Application Training and Processing Legislation (Colo.)

Legislation effective January 1, 2003 requires the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, the state agency that oversees Medicaid, to provide information and training on medical assistance to each correctional facility to assist and expedite the application process for medical assistance. The legislation also requires the Department of Human Services to provide information and education regarding supplemental security income systems and processes to each correctional facility.

Source: House Bill 02-1295, General Assembly of Colorado, amending Colorado Unified Code of Corredtions, 1730 ILCS 5/3-17.

Jail Outstationed Worker (D.C.)

The Income Maintenance Administration within the Department of Human Services, which oversees Medicaid and food stamp eligibility, has dedicated a staff member to work inside the D.C. jail part-time. This staff member is responsible for facilitating application processing and expediting applications for inmates slated for release.

Source: Brian Haile, Alicia Smith Associates, correspondence, August 10, 2007.

Montgomery County Correctional Facility Income Assistance Specialist (Md.)

The Montgomery County Correctional Facility partnered with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which oversees Medical assistance, to place a DHHS employee inside the facility to serve as an income assistance specialist. Among other tasks, the specialist assesses inmates for eligibility for benefit programs. If the individual meets eligibility criteria, the specialist will then assist the individual in initiating benefit applications and compiling necessary documents.

Source: Based upon conversation with Gale Starkey, Re-Entry Unit manager, Montgomery County Correctional Facility and Ka Wong, Benefits Specialist, Montgomery County Correctional Facility, June 5, 2007, and materials from Craig Dowd, Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Incentive Payments

SSA offers incentives to correctional facilities for electronically submitting inmate rosters and offers payment in return for every inmate who is disenrolled for SSI once SSA is notified. (See Glossary for further information.) Corrections officials could consider reinvesting incentive payments into reentry programming for individuals who will need access to benefits on release.

Medicaid Coverage of Outstationed Worker Position

Medicaid may partially fund “outstationed” eligibility workers to help initially process applications in various community settings such as Federally Qualified Health Centers. In some communities, corrections staff have successfully negotiated with Medicaid agencies or local offices to enable outstationed workers to provide some services in correctional facilities. While Medicaid will not cover the entirety of this person’s staff time spent in the corrections facility, corrections officials can work with Medicaid staff to develop a cost-sharing plan.

Medication Savings

According to the appeals court for the Ninth Circuit, the Eighth Amendment requires states to ensure that a released inmate who has been receiving medication while incarcerated leaves the facility with "a supply sufficient to ensure that he has that medication available during the period of time reasonably necessary to permit him to consult a doctor and obtain a new supply."^[1] This decision is now law in California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii.

Providing supplies of medication to individuals with serious mental illnesses, particularly multiple types of medication, can be very expensive for correctional facilities. Thus, if officials initiate programs to ensure immediate access to benefits or general assistance programs on release, the corrections facility may be able to avert spending on medications and reinvest savings into reentry programming for individuals who need access to benefits.