PPC Executive Director Ann Woloson recently gave testimony at a hearing held by the Government Oversight Committee regarding the Maine Office of Program Evaluation & Government Accountability (OPEGA) report on Health Care Services in State Correctional Facilities. The hearing pertained to the Maine OPEGA report issued in November 2011 that found health care service providers hired by the Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) were deficient and failed to contain costs. The report identified a number of issues of concern including patients not receiving standard medical services, medications not being properly administered and/or recorded and medical files not being complete or consistently maintained. In addition, the report indicated MDOC contracts were not structured to help contain health care costs.

Woloson provided information on how increasing the use of recommended, evidenced-based prescription drugs might help the MDOC continue to provide access to quality health care and contain costs. Woloson encouraged MDOC to “consider whether or not the prison system is making the best use of recommended, evidenced-based care, including prescription drugs. Evidenced-based, recommended drugs are drugs which have been proven to work best, are safest, and, more often than not, less expensive than newer products on the market.”

Read Woloson’s Opinion Piece, Using health Care Resources wisely in Maine’s prisons (1/21/12) to the Portland Press Herald online here, and remarks to the Government Oversight Committee here.