CLEARFIELD – Clearfield County has a very “sickly” inmate population and provision of care just became more costly.
Tuesday the county’s board of commissioners voted, 2-1, for PrimeCare Medical to provide additional medical coverage to Clearfield County Prison inmates.
The added terms will enable the Harrisburg-based company to expand coverage to include weekends, plus second shift five days a week.
The addendum to the county’s contract comes at a cost, raising its annual PrimeCare bill by $241,000 to $776,724.42. Clearfield County originally contracted with the company in July 2022.
PrimeCare—which has provided prison medical care for nearly four decades—services 37 of the 62 Pennsylvania counties with county correctional facilities.
Tom Weber, chief executive officer, said at the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, the county has a very “sickly” inmate population that requires “extensive care.”
The added coverage will alleviate corrections officers who are not trained medical professionals from having to administer medications including narcotics to inmates.
Weber also spoke of the movement towards in-prison Medication-Assisted Treatment programs for those suffering from Substance Use Disorders (SUDs).
“Now med pass includes (administration of) scheduled narcotics,” he said, “which can make COs very nervous. This alleviates those concerns.”
Weber said the jail has a high-volume of intakes, and when these individuals become incarcerated on weekends, they aren’t fully assessed to determine potential risk factors.
Glass indicated COs had stopped weekend med passes and affected inmates weren’t receiving necessary medications, which Weber stated was a major concern for PrimeCare.
While no one likes to spend “this kind of money,” Glass didn’t see any other alternative as this prison population needs more medications and more care.
Weber said over the years, there’s been a depletion of community mental health and drug treatment services, and social justice has placed the responsibility on prison facilities.
“And COs didn’t sign up to provide these types of services.”
Commissioner Chairman John Sobel said he was under the impression the county had already given approval for weekend medical coverage.
Weber then explained it’s been providing four hours of coverage on Saturdays and Sundays to “clean up” intakes, but it’s not sufficient for coverage of med passes.
Sobel was the lone opposing vote and gave a three-fold explanation to the press following the board meeting. “First, it’s too expensive,” he said, and “simply another burden on the taxpayer.”
Secondly Sobel—from a philosophical standpoint—didn’t want “productive” members of society paying for “unproductive” members of society to have better care than what they do.
Lastly Sobel said medical costs at the county jail have doubled since about this time last year when the county initially agreed to pay $316,000/annually.
“Now it’s $776,000-plus and it just seems like PrimeCare approaches us every couple of months with a need for more staffing or services.”
Each time Sobel said he assumes jail medical issues will be resolved and that “we’re set” for a lengthier period of time, but it just continues to change. “I don’t like to do business that way.”
Both Glass and Commissioner Mary Tatum said historically the county was “spoiled” because it had local service providers who were “cheap.”
Both thought this was a much more robust inmate medical plan that wouldn’t leave the county exposed as was the case in previous years.
Glass went on to say “the system” needs to find a more effective way to help addicted individuals because “throwing” them in jail isn’t working.
“That’s not solving any problems,” he said, “because unless they get treatment, they’re coming right back. So, until we solve that problem, this one’s going to get worse.”