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Tempe St. Luke's converts floor for prisoner care

Decision to consolidate made for efficiency

by Ken Alltucker - Nov. 1, 2010 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Tempe St. Luke's Hospital has converted one of three floors to exclusively treat state prisoners who require medical care.

The hospital, which has 87 beds, outfitted its second floor for prisoner care last month in preparation for treating more inmates from the Arizona Department of Corrections.

"The decision wasn't based on financial issues," said Ed Myers, chief executive officer of Tempe St. Luke's Hospital. "It is based on what is best for the inmate population and what is best for our other hospitals."

The Arizona Department of Corrections contracts with seven hospital systems across the state to provide medical care for prisoners. IASIS Healthcare and Abrazo Health Care have contracts to provide care for prisoners in the Phoenix metro region. University Physicians Healthcare is the main provider in the Tucson area, and four smaller hospital systems provide care for inmates in rural Arizona.

IASIS' contract with the state's prison system began in July and initially included the medical company's three Phoenix-area hospitals: Mountain Vista Medical Center in Mesa, St. Luke's Medical Center in Phoenix and Tempe St. Luke's Hospital.

But after treating inmates at the three hospitals since this summer, IASIS decided it would be more efficient to consolidate prisoner care in Tempe.

"We decided to cluster it," Myers said. "We can get the right amount of security and training for our staff. It makes it much more efficient."

Myers said he could not estimate how many inmate patients the hospital expected to treat during the year, but he believed it would be enough to require a full hospital floor.

Tempe St. Luke's will handle a variety of medical-care cases, including cardiac care, orthopedics and general medicine. The floor will be secured and access restricted by elevator key cards to authorized employees such as trained nurses and doctors. The Department of Corrections usually assigns two officers per inmate patient. The hospital also has its own security staff.

Abrazo, the other Phoenix-area contractor, has not treated enough inmates to justify converting an entire hospital floor for their care.

"They (IASIS) have access to more volume than we do," said Richard Rodriguez, chief medical officer of Abrazo.

Rodriguez said most Department of Corrections inmates are treated at Abrazo's outpatient facilities and surgical centers. Those who require a hospital stay are usually treated at Abrazo's Maryvale Hospital.

Maricopa Integrated Health System previously was the main prisoner health provider in the Phoenix metro area, but it ended its contract with the state in November 2009 after the Arizona Legislature cut reimbursement for hospitals that provide prisoner care.

Hospitals are reimbursed the state's Medicaid rate for medical care provided to prisoners.

Before the legislative cuts took effect last November, hospitals were paid about 75 percent above existing Medicaid rates, a Department of Corrections spokesman said.