Hospitals Sue over Inmate Medical Costs
According to a North County Times article, a number of hospitals are suing San Diego County over medical costs of inmates. The article names Sharp HealthCare, as well as Scripps and other facilities, as taking part in the suit.
The recently-filed lawsuit means the health care providers look to collect over $1.3 million from San Diego County, as well as interest.
A similair suit took place around August of 2004, then for $1.2 million for unpaid services, and covering a different time period than the current suit. According to the 2004 lawsuit, San Diego County was underpaying for health care for jail inmates. The Sheriff’s Department, the hospitals said, contracted lower costs to provide health care for inmates, only to pay less than the contracted amounts. This led to a contract termination with Sharp in 2003.
Found in another article, the sheriff’s departments are required by law to pay for jail inmates’ medical care, with a budget of $33 million to $36 million marked for inmate medical care at the time of the story.
Following the prior lawsuit, San Diego County agreed to pay almost $1.5 million to Sharp and the other hospitals, to settle the lawsuit. Stated in the linked article, the full-billed charges for inmare care totalled about $5 million. The pay agreement was on top of $700,000 already paid to the hospitals for inmate care.