SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The state of Oregon is hoping its efforts to revamp health care will help it get access to federal dollars to pay for medical expenses for some prison inmates.
Correctional Health Partners of Denver is exploring the possibility of becoming a coordinated care organization partly as a way to help the state tap into Medicaid.
Inmates typically do not qualify for Medicaid coverage because they’re usually treated at clinics within prison facilities. But in 1997, the federal government said inmates who are hospitalized for more than a day outside of prison facilities could get their bills paid by Medicaid if they are eligible.
The Statesman Journal (http://is.gd/hwuzuT ) reports that although the rule has been around for almost 15 years, tapping into federal dollars through Medicaid is actually quite complicated.
