Number	23045
Subject	Prisons
Source	Reporter (Santa Fe, N.M.)
State	N.M.
Year	2006
Publication Date	08/2006; 09/2006; 10/2006; 11/2006; 12/2006
Summary	To save money on its contract with the New Mexico state corrections department, Wexford Health Sources cut costs and provided poor health care to inmates. In the wake of Wexford's cost-cutting, "chronically sick inmates were routinely refused off-site specialty visits. Other inmates waited for days, even weeks, to receive critical prescription drug renewals. Still other inmates were forced to lie in their own feces because basic supplies, like bed sheets, were in such short order." In addition, staffing was a problem in prison medical units due to Wexford not filling vacant positions as yet another means of cost-cutting. In the end, people ranging from "Wexford's top medical officers in New Mexico to nurses and administrative employees" resigned as a result of the effect of the company's belt-tightening on their ability to help patients.
Category	Contest Finalist
Pages	26
Keywords	Prison hospitals; Wexford Health Souces; poor health care; New Mexico prison system
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