NCJ Number
184108
Date Published
2000
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This General Accounting Office (GAO) report responds to questions posed by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in May 2000 about efforts by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to contain the costs of providing health care to inmates.
Abstract
The first question was whether inmate abuse of health care, such as inmates using medical visits to get out of work or other duties, was a significant problem. The GAO received information from BOP officials that frivolous visits to medical units occurred in the BOP and that some reduction in this type of abuse could be anticipated if some additional charge were levied. The second question was whether States have benefited from a co-pay requirement. The GAO determined that 36 State and local jurisdictions experienced reductions in the number of sick call visits, and these reductions ranged from 16 percent to 50 percent. The third question was whether recent BOP initiatives, such as restructuring staff to depend less on highly paid physicians for routine duties, reduced staff costs. Although BOP officials reported that medical personnel salaries decreased between 1996 and 1999, they noted that the savings from economy and efficiency measures would eventually bottom out. The fourth question was whether it would be more cost-effective for the BOP to have an intermediate care facility for inmates needing long-term care. The GAO found that an intermediate care facility would have advantages for the BOP but that a thorough cost-benefit study would need to be conducted. The fifth question was whether the Federal Prisoner Health Care Co-payment of Act of 1999 would significantly contribute to reducing health care costs. Both the GAO and the BOP felt that the primary benefit of the co-payment proposal would be to reduce unnecessary medical visits rather than to generate revenue. The sixth question dealt with administrative initiatives of the BOP to contain inmate health care costs and increase service efficiency. BOP officials indicated that savings from administrative initiatives would eventually bottom out and inmate health care costs would rise due to pressures from a growing prison population, inmate transfers, the increase in the number of long-term detainees from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the growth in expenditures for pharmaceuticals because of the increasing prevalence of illnesses such as HIV and hepatitis.