Lawmakers question private prison medical care plan

CARSON CITY - Lawmakers and prison medical staffers on Tuesday questioned $4 million in savings the Guinn administration hopes to achieve by privatizing medical care for Nevada convicts.

State Prisons Director Bob Bayer told Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees that the prison system is among the most efficient in the nation - but said there's room for improvement.

This includes medical services, which Gov. Kenny Guinn figures could be contracted out - a step that would cut 321 state jobs and save about $4.4 million during two years.

But Diane Mathis, nursing director at the prison system's regional medical facility, said the privatization plan will only put hundreds out of work and ensure a profit for a private company.

Assemblywoman Jan Evans, D-Sparks, asked Bayer if he had discussed the plan to privatize medical services with staffers currently providing medical care.

Bayer started to say he had, but his answer was drowned out by loud coughs from the audience, composed mainly of state prison medical personnel. Then he said he had relied on others to get the word out.

Medical care for prisoners at the state's maximum-security prison at Ely has been in the hands of a private company, Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis, since 1995.

Though Bayer has said the contractor has met its budget, opponents say that if the real medical costs of Ely's population were known, lawmakers would see there are no savings to the state.

Medical staffers who testified Tuesday added that state workers are doing work that the Ely contractor and the private women's prison are neglecting.

"We have some inmates we feel are stable and could be sent back to Ely, but we've been told that we handle them better," said Sharon Wilson, a psychologist at the Northern Nevada Correctional Facility.

Mathis said there are problems with inmate physicals when prisoners are first admitted at the privately run Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Facility near Las Vegas.

"The medical records that come up to us have to be reviewed very carefully," she said, estimating that 85 percent of those done at the new prison are incomplete.

That includes testing for tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases.

Mathis asked the lawmakers to take into consideration that the current medical staff includes registered nurses, while most private companies rely largely on lower-paid licensed vocational nurses.

The net result of privatized care at the women's prison, as well as Ely, was that the costs were shifted to the state, Mathis said.

Lawmakers also questioned where the savings would be coming from and expressed concern about the state's liability.

Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, said the legislators were used to dealing with outside vendors who promised the world but never delivered.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, asked Bayer if the contract would provide for coverage of all medical costs, and not leave the state stuck with bills for catastrophic medical care.

Bayer responded that the contract would ensure the private firm would cover any extraordinary costs.

The state has picked up the tab for high-priced medical care for some of Ely's inmates, however, including $100,000 in 1997.

Nevada spends an average of $3,387 a year per inmate on medical costs, the eighth highest in the nation, totaling more than $30 million a year.

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