Prison Inmate Medical Cost Containment program, a consulting service to help counties save money on the provision of medical services (including a group drug purchasing program) for county prisons.
PIMCC - Prison Inmate Medical Cost Containment - is a medical cost management, educational program dedicated to assisting county prisons with the containment of all costs relating to prison inmate medical expenses. PIMCC's overall goal is to train, educate and provide a quality managed care program which allows the county to choose their own unique medical cost saving program. Since PIMCC started operations in April 1995 participating counties have received unique services which have resulted in new procedures, newly negotiated contracts with medical providers, and cost savings on a variety of medical services, especially on the cost of inmate medications (prescription and nonprescription).
Counties have unlimited liability for most medical costs for prisoners. Many have been struggling to find ways to control these costs, but most have not been able to purchase insurance to cap expenses, nor have they been successful at negotiating significant discounts from service providers.
In 1994, one county experienced a major medical claim for one of its inmates, and asked its insurance consultants to develop some recommendations for action. After reviewing these recommendations, the county suggested the consultants contact CCAP to see if their ideas could benefit counties across the state. When Cost Management Plus brought the concept for PIMCC to the Association in 1994, the CCAP Board established a special committee to investigate the idea and determine if a program could be developed to assist counties with prison inmate medical costs.
After surveying counties and examining the results and reviewing the concepts proposed by Cost Management Plus, meeting with health care providers, examining potential insurance products, and investigating programs currently being used by counties, the PIMCC Committee unanimously recommended CCAP start the PIMCC program. The CCAP Board of Directors approved the program and its bylaws at their March 19, 1995 meeting.
PIMCC - Public Institution Medical Cost Containment - is now available for county Nursing Homes. In June 2002, the PIMCC Board approved the availability for a Public Institution Medical Cost Containment Program for county Nursing Homes at the request of existing PIMCC (Prison Inmate Medical Cost Containment) Counties who could foresee economy of scale savings on contracted services at the prison/jail if nursing homes were added to the program. This is a purchasing program (pharmaceutical, DME, orthopedic needs and cleaning supplies) to be expanded as the need arises. Cost Management Plus, in conjunction with CCAP Insurance Programs, will be the primary administrator of both programs.
In March of 2008, an associate member program was introduced to non PIMCC members. This program was developed to provide further assistance in controlling inmate medical costs and evaluation of privatized services. The objective of this program is to assist county prisons with monitoring their terms and conditions with privatized medical providers, as applicable, as well as work with Stop Loss Carriers. Other services available are medical audits and assistance with requests for proposals.