Correctional Health Services asks for $8 million to build utilization management as committee hears overview of prison health needs

Correctional Health Services requested $8 million in nonlapsing authority over three years to implement a utilization management program intended to curb outside medical and pharmaceutical costs for people in state custody, presenters told the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee on Jan. 30.

The request, CHS leaders said, would help the new agency stand up prior authorization, case management and other utilization-management tools and reorganize operations after CHS transferred from corrections to the Department of Health and Human Services in July 2023. The department asked that $250,000 be included for the program’s continuation after initial implementation.

CHS executives framed the budget ask in the context of a medically complex and dispersed prison population. "I'm Doctor Stacy Bank. I'm the new Executive Medical Director for the Department of Health and Human Services and I oversee Correctional Health Services," said Dr. Stacy Bank. Dr. Mark Wisner, introduced as the director of Correctional Health…