The Correctional Managed Care Program's Impact Over 30 Years

Let's Demystify Correctional Health Care 

The Correctional Managed Health Care Program is a collaboration between the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, TTUHSC and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. For the past 30 years, the program has leveraged the expertise of the medical schools to provide health care services for adult offenders in West Texas.
 
The Managed Care program currently provides medical, mental health and dental services for more than 33,000 offenders. These offender patients are housed at 25 facilities located throughout 100,000 square miles of West Texas. In addition to primary care clinics, Managed Care operates four infirmaries, a 128-bed medical/surgical unit, on-site dialysis, a long-term care unit, and psychiatric programs with 1,000-plus beds.
 
Did You Know?
“Offenders may be confined, but if they don’t want to take their medicine, they don’t have to,” said Cynthia Jumper, MD, MPH, (Resident ’91, Medicine ’88) TTUHSC Vice President of Health Policy and Special Health Initiatives. “Unless they are a threat to themselves or someone else, they have free will where medicine is concerned.” Therefore, education and preventative care is an important aspect of providing health care services in the correctional environment.

-Nearly 40% of offender patients meet criteria for a mental health diagnosis.
-Offender patients are physiologically 10 to15 years older than the non-incarcerated population.
-Managed Care conducted 23,713 telehealth visits (primary and specialty) in FY 2019.
-Each Managed Care Unit is audited and accredited by the American Correctional Association.
-37% of Managed Care employees have 10-plus years of service with TTUHSC.
 
The success of TTUHSC’s Managed Care service delivery model has resulted in the following expansions:
1. Texas Civil Commitment Center – Medical and mental health services within a treatment center in Littlefield.
2. Telepsychiatry — Federal Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facilities.
3. Ector County — Behavioral Health Services collaboration with TTUHSC in Odessa.

Managed Care plays an important part in TTUHSC’s mission to promote healthier communities across West Texas and beyond. Managed Care also proudly provides valuable learning opportunities for students in the schools of Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. If you’re interested in learning more about managed care, please contact 806.743.3280.