Prison board concerned about high inmate medical costs
County prison officials want to know why catastrophic medical costs for inmates already have exceeded the annual coverage limit.
These costs exceeded the cap in the prison’s contract with PrimeCare Medical of Harrisburg for inmate health care by $75,996 at the end of May, Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe, chairman of the prison board, said at Tuesday’s board meeting.
The contractual coverage cap is $200,000, and the prison has to pay any costs above that amount, Slupe said.
Several board members, including Leslie Osche, chairwoman of the county commissioners, expressed concern about the overage.
“We are a taxi service for these inmates,” Slupe said.
He said two or three inmates are being taken every day to the Butler Memorial Hospital emergency department “for things they may or may not need,” and emergency room staff “wonders why they’re there.”
After the meeting, he said the medical costs do not include overtime costs for deputies or corrections officers who have to wait for inmates while they are being seen at the hospital.
Through the end of May, there have been 155 outpatient visits by inmates and 34 inmate trips to the emergency department, Slupe said.
Last year, there were 647 outpatient visits and 92 trips to the emergency department, and the average number of inmates has hovered between 400 and 460 both years, he said. In 2021, there were 279 outpatient visits and 49 emergency department visits, he said.
Beau Sneddon, deputy warden of operations, said most of the hospital visits are for county inmates. Some of the visits are for emergency lab work, but normally blood is drawn at the prison and sent to a lab for testing, he said.
As of Tuesday, 224 of the 456 inmates are from the county, 226 are federal inmates and six are from the state or other counties.
Jennifer Passarelli, deputy warden of security, said the inmates being taken to the hospital are sick. She said some of the ailments are a result of the activities they engaged in before they entered the prison.
Some of the inmates are being sent to the hospital while a PrimeCare doctor is at the prison, Passarelli said.
A doctor is on duty at the prison four to six hours a week and a physician’s assistant spends 12 to 16 hours each week at the facility, officials said.
Board members said they hope to learn more about the hospital visits Thursday during the prison’s weekly meeting with PrimeCare representatives. The prison’s five-year contract of more than $2 million a year with PrimeCare runs until September 2026.
PrimeCare could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
In other business, the board agreed to name an acting warden when Warden Joe DeMore submits his resignation date. The warden since 2015, DeMore accepted another job and is expected leave in mid-July.
Osche said the county has received interest from more than 30 people for the job.
