St. Martin Hospital provides inmate care

When an inmate needs to see a medical specialist, getting care can be complicated. Prisoners have to be transported under guard, often in shackles and the process is expensive for the correctional facility and time-consuming for the patient. St. Martin Hospital is embarking on an innovative approach that will remove those hurdles.

Telemedicine along with nursing care will provide 24/7 medical services to inmates while incarcerated. This service will remove the need for transportation and still meet the need for specialty care. This program will also provide access to the inmates for outpatient procedures and emergency care.

St. Martin Hospital is currently in partnership with the BEACON project, which provides assistance to those who have socioeconomic needs. Part of the partnership with BEACON will allow for a full-time social worker at St. Martin Hospital to work directly with the St. Martin Parish inmates.

“This type of partnership with our Parish Government furthers our relationship with our communities in removing barriers to healthcare for all of families. This partnership will increase the quality outcomes for our inmates while reducing costs of caring for them for our Parish Government”, CEO, St. Martin Hospital, Karen Wyble.

This will be the first comprehensive healthcare program for incarcerated inmates that is inclusive of post release care. The full spectrum of the program will include telemedicine care 24/7 with a nursing staff model – making it possible to see a nurse practitioner or physician at any time. Once an inmate is released, they will be assigned to a social worker that will work with state Medicaid program to provide immediate access to Medicaid coverage, with the hospital providing the electronic hospital record. St. Martin Hospital is in process of designing an outpatient behavioral health unit that will also provide care to the inmates. 

Studies show that many inmates might be in good health when they enter a correctional facility, but while incarcerated they become afflicted with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, hepatitis or cancer. In order to treat these patients after they are released, St. Martin Hospital is also working directly with Karissa Page, MPH, justice-involved pre-release enrollment project manager with the Louisiana Department of Health, Bureau of Health Services Financing (Medicaid) and her team to get Medicaid set up for all inmates for immediate access upon release from prison. Currently, there is no healthcare program set up for the inmates upon release, so without follow up care, most rely on emergency room visits or intensive care units to receive treatment. 

“Once we reach them while they are incarcerated and start to provide the health care there, and continue that after they are released, that’s where we are going to see the overall results,” says Wyble. The Parish hopes to have the program up and running and bringing services to inmates by July 1 of this year.