Cost is the biggest deterrent preventing states from addressing hepatitis C in prisons.
"It looks like doom and gloom in terms of having what we need financially to tackle this problem," said Reginald Wilkinson, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. "We need federal assistance. This is not just a prison problem."
Nationally, 20 percent to 30 percent of prisoners are infected with the blood-borne hepatitis C virus, according to state corrections officials.
More states are starting to treat hepatitis C, with Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas and Virginia leading the way. in percentage of prisoners treated.
In Georgia, the annual budget for treating hepatitis C could eventually approach $5 million, according to Joseph Paris, the state's prison medical director. In the last three years, Georgia has initiated treatment for more than 300 inmates.
Although some states are treating prisoners, others, such as Illinois, do not even test for hepatitis C.
"That is medically less and less tenable over time," Paris said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Mark Fazlollah at 215-854-5831 or mfazlollah@phillynews.com. To read previous articles on hepatitis C in New Jersey's prisons, go to The Inquirer's Web site at http://inquirer.philly.com/go/hepatitis
The information found in this, and previous coverage may be helpful to others who are working to get the same kind of treatment for prisoners in other states.
egs
---------------
Inmates will get care for hepatitis
New Jersey has identified 1,170 with the disease. Until now, such inmates have not been treated.
By Mark Fazlollah and Jennifer Lin
Inquirer Staff Writers
New Jersey, the only major state not currently treating prisoners for hepatitis C, announced yesterday that it would cover costs to treat the potentially deadly disease.
Ralph Siegel, a spokesman for the state Treasury Department, said that beginning tomorrow, the state would assume the costs of expensive hepatitis C treatment under a new agreement with its prison medical provider, Correctional Medical Services.
"The state will pay for medicine, test costs and any necessity for additional staff," Siegel said in announcing the agreement, which also extends CMS' contract with the state until Aug. 31.
The money for hepatitis C care will be in addition to the millions of dollars the state pays CMS for medical care. Siegel said it was unclear how much extra money the state would need to spend.
Other states are finding that it can cost from $15,000 to $25,000 an inmate to cover testing, monitoring and treating with the new hepatitis C medicines, according to state corrections departments.
The drugs cure about half the patients to whom they are given, with the hepatitis C virus dropping to undetectable levels and staying that way. The blood-borne virus, which attacks the liver, is the number-one cause of liver transplants.
Last July, The Inquirer reported that New Jersey's prison system was not monitoring the health of infected inmates and was repeatedly denying hepatitis C drugs to sick prisoners. One patient was being treated early this year.
In the case of one inmate, Joe Jude, prison doctors halted his medicine when he went to prison in 2000. Yesterday, a prison spokeswoman said Jude's treatment would be restarted this week.
New Jersey's current CMS contract expires today. The state had received no bids that it considered acceptable for a new contract.
CMS had asked for an increase that would have raised the cost of prison medical care 30 percent to more than $100 million a year. But CMS said the state would have to pay extra for hepatitis C care. The state, which argued that hepatitis C should have always been covered under the medical contract, rejected the proposal.
Siegel said that under the 10-month extension agreement, CMS will receive a 14.7 percent increase.
Siegel said the new agreement will allow New Jersey to hire other companies to provide 10 medical services now covered by CMS - including dental care, vision coverage, ambulance services and lab work.
"This is a pretty significant change from the way things were being done," Siegel said.
New Jersey and other states are facing epidemic levels of hepatitis C infection among inmates. In Pennsylvania, 23 percent of inmates are infected.
New Jersey, which conducts limited testing for the virus, has identified 1,170 inmates with the disease.
Of the 10 largest states, only New Jersey is currently treating no inmates for the disease.
Deirdre Fedkenheuer, a spokeswoman for the state corrections department, said that with attention now being paid to hepatitis C, the number of inmates receiving treatment is expected to increase. "It is expected that it will mirror what happened with the HIV/AIDS crisis 15 year ago."
CMS spokesman Ken Fields said doctors would decide on a case-by-case basis who gets treated. "It's physicians who make decisions on individual treatment plans," he said.
CMS, a $500 million-a-year company, is the nation's largest private provider of prison health care.
Cost is the biggest deterrent preventing states from addressing hepatitis C in prisons.
"It looks like doom and gloom in terms of having what we need financially to tackle this problem," said Reginald Wilkinson, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. "We need federal assistance. This is not just a prison problem."
Nationally, 20 percent to 30 percent of prisoners are infected with the blood-borne hepatitis C virus, according to state corrections officials.
More states are starting to treat hepatitis C, with Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas and Virginia leading the way. in percentage of prisoners treated.
In Georgia, the annual budget for treating hepatitis C could eventually approach $5 million, according to Joseph Paris, the state's prison medical director. In the last three years, Georgia has initiated treatment for more than 300 inmates.
Although some states are treating prisoners, others, such as Illinois, do not even test for hepatitis C.
"That is medically less and less tenable over time," Paris said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Mark Fazlollah at 215-854-5831 or mfazlollah@phillynews.com. To read previous articles on hepatitis C in New Jersey's prisons, go to The Inquirer's Web site at http://inquirer.philly.com/go/hepatitis