In a Wednesday news release, Perry County Sheriff Steve Bareis announced a new healthcare program for inmates at the county jail.
The new provider, Advanced Correctional Healthcare, offers additional services, according to Bareis, that the previous system did not.
"We were basically using Pinckneyville hospital, getting prescriptions through Medicine Shoppe and having the health department come through once a week," Bareis told the Du Quoin Call. "Our expenses, medically, tripled in the last year due to some decisions based upon Obamacare and our inmate population."
Bareis said the new plan will cost $76,000 per year based on an average daily population of 44 inmates.
"A nurse will be available three times a week and a doctor on call 24/7," Bareis said. "Prescriptions will come directly into the sheriff's office."
The Perry County Jail does house federal inmates as well and Bareis said the jail had 40 federal inmates as of Wednesday.
"We're responsible for them, but the feds pay anything additional medically for them," Bareis said. "The county is not out anything financially for them.
"By having the (Advanced Correctional Healthcare) service, it makes us look better to the feds."
Another bonus of the new program is additional insurance liability for the sheriff's office correctional officers.
"This helps us in that we don't have correctional officers making medical judgements, we have professional people making medical judgements," he said.
In a news release announcing the new program, which began Jan. 11, Bareis said county offices can buy items at a reduced rate by taking advantage of a discount pricing program, which also includes food and office supplies.
"Given the potential savings financially, this was more bang for our buck and additional liability for my correctional officers," Bareis said.
Advanced Correctional is the largest provider of inmate medical services for county jails in the United States and serves more than 300 clients in 17 states.
"For having the service for almost a month, it's gone well," Bareis said. "We've got all the employees trained on the service and it's been a good addition.
"We're not running people to the hospital every day like we were."
