Building Partnerships → Engaging Correctional Facilities
Engaging Correctional Facilities
The devastating and costly health impacts of type 2 diabetes are magnified in correctional facilities. There are opportunities to increase health equity and the quality of life for individuals who are incarcerated by providing the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) lifestyle change program in correctional facilities. The white paper entitled, “Implementing the National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Change Program in Correctional Settings,” shares evidence that the program is both effective and feasible in correctional facilities.
- Implementing the National DPP Lifestyle Change Program in Correctional Facilities
- Medicaid Reentry Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity
Implementing the National DPP Lifestyle Change Program in Correctional Facilities
Leavitt Partners, an HMA company, recently released the white paper, “Implementing the National DPP Lifestyle Change Program in Correctional Settings.” This paper highlights the following:
- The need for type 2 diabetes prevention in correctional facilities, such as prisons and jails,
- A study demonstrating the feasibility of offering the program in correctional facilities,
- A program spotlight on how the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) has successfully offered the program in three facilities and achieved full CDC-recognition status for delivering the program, and
- Suggestions for how the program could be implemented in other correctional facilities.
The white paper is written for state correctional departments, state governors, state legislatures, county-level governments, and other partners interested in promoting coverage of the National DPP lifestyle change program in correctional facilities. The Executive Summary and Key Takeaways sections can be used to share more with leadership.
Additionally, a companion article to the white paper above entitled “Preventing Type 2 Diabetes: An Evidence-Based Approach” published in CorrectCare (pg. 12), a corrections trade magazine, summarizes the case for covering the program in correctional facilities and lessons learned by the Wisconsin DOC.
Medicaid Reentry Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity
Historically, Medicaid cannot be used to cover medical treatment within a correctional facility. This often results in a detrimental gap in medical care as an individual who has been incarcerated leaves the correctional facility and returns to the community. On April 17, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced the new Medicaid Reentry Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity, which allows states to use Medicaid to cover a package of pre-release services for individuals who are incarcerated for up to 90 days prior to their return to the community. This opportunity is meant to improve care transitions and focuses on substance-use disorders, serious mental illness, and other chronic health conditions. California is the first state to expand Medicaid services to individuals who are incarcerated using the Medicaid Reentry Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity, and ten additional states have also proposed a demonstration.
The Medicaid Reentry Section 1115 Demonstration Opportunity could represent an opportunity for states to include coverage of the National DPP lifestyle change program in the package of services covered by Medicaid for up to 90 days prior to an individual’s return to the community. This would be especially beneficial for individuals with severe mental illness, as some antipsychotic medications can increase weight gain and impact insulin sensitivity and secretion. For more information on the link between severe mental illness and the risk of type 2 diabetes, see the “Implementing the National DPP Lifestyle Change Program in Correctional Facilities” white paper.
