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DOC warns county/out‑of‑state placement and medical contract costs rose with population and utilization
Summary
Legislative analysts said population changes and higher medical utilization increased county jail per‑diem and medical contract costs; the department is negotiating a new medical contract and projects smaller increases if current negotiations succeed.
Legislative analysts told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee population trends and higher medical utilization are driving increased costs in the County and Out‑of‑State Placement and Medical Services budgets for the Idaho Department of Correction.
Noah Peterson, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, said recent supplemental requests largely reflect differences between previously projected populations and updated projections. He described supplemental and base adjustments to county jail per‑diems and out‑of‑state housing driven by those population changes.
Peterson said the agency is negotiating a new contract with its current medical provider. If negotiations succeed, LSO said the agency projects about a 10% increase in medical contract costs relative to the current rate; if negotiations fail and the contract goes to competitive bid, LSO estimated a 30%–40% increase could result.
Peterson explained the per‑diem math in response to committee questions: county per‑diem rates used in the analysis (as cited in testimony) are set in Idaho code and divide charges for very short stays versus longer stays to encourage timely state pickup from county jails. He noted variation in the average county per‑diem across fiscal years reflects shifts between short‑term and long‑term county stays.
Senators asked how the per‑diem rates are set and the director confirmed those rates are established in statute to encourage faster transfers from county jails to state custody. Committee members asked for additional detail about how the medical contract negotiations would be expected to change future costs; the agency said it would provide negotiating assumptions and modeling to the committee as discussions proceed.
No formal appropriations were made at the hearing; committee staff asked agency negotiators to provide updated cost projections under both the negotiated and bid scenarios to support budget decisions.
