New contracts intended to allow jail to improve medical care while saving time and money
COSHOCTON − The Coshocton County Sheriff's Office will seek to improve efficiency and cut costs related to medical care for inmates through two new service contracts.
Sheriff James Crawford said his office spent $160,000 on medical care for inmates in 2023. That price ranges on average from $150,000 to $200,000 a year, he said. It includes dental and other specialists.
By law, jails have to provide health care to inmates and they can't use their own insurance. Lt. Chip Udischas, jail administrator, said there is talk in the statehouse about allowing inmates to use their own Medicaid if they have it or get them enrolled if eligible. He said that would greatly reduce costs for jails.
A nurse sees inmates through Advance Correctional Healthcare. She works eight hours a day, five days a week. There are also health trained corrections office that can do some things, such as pass out medications, when she's not in. The contract with Advance Correctional is $125,000 a year.
The sheriff's office is not asking for any additional funding for the contracts related to billing and medical records keeping. Udischas said both services will be beneficial when everything is moved to the new Coshocton Justice Center by the end of the year.
Heritage Health Solutions
Heritage Health Solutions will handle all medical billing at the cost of $50 per claim. Udischas said that's done in-house now. It takes up time from personnel and they're not well versed in all the different medical codes and billing procedures. He also said some medical providers don't bill for services in a timely fashion.
Udischas said other entities who use Heritage Health Solutions have reported a cost savings of some degree.
"They will end up negotiating the best possible rate through the allowable line items. Currently, we have to take the bill received and convert it into Medicaid rates, because that's what jails pay. If we convert incorrectly, we might wind up paying more than what we should. We're obviously not medical billing specialists," Udischas said. "The biggest thing it's going to allow us to do is move forward with a cleaner set of books where we won't have to worry about an inmate getting sent to a company and that company using a different provider we weren't aware of and, suddenly, we get a bill from somebody who isn't even a vendor with the county."
Sapphire Health
Sapphire Health is an online medical records firm. Currently, all records are kept on paper. Udischas said the new electronic health records will be similar to MyChart used by many health care systems for easy patient access online.
Upfront cost, including training, is $5,500 with a cost of $600 per month for data storage and services. The service is HIPPA compliant and meets all national standards for data storage of health care information. If services ever end, the jail will still have access to all records created up to that point.
Udischas said it will allow them to have all the records in one online database. It will be easy to reactivate a record for a returning offender. Online record keeping ensures they're not missing anything and, therefore, more compliant with state standards. Electronic records can also be easily sent to an outside provider which improves continuity of care and also better aligns with state standards.
"The National Correctional Healthcare Committee is the nationally recognized specialist on correctional health care," Udischas said. "The goal is when we move into the new facility, we'll be certified by all the agencies saying we're running our operations in the best possible manner."
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Jail's new contracts will improve medical care, save time and money
