CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Inmate health care costs are rising, but Nueces County officials believe they have found a solution.
Health care might not be something that people realize is provided at the Nueces County Jail. Officials said that many inmates arrive with medical issues, including addictions and injuries. It all needs to be tended to before they can be housed in the jail.
There are about 1,000 inmates at any given time between the Nueces County Jail and the McKenzie Jail Annex. Services are available to them thanks to a contracted provider of medical and mental health care.
"When I became sheriff six years ago, the annual cost for medical and mental and pharmacy and everything involved in our jail services was about $3-3.5 million a year," Nueces County Sheriff J.C. Hooper said.
He said that inmate healthcare services costs increased significantly over the last couple of years. A new contract between the Nueces County Hospital District and Nueces County raised this year's budget from more than $4.5 million to $5.8 million.
After the previous contracted healthcare provider went out of business, a new provider stepped in about a year ago.
Hooper said that he was told inmate healthcare costs were expected to increase regardless.
"The writing was on the wall," he said. "It was going to happen no matter who the provider was going to be, and the current provider is doing an excellent job and just doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing for inmate care."
Nueces County Hospital District Administrator Jonny Hipp said that the cost of providing healthcare services in the Nueces County Jail is high. It requires nurses and staff trained for that environment, mental health resources, and medications for health conditions like HIV. There are also dental services in the jail.
Hipp explained that the previous health care provider going out of business reflects the need to keep up with rising costs.
"That's indicative of just the price and nature of health care that it has to be kept up with," he said.
The inmate health care services budget is determined on a year-to-year basis. Hipp said that it is intended to help them transition from the old provider to the new one.
"That allows us to make adjustments as we go along to keep up with the cost of providing medical care, both in terms of staffing, medications, equipment needs, etcetera," Hipp said.
He said that after this year, the hospital district and county will consider a longer-term fixed price contract. Costs this year would provide a basis for determining how they move forward, and provide these crucial health care services.