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| Ohio Prisons Improve Care |
| By The Ohio Enquirer |
| Published: 10/10/2005 |
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Ohio prisons will hire more doctors and overhaul medical facilities as part of a multimillion-dollar settlement reached Thursday with inmates who claim they receive inadequate health care. The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit that had sought improvements in all aspects of the prison medical system, from dental care to staffing levels to the nutritional value of meals. Prison officials said the agreement would cost taxpayers an additional $7 million next year. Taxpayers now spend about $140 million a year on inmate medical care. Lawyers on both sides said the reforms would pay for themselves over time because many of the changes emphasize preventive care and are expected to reduce the number of more serious - and expensive - illnesses. Officials at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said many of the reforms are based on the findings of an audit conducted soon after the inmates filed their lawsuit. The audit, completed in February, confirmed several of the problems inmates had described, including staffing shortages, inadequate quality control and unreasonable delays in providing emergency medical care. The settlement calls for hiring nearly 300 more medical personnel, mostly nurses, and signing contracts with 21 additional doctors to work in state prisons. Prison officials would not confirm those numbers, but they agreed they would make significant increases in staffing and spending. The prisons employ 477 medical personnel and have contracts with 63 physicians. He said the changes should reduce long-term costs because inmates will receive better medical screening when they arrive in prison and will get better follow-up treatment. Prison officials also agreed to allow the audit team to continue monitoring the health care system and to make recommendations when necessary. The prisons would add most of the new medical personnel - about 150 - in the first year of a four-year implementation plan and would add the rest over the next three years. |
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