Insured inmates key to managing jail's infectious disease drug costs
RICHMOND, Ind. —Sheriff Randy Retter was alerted one month to an unusually high pharmacy bill for jail inmates.
Then it happened again. And again.
Retter found a trend that was unsustainable for his budget with multiple inmates being treated for infectious diseases, such as hepatitis C and HIV, with high-priced medications. On Wednesday, Retter; Peter Zaleski, owner of Phillips Drugs; and Christine Stinson, executive director of the Wayne County Health Department, discussed the issue with Wayne County's commissioners.
The discussion during the commissioners' weekly meeting centered around working with the jail's healthcare provider, Quality Correctional Care, to best serve the inmates and the community's public health while reducing the jail's costs.
The health department, which has specialty in addressing infectious diseases, has already has begun working in the jail. Stinson said the department offers inmates voluntary testing for hepatitis C, HIV and sexually transmitted infections. She said inmate response has been positive, and 10 hepatitis C cases have been discovered at no cost to the jail.
Stinson said the department is "ecstatic" to work inside the jail because identifying and treating infectious diseases benefits the inmate and the community when the inmate is released. The more testing occurs, she said, the more cases will be discovered and treated.
The three-month hepatitis C treatment can cost $45,000 in medications, Zaleski said. HIV treatments, which last a lifetime, offer more drug options. Zaleski said effective, approved medications are available for a fraction of the cost the jail was paying.
The key, however, is for the inmates to be insured so that insurance covers the treatments. Retter said QCC staffs insurance navigators who can help uninsured inmates sign up for the Healthy Indiana Plan. The consensus Wednesday was to ensure that QCC was consistently doing just that.
Insured inmates with HIV qualify for the health department's 340B drug pricing program that reduces drug costs.
Stinson and Retter each brought additional issues for commissioner consideration.
Commissioners unanimously passed the health department's fee ordinance Stinson had presented Aug. 17. The vote was delayed a week while Stinson tweaked some wording.
The only change in the ordinance that will take effect Oct. 1 is dividing the $400 septic permit fee into three parts. Rather than receiving the entire fee at issuance, $25 will be collected for the initial soil evaluation and analysis, $275 charged for the plan review that includes a site visit and the final $100 collected when the permit is issued.
Retter received unanimous commissioner approval to purchase 15 Chevrolet Tahoe police vehicles from Kelley Chevrolet in Fort Wayne. Wayne County Council on Aug. 17 appropriated the necessary funding.
The 15 vehicles include seven budgeted in 2022, seven budgeted in 2023 and one replacement for a vehicle that burned. Insurance is expected to pay for that vehicle.
When that vehicle burned, the officer's rifle and shotgun were damaged beyond repair. Retter asked Wednesday for commissioners to declare them having no value so they could be destroyed. Commissioners unanimously did so.
SBS Portals
During their afternoon session, commissioners received a demonstration of the online search capabilities for clerk's records digitized by SBS Portals.
Commissioners previously selected SBS Portals from five bids, and council appropriated up to $130,790 on this initial project. That bid covered clerk's records stored in two basement rooms of the courthouse needed for the coroner's office renovation. It is considered a test to evaluate the scanning and search systems before proceeding with all clerk's records.
Doug Pope of SBS Portals showed commissioners and members of Berry's staff how to search through the records and a few other functions. The staff will later receive thorough training.
Pope said the records scanned included 15% more pages than his estimate when SBS Portals bid. He said that SBS Portals will add 5% to quotes previously provided for other records bunches, then include another 5% increase as a cost cap. SBS Portals will take the risk on the final 5% of their page estimates.
Pope also said that in the future SBS Portals would likely take 100 boxes at a time to scan and digitize.
Health insurance
Kim Clauser, the county's human resources director, discussed 2023 employee health insurance packages with commissioners Wednesday morning.
Commissioners are narrowing their preferences for the two plans that will be offered. They have decided to offer a health savings account with the high-deductible plan, and on Wednesday, planned an initial-year $1,000 contribution to employee HSAs through $250 quarterly payments.
Dunn & Associates, the county's benefits administrator, will draft the final plans for commissioners to adopt later. Cathy Dunn of Dunn & Associates previously offered commissioners recommendations and plan options during a two-hour presentation.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Insured inmates key to managing jail's infectious disease drug costs
