Jail Electronic Integrated Health Screening: Preventing Adverse Outcomes

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

The Maricopa County Jail system, fifth largest in the country, books approximately 300 individuals daily. People entering jail often have serious medical/mental health needs which must be identified and treated within 24 to 36 hours, a task rendered more difficult by mandatory transfers (within 24 hours) from intake to a housing location in one of six jails. Medical charts don’t always reach the facility when the individual does. CHS and MCSO IT staff collaborated in a novel way to develop a comprehensive, electronic pre-booking intake screening process. Aligned with recent federal legislation encouraging electronic record implementation to improve healthcare via improved patient information access, CHS is developing an electronic health record. Such implementations take two to three years, due to budget cycles, procurement processes and tailoring systems to a jail environment. Hence, this electronic health screening provided a necessary “bridge”, developed and implemented within one year. CHS has thus been able to rapidly identify patients in need, retrieve past screening information, more effectively triage patients in psychiatric crisis, initiate medication verification, and communicate important information to health and detention staff at the next housing location resulting in increased safety. Decreased adverse outcomes and improved patient care are tangible results.