Avera eCARE Correctional Health

Provide your inmates with 24-hour access to urgent care and specialty services – without leaving the security of your correctional health facility – through Avera eCARE Correctional Health. We’ll help you avoid unnecessary transfers, reduce costs, uphold public safety and experience better outcomes.

eCARE Correctional Health by the Numbers

During the last 12 months, we’ve experienced:

  • 210 potential transfers avoided – 51 percent of encounters
  • $99,220 total estimated costs avoided

Your Correctional Facility Health Care Challenge

Improving health care for inmates is a public health and human rights imperative. Immediate and effective medical care ensures that the entire prison population stays healthier while saving money and time.

However, many correctional facilities – especially those located in rural areas – don’t have ready access to regular medical services and specialists. And with limited health care resources within prison facilities, inmates must often be transferred when urgent medical attention is necessary.

Telemedicine Technology for Inmate Health

An inmate transfer and emergency room visit may cost $4,000+. Costs for security staff to accompany transferred prisoners and ensure public safety during transport add to the expense.

When you partner with eCARE Correctional Health, your facility gains access to 24/7 urgent care services through interactive video technology located at your correctional facility.

Your on-site medical staff collaborates with our advanced practice providers, board-certified emergency medicine physicians, nurses and other clinicians to deliver expert care to your inmates.

You’ll be equipped to:

  • Conduct cost-effective initial triage of health situations where the potential for malingering exists.
  • Collaborate with other medical professionals for reviews, consultation and advice.
  • Receive immediate contact with a consulting provider in a safe, controlled environment 24/7.
  • Save taxpayer dollars and better manage your budget through reduced transfers and immediate, expert care.
  • Understand the cost savings and health care trends in your facility’s population with our quarterly trend reports.

When your inmates receive the care they need without leaving your facility, you’ll also reduce unnecessary transfers, increase public safety and improve medical outcomes.

How eCARE Correctional Health Works

  1. Our eCARE Correctional Health team implements high-definition telemedicine equipment into your correctional facility and trains your staff.
  2. At your correctional facility, inmates enter an exam room equipped with a camera and monitor. Your staff pushes a button to call eCARE Correctional Health.
  3. Using high-definition two-way video technology, our physicians respond to your call within 30 seconds.
  4. An urgent care visit is conducted for inmates with a variety of health care complaints such as chest pain, abdominal pain, minor trauma, lacerations or neurological issues.
  5. Staff may also use diagnostic medical equipment such as a stethoscope or otoscope that sends readings to an eCARE Correctional Health specialist.
  6. Our virtual assessment supports your on-site clinician in delivering medical care or determining if the situation requires a transfer.

To discover more about how eCARE supports your staff in delivering the quality health care your inmates expect, download our Delivering Health Care of the Future Today white paper. You can also request a free consultation with one of our eCARE Correctional Health experts.

What Avera eCARE Correctional Health Clients Say

  • "In 2013 the South Dakota Department of Health implemented eCARE Correctional Health in its correctional health clinics with the goal of reducing the number of inmate transfers for emergency care. The 24/7 availability of their emergency physicians and nurses significantly expanded the ability of correctional health staff to provide care within the prison and avoid costly transfers to hospital emergency departments.

    Since implementing eCARE, our correctional health nurses have been able to treat on site approximately 50 percent of the patients presenting for an emergency situation. Because of the success of the system, the department has expanded eCARE to allow physician consultation appointments within the prison clinics via Avera eCARE Specialty Clinic. Now follow-up appointments and specialty consultations are also taking place within the prison clinics, further reducing the need for transports outside the prison."

    Joan Adam Director, Division of Administration
    South Dakota Department of Health

  • "We’re always looking for new and better ways to provide more care to inmates inside our correctional facilities. With eCARE’s technological capabilities it’s now much easier, safer and more secure and cost-effective to do that while still providing exceptional health care.

    With Avera eCARE Emergency our emergency diversion rate has decreased and we’ve saved dollars. If an inmate does need to go to the ER, it’s now a much more seamless transition because eCARE Emergency arranges all of the transportation and alerts the ER.

    The quarterly reports help us budget and tell the story of eCARE to our partners. We’ve also had a very positive reception from the South Dakota Department of Corrections. 

    Our goal is to provide as much care as we can in-house via eCARE Emergency and eCARE Specialty Clinic. When we call for an appointment, we always ask if we can do it virtually. I really appreciate our partnership with eCARE. It’s a win-win situation for us."

    Kayla Tinker Correctional Health Administrator
    South Dakota Department of Health