Keeping ex-inmates out of the emergency room can prove beneficial for the healthcare system, according to an NPR report.
Here are four takeaways from the report.
1. A study from the Urban Institute found that more than 8 in 10 returning prisoners have chronic physical, mental or substance abuse conditions. Reggie Egins, MD, a family physician in Washington, who does correctional healthcare, told NPR a lot of these conditions have gone untreated for various reasons, including the challenges associated with navigating the healthcare system, the fact that returning prisoners are often homeless and don't have insurance, or because they don't trust physicians.
2. Many ex-inmates avoid getting medical care until they wind up in the ER with health conditions worsened by neglect, according to the report. The publication notes this means these ex-inmates are also more expensive to treat, leaving hospitals and taxpayers to pick up the costs.
3. Given these trends, Emily Wang, MD, a primary care physician with the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and her colleagues seek to make it easier for ex-inmates to manage their healthcare so they stay out of the ER, according to the report. They work at the Transitions Clinic Network, which now has 14 sites across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. They're funded by private donations grants. The clinics are reimbursed by Medicaid, but they offer more services than Medicaid typically reimburses for — such as helping patients find a halfway house they can afford, the report states.
4. The report also notes a randomized control trial looking at 200 recently released prisoners in San Francisco. In the study, Dr. Wang and her colleagues found chronically ill patients leaving prison will engage in primary care if provided early access. Furthermore, they found the addition of a primary care-based care management program tailored for returning prisoners reduces the use of emergency rooms over expedited primary care.
For more on this story, access Rae Ellen Bichell's NPR report.
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