The Federal Bureau of Prisons has renewed its contract with Commonwealth Medicine (CWM), UMass Medical School, to manage comprehensive medical services at the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) in Butner, North Carolina. This current award is expanded to include the addition of diagnostic imaging, neurodiagnostic, and radiation therapy services. Commonwealth Medicine’s Health and Criminal Justice (HCJ) Program has been managing comprehensive medical services at FCC Butner since July 2012. UHealthSolutions (UHS), an affiliate of UMass Medical School, supports CWM in this endeavor by providing onsite staffing needs at Butner.
Under the new contract, HCJ will manage medical care for approximately 5,500 inmates. The new contract is to provide services through 2026. “We are very pleased to continue serving the medical needs at the federal facility in Butner, North Carolina,” said Commonwealth Medicine Executive Vice Chancellor Lisa M. Colombo. “In this highly specialized environment, particularly during the current pandemic, we’re confident that our knowledge and experience in delivering quality healthcare services to federal and state correctional facilities will continue to be important assets to the staff and administration at FCC Butner, and of course to the inmates and their families.”
The comprehensive medical team at FCC Butner will continue to be led by Stephen Johnson, director of facility operations with UHS and managed by the members of CWM’s HCJ team, focusing on care coordination for justice-involved populations. The team will coordinate inpatient and outpatient physician and hospital services, both at the correctional facility and in the community setting through its partnerships with several of the region’s leading hospitals—including Duke University Health System, Granville Medical Center, and Maria Parham Medical Center.
With its expanded contract at FCC Butner, CWM continues building on its leadership position in correctional healthcare services. Commonwealth Medicine has provided comprehensive medical services at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Devens, Massachusetts for the past 21 years, and at the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) in Ray Brook, New York since 2014. “I’m proud of my team’s unified efforts in providing healthcare services for this underserved population and continuing to make such an important impact in the field,” said Executive Director of Health and Criminal Justice Dyana Nickl.
Commonwealth Medicine’s Health and Criminal Justice Program
Health and criminal justice agencies face significant challenges in providing high-quality, cost-effective care to incarcerated populations which typically have high rates of chronic medical conditions, substance abuse, and mental illness. In 1998, Commonwealth Medicine, the consulting and operations division of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, established the Health and Criminal Justice program, to provide technical, research, and consulting resources to criminal justice agencies in the planning and delivery of healthcare to incarcerated populations. It provides comprehensive healthcare services to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP), which includes third party contracting. It serves as a fiscal intermediary and direct care provider in partnership with UHealthSolutions.
Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH)
In addition, Commonwealth Medicine has developed the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH), a center of national significance for criminal justice health researchers, educators, clinicians and scholars. Formed in 2010, the ACCJH includes representatives from several academic institutions including the University of Connecticut, Rutgers University, University of Texas Medical Branch, and Augusta University. Together this group hosts the Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health, now in its 13th year, to support ACCJH’s mission of advancing the science and practice of healthcare for individuals and populations within the criminal justice system.