AFTER 7 MONTHS AND COUNTLESS STAFF HOURS OF PAPERWORK, $2.00 MEDICAL CO-PAY IMPROPERLY CHARGED FINALLY CREDITED TO PRISONER'S ACCOUNT

On 4/14/23 Dale Shackelford, a prisoner at the ISCC sent a Health Services Request (HSR), notifying the medical department that his chronic care medications (related to high blood pressure and other issues) expired on that date, that the prescriptions needed to be renewed, and he had not been seen by the contract medical provider for renewal. This issue should have been done automatically, without need for Shackelford to submit the HSR.

Several days later, Shackelford was seen by a medical provider, and the prescriptions were all renewed. On or about 5/9/23 the medical department (in league with the Inmate Accounts department) charged Shackelford's account a $2.00 co-pay for submitting the HSR - in violation of IDOC policy (and contract with medical provider Centurion) - which prohibits prisoners from being charged co-pay for chronic care issues.

Per SOP, Shackelford immediately sent the medical department a Concern Form asking that the $2.00 co-pay be reimbursed. Because there was no answer to that form, Shackelford filed a formal grievance on 5/17/23. On 6/21/23, the grievance was answered, and both the medical department AND a Regional CQI Analyst (unknown what a Regional CQI Analyst actually is) agreed that the charges were made in error, and that the $2.00 co-pay should be reimbursed. That should have been the end of it...

The IDOC is quick to take rights, privileges and property, but slow to return them (like all government bureaucracies) so Shackelford waited until 8/1/23 before sending a concern form to the medical department asking why the $2.00 refund had not been credited to his account. In a 8/2/23 response, medical staff wrote, "Thank you for the reminder - I cannot find an email requesting this - so I sent one just now - so sorry! Thank you again - GB".

Despite the reply, the funds were not credited to his account, and again, Shackelford waited a bit before inquiring about missing refund. In an electronic concern form to Inmate Accounts sent on 8/21/23, he provided the grievance tracking number wherein it was agreed that the charge was in error, and would be refunded. Shackelford also asked that the $2.00 charge be reversed. The concern form was ignored - and remains unanswered nearly 3 months later.

On 9/1/23 Shackelford filed yet another grievance on the fact that the refund had not been credited to his account, despite the previous grievance having been granted. In response, Inmate Accounts wrote that the $2.00 HSR co-pay had not been charged to Shackelford's account, and cited some random number supposedly (but certainly not) associated with the original HSR. Inmate Accounts staff declared therefore there could be no refund on what was not charged. The declaration by Inmate Accounts staff was reviewed by a supervisor and the supervisor concurred with the Inmate Accounts staff finding.

On appeal of the [denied] grievance, Shackelford reiterated his position, and AGAIN provided all pertinent tracking numbers (from HSR, grievances, etc.).

On 11/9/23 the decision on the appeal was made, and it was noted that the $2.00 from HSR 117196 had not been refunded. The appeal decision (which was received on 11/14/23) also notified Shackelford that the appellate authority had ensured that the refund had been processed on that date - which in fact had been credited to Shackelford's inmate account on that date.

So let's take a deeper look at this -

First issue was that the co-pay should never have been charged in the first place. This seems to be a recurring theme, as improper co-pay charges have been deducted from prisoner accounts for years, and by several contracted medical providers (vendors) and state employees. Most prisoners fail to get these charges reimbursed due primarily to frustrations in not knowing how to get the problems resolved, or they simply lack the tenacity to see the process through after being initially [and wrongfully] denied.

Next, ask yourself how many staff hours went into resolving just this one issue on reimbursing the improperly deducted $2.00 from Shackelford's account, even AFTER Shackelford won the first grievance. Some of the state and Centurion employees involved in just this one instance make upwards of $30.00 per hour, and cumulatively - between answering the concerns (or not answering in the instance of Inmate Accounts staff), combing through records and researching the matter - spent no less than 4 [staff] hours just to reimburse the $2.00 that should never have been taken in the first place.

So, if you're wondering why the medical bills in Idaho's prisons are so high, and why so many tax dollars are being spent on "Corrections" in this state... this is part of it.
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