National Programme to Improve Correctional Health Care - An American Perspective (From Prison Medicine, P 41-50, 1985, Sarah Cawthra and Catherine Ginty, eds. - See NCJ-101070)

• NCJ Number: 101073
• Author(s): B J Anno
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Prison Reform Trust
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

A description of the efforts by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to improve inmate medical services in the United States emphasizes its initiation by the medical profession, its private funding, and its voluntariness.

Abstract

AMA efforts began in 1972 with a survey revealing the need for remedial efforts for health care delivery in American jails. AMA started its jail program in 1975, focusing on model pilot programs, development of health care standards, and the establishment of an information clearinghouse. The standards developed by the AMA reflected the philosophy that institutional health care should be equivalent to that offered in the general community. A voluntary accreditation effort is the method of implementing the standards. The effort to improve correctional health care moved outside the AMA in 1982 with the initiation of a coalition that in 1984 established the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. This not-for-profit organization focuses on a broader range of correctional facilities and is continuing the accreditation effort. State legislatures and court decisions have also begun to use the standards of the AMA and the Commission. 6 endnotes, 8 references.