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| Senators balancing savings, recidivism in Corrections talks |
| By cjonline.com- Casey Hutchins |
| Published: 01/30/2014 |
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Senators addressed the Kansas Department of Corrections' use of brand name medications versus generics and upgrades in its electronic health records as budget talks continued this week. Viola Riggin, the department's director of Healthcare Services told the legislators that most inmates are on generic prescriptions and the department is in dire need of a computer upgrade. A budget subcommittee staffed by Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, R-Leavenworth, Sen. Jeff Melcher R-Leawood, and Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, is working to submit a report to the full Senate Ways and Means Committee on the corrections budget for the fiscal year that begins in July. Riggin told the trio nearly 91 percent of the Kansas inmate population on prescription drugs receives a generic version of medication. The other 9 percent receive name brand medications for one of two reasons: either the name brand medication is cheaper than the generic alternative or there is no generic alternative. Melcher requested a specific dollar amount relative to those 9 percent, which Riggin did not have on hand. Fitzgerald was curious as to whether there are any other state corrections departments that solely prescribe generic medications. “We want to save the money and get the most efficacy we can,” he said. “But at the same time we want to make sure we do the right thing. Not treating the person favorably is just going to lead to continued problems. Then (the inmates) come back in with the recidivism and the price keeps going up so instead of saving a few bucks on pills we're spending an enormous amount of money and we have more victims. I’m all for generic drugs but I’m more in favor of getting the job done.” Riggin also pushed for updates in the department’s IT system and its electronic health records. The current system has been in place since 2001 and is so out-of-date that it cannot be upgraded without improvements to the hardware system. The lack of secure bandwidth causes breaches and shutdowns. These cause data to get corrupted and records to get lost, Riggin said. Read More. |
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